#2767 three things: inspo, no pressure, and a slow start

 1. The influencer’s influence. For the past few years, I have been following an account in Instagram called This French Life. It is the account of an American woman who lives full-time in France. Over the years, she has kindly responded to some of my comments. Of course, we are not friends, but she seems friendly and I like her site. Her posts make me interested in going to France.

This week, she has been posting videos - reels - that she takes while walking around Paris. Of course the scenery was beautiful, and what really struck me was how much she loves where she is and what she is doing. Seeing her love inspired in me love for my own life and for what I have going on. I have a small life in the suburbs of a small western city. My house isn’t remarkable, and I know that. We do what we can to make it comfortable and homey. My dogs are nutty, energetic, and all over the place, and I can’t imagine it any other way. I don’t get to see the Eiffel Tower every day; I do get to see towering mountains surrounding the valley.  It is a good life, and I’m happy here. 

It’s funny because I don’t feel jealous of Shannon’s life in France. I’d like to visit the country and wander around the streets of Paris, sure, but I’m good where I am.

2. Still reading. The good news is that I scored a digital copy of Other Birds, the book I got on a seven-day loan from the library. Now the pressure is off to finish it by tomorrow, because now I have 21 days. I’m good!

3. Changing the routine. I work in the office on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Typically, I will make myself a coffee to go on those days. Today, though, I changed it up a little. I got myself ready to go to the office pretty quickly, then I made my cup of coffee, sat at the dining table, drank the cup, and read my book for about 15 minutes. I would have sat on the deck, but it’s dark at 6 am now. No matter. I liked sitting at the table and having a slow start. I got to work on time. I didn’t miss having the coffee at my desk. On the contrary, actually, I drank more water today because the time when I would have been sipping the coffee, I was sipping on water. Wins. All wins. 

I won’t guarantee that magic will happen every time, but it was dang good today.

#2655 self-care Saturday

I promised myself that I wouldn’t let Christmas overwhelm me, like it sometimes has in the past. Most of the gift shopping is done, which is great, even though there is always a bit of anxiety: Will my people like what I give them? Did I spend too much? Not enough? Are my people expecting more? I have worked to let those thoughts go over the past few years, but sometimes the thoughts linger anyway, don’t they?

With only a bit of buying left to do for MT and T, I decided to take this morning, the week before Christmas, to do something for myself. I woke up fairly early, took a nice shower, gave myself a much-needed facial mask, moisturized thoroughly, then dressed in warm layers for an outing.

First stop, Les Madeleines for a Kouign-amann and coffee, specifically a mocha Madelienes - a mocha made with dark chocolate; it is not as sweet and is a bit more rich than a regular mocha. Unfortunately, the cafe doesn’t offer indoor seating, and the outdoor seating has been put away for the season, so I had to get my breakfast to go. The KA is too flaky and spectacular to eat in the car when I drive, so I had to delay my gratification. Had to take a photo of it, though:

Hello gorgeous

Next stop was my beloved Red Butte Garden. One of my goals is to have breakfast at Les Madeleines and to take a walk at RBG at least once a month. I missed November for some reason, so I am recommitting myself starting today! 

We had a pretty good snowstorm on Tuesday night and the Garden had a nice, heavy white blanket of the stuff on the ground. The path was well-plowed, though, and I had no problem walking around this winter wonderland. 

Clear path 

Frozen waterfall and pond

I sure don’t want to sit here right now

Feeling happy and warm

I felt like I was the only person there. The only thing I could hear was snow falling off the branches, thankfully not on my head! I did see some people as I neared the visitor center, but overall, I had a great time walking around by myself and enjoying the peace, quiet, and beauty of this special place. 

On my way back down the hill, my coffee had cooled enough that I could enjoy the rich chocolate and coffee flavor, so that worked out nicely, too. I stopped at Trader Joe’s to pick up a couple of things. It wasn’t as crazy in the store as I thought it might be, so that was good.

I got back home in time to enjoy my delayed breakfast pastry, even though the coffee was long gone. It was delicious, of course, and then it was time for book club. We discussed the last third of the book The Sentence by Louise Erdrich, a book I recommended and that I am glad to say most everyone really liked, myself included. We have one more book to finish off the year, Sula by Toni Morrison. It is a quick read that was referenced in The Sentence. 

After all that me-time, I felt relaxed and happy and ready to face shopping at an actual store. I’m happy to say that my Christmas shopping is now complete! At least for gifts. I still have grocery shopping to do for the meal, but all of that will be included in my regular shopping, anyway, so no big deal.

Are you enjoying your weekend? Are you taking the time to take care of yourself?

#2373 Saturday with Sandy

The big thing I did today was swap out my winter clothes for my summer clothes. Marie Kondo says that there really isn't much reason to have different clothes for different seasons, but I beg to differ. While it's true that the office has good heating in winter and good cooling in summer, I can't imagine wearing the same things I wear in summer in the winter and vice versa. Hence, two separate sets of clothes. There is some overlap, like t-shirts and jeans that are multi-seasonal. I guess I could just wear those all the time, but in the Before, I was trying to be conscious of shaking up my t-shirt and jeans wardrobe. I expect I will be more conscious of what I wear in the After as well.

I do take a Marie Kondo approach to swapping out my clothes. I take everything out of the closet and out of the drawers. I touch every piece of clothing and decide if it stays in rotation, goes into storage, or will be donated (when donations are accepted again). It's kind of chaotic and also kind of fun. Also in Marie Kondo fashion, I do give a little nod of thanks to the clothes that I decide to pass along to others. It feels right to me to do that. 

What I know for sure is that I have WAAAAAAAAY too much stuff. Too many clothes, more than I need for sure. I did get fill a big garbage sack with clothing to donate. I was mostly able to get all the cold-weather clothing into the storage container, but some jackets had to get back on hangers on the far end of the rack. I hope that I can be more aware of clothes that I tend to skip over as I get dressed and just let those clothes go. 

The rest of the day I have been reading and hanging out. MT and I watched Becoming on Netflix. We liked it because we like Michelle Obama and the person she appears to be. If you don't like her, don't watch the show and don't @ me. 

Here's a heart-warming story of goodness:

My sister told me on Friday that she had sent me a little somethin-somethin for Mother's Day/Quarantine Life that would be delivered that day (yesterday). I was excited and zipped down to my mailbox to pick it up after work. In my neighborhood, we have a  big mailbox that has about a dozen boxes, one for each house. The boxes are small. There are also two big boxes that have special keys that the delivery person puts in our little box if there is something that won't fit in our own little mailboxes. There wasn't anything from Lizzie in the little mailbox and there was no key for the big mailbox either. Nothing was delivered to the house directly. We decided to wait another day to see if it would show up. Nothing in the mail tonight, either. Very sad. 

This evening, the doorbell rang. I was talking to my mom, so I asked MT to answer the door. It was one of our neighbors. The package had been mistakenly delivered to her and she brought it over to us! YAY! I'll point out that I don't know any of our neighbors. I know the people next door because they were here when we moved here almost 20 years ago, but all the other people came after and I'm not that social. So it was super-nice for the unknown neighbor to bring it over, especially in the time of the Virus. 

You want to know what was in the package my thoughtful little sister sent me? COOKIES!! Cookies from The Cravory! She sent me the May mix. I had the Mexican Hot Chocolate cookie tonight. It was soft and chocolatey and a little spicy. YUM! Thank you Lizzie! You know me so well. I'm actually wearing my Cookie Monster shirt today that says Keep Calm and Eat Cookies. I didn't know that cookies were coming my way, so I went to Crumbl today and got myself a Mother's Day treat. That Reese's Pieces cookie was gooooood.

And now...WOW...it's 9:15. I'm full of cookies, so I think I'll go lie down and read until I fall asleep. The temperature is very pleasant and I have all the windows upstairs open to let in the beautiful evening breeze. I'm gonna sleep good tonight. 

One last thing, though. Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there and especially to my own sweet Mamacita. I love you!!

#2158 Saturday with Sandy

The time has absolutes flown by today. I can't believe it's already 8:00! I've been busy doing different stuff today.

First, although this doesn't really pertain to me right now, I want to mention that MT entered the lottery to have a chance to hike the John Muir Trail this summer. Hiking the JMT has been a long-time dream of MT's, and he finally feels like he is in a place in life where he can afford to take 30 days off to do the hike. I'm not exactly sure when he'll find out if he drew out a permit, but I'll keep you posted. That was the first bit of excitement today.

Saturday is WW weigh-in day for me. I was down a mere 0.2 lbs, but I think that any minus is a good minus when it comes to the scale. One of the ladies in the group achieved a loss of 100 lbs, so we celebrated her. I am happy for her. She is so smiley and cute. The kicker is that she works at one of the best donut shops in the city. I think it makes her all the more impressive.

As happy as I am for her, I feel jealous and underachieving. My feelings caused me to have a serious talk with myself about my future with WW. I'm still processing it. I'll probably have more to say on this subject when I write on Wednesday.

With my wobbly feelings, I headed to Kohls to look for swimsuits. Sheesh! I'm a glutton for punishment, right? I did manage to find a couple of swimsuit tops that I thought looked okay. I also bought a swim skirt. I have tops and bottoms already, but I wanted something new and I couldn't choose between the two tops. I also bought myself a cute cover-up, a couple of moisture-wicking tops for when we go to the temples and some underwear.

I spent a couple of hours at Starbucks doing a little thinking and writing, including jotting down some thoughts about WW. I find it is helpful to be in a neutral location, free of the distractions of home. I popped in my airpods, listened to music and thought about myself for awhile. So much introspection!

This evening I have been paying our bills and making sure all is right in our financial world. Seems to be.

Now I'm going to take some time to do some reading. I made the mistake of going to the library yesterday. I have little self control when it comes to books. Before the trip to the library, I was already actively reading three books. I went to the library just to pick up a book I had on hold that I am planning to read before February 7. It's a short book, so I can probably read it quickly at the end of the month. Unfortunately, I saw a book that I have been wanting to read for almost a year now and I just couldn't pass it up. I have seven, make that six days, to read the book Educated by Tara Westover. Add to that the book I'm reading for the book club, Heavy by Kiese Laymon, which we will be discussing the first 116 pages of  on Tuesda, so I've got some reading to do. The other two books don't have any time frame. One I read before I go to bed because it's on my Kindle and the other is a book I own, so there's no rush. All of the books are good, so I'm excited to read.

I'm looking forward to watching football tomorrow. I'll be rooting for the Saints and the Chiefs, if you are interested.

Hope y'all are having a nice weekend so far! Stay safe and be kind to each other.

#2072 thanks July!

Thanks July, you were a good time.  Let's recap:

• Two paid holidays (Independence Day and Pioneer Day) #blessed
• It was hot as hell. Unrelenting, dry heat.
• So. Much. Live. Music.
• Avett Brothers
• Two Bluebird Cafe shows at Sundance
• Jackson Browne
• Retro Futura Tour
• TajMo
• #EkpesBookClub
• Went for a bike ride on the 4th of July
• Went to the gym 10 times => $3.55/visit
• I finished five books - check out the 2018 Reading List page!
• I watched three and half movies
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
• half of Ten Things I Hate About You
• Mission: Impossible - Fallout
• I gained a pound and a half, but I got in all my exercise so I don't have to make a payment on my Apple watch. (Note to self: I'd rather lose weight and make the $13, $10 or $5 payment.)
• I learned about lavender and Thailand. Not at the same time.
• I gave 47.75 hours of my time to Red Butte Garden. 

Looking forward to August:

• More live music! I've got six more shows scheduled right now: three I've paid for and three I'll get to see while I "work". 
• Baseball game outing with my work friends!
• My 25th wedding anniversary!
• Trip to San Diego/La Mirada = time with Lizzie and Mom!
• Volunteering at Red Butte Garden!
• Utah football starts!
• Dog days of summer!

#1833 Saturday with Sandy

I won't bore you with all the details - just the highlights, or at least the parts where I actually did something.

First things first: Weight Watchers. I won't go into details because I like to ponder and renew my commitment by writing about it on Wednesday, but it was a good meeting. The .4 lbs that I gained back last week were gone again this morning. They should certainly stay gone for next Saturday and hopefully some other parts of a pound will join them in being off my body.

When I came home I talked to T. I don't see him a lot since he's busy with school, work and friends. I like to tempt him with a beverage from Starbucks so I can have one-on-one time. He gets a very sweet frozen coffee beverage with lots of whipped cream. Today I had a green tea lemonade. Tastes like summer!

It was a lovely spring day here with temps in the low 60s. There were some wispy clouds, but mostly the sky was blue. I decided it was the perfect day to return to Red Butte Garden. I haven't been there since December and I miss it. There was a wedding reception happening in the orangerie and there were lots of people out enjoying the day and strolling through the garden. A few families had picnics and were sitting at the tables in the courtyard. Others were soaking in the sun on benches throughout the garden.

I was a little concerned about the walk because the Garden is on a hill and my leg hasn't completely recovered from the surgery. Going downhill was harder than I thought it should be. Lovely Paul explained that downhill was more difficult because the muscle is lengthening. (No, he wasn't with me today. I told him on Thursday that I thought going down the stairs was harder than climbing the stairs and he explained why. Same explanation for walking down a hill.) When I got down to the Rose Garden, I sat on a bench in the sun and read for a few minutes while I rested my knee. It was a little fatigued. Then I walked back up the hill, completing the loop around the garden. I was so happy to be there that I actually got a little teary. I know it sounds crazy. I'm a sap. Red Butte Garden is a special place to me that calms me and helps me take my mind off things that bother me. When I'm there I kind of shut down my mind and just pay attention to nature. It's therapeutic.

How long was I at Red Butte Garden? I don't know, to tell you the truth. Maybe an hour. I wasn't walking very fast and of course I had to stop and take some photos here and there. I wanted to share a photo here, but they haven't made it to the iCloud yet, so no photo today.

After I'd had my fill of the garden, I went to another favorite place: Trader Joe's. I hadn't been to the store in a couple of months and I was running low on necessities like salsa and chocolate. They have a treat that Osi loves - dried chicken. It's a dog treat and the only ingredient is dried chicken. When it is in stock, I always buy at least two packages. I also always try to find something new to try for myself. Today's find was a chicken bowl with brown rice and quinoa and black beans. I'll have it for lunch one day next week. I also bought a chocolate Brooklyn babka. I saw on a website that it was delicious and I should not leave the store without it, so I had to buy it. It's a loaf-shaped pastry that is layered with chocolate. When I got home I warmed up a small slice in the microwave and tasted it. Pretty good, I have to say. I don't know that it is my favorite thing, but it's a nice treat.

Tonight I made dinner (carnitas from Trader Joe's) and I have been reading. MT is watching documentaries on Amazon; T is going to a rave with some friends.

Overall I'd have to say that I am satisfied with how this day has played out.

Remember to SPRING FORWARD America.

#1815 here we go!

It's been so long since I last wrote, I almost forgot that I wanted to get back to writing today. Happy new year everyone! Did you all have a nice holiday? Have you made any resolutions for 2017?

My Christmas vacation was lovely. The three of us flew to San Diego. It wasn't a good start to the trip. The plane had mechanical problems so it was being worked on while we sat on the plane. The entertainment system was activated while we waited. I put on a movie and fell asleep. When I woke up, the movie was over and we were still on the ground. After sitting there for a couple of hours, we had to change planes. We finally arrived in San Diego about two and half hours after we were originally scheduled to arrive. Then, in San Diego, the luggage carousel stopped working, so we had to wait for that problem to get sorted out. Ugh. Our bags were all there and Lizzie was there to pick us up, and after that, the vacation was great.

My cousin Sonia and her daughter Nicole came over from Spain to spend the holiday with us. It was great to see them again and of course to hang out with Lizzie and Mom and Dad. MT did a little bit of handy-man work for my folks which I know makes MT feel good. Other highlights were great food (The Mission and Las Olas in San Diego and El Cholo in La Habra) plus my mom's own delicious cooking. Her canelones are outstanding!

The Christmas gifts I received made me feel so special and that I had been a very good girl in 2016. Everyone was so generous and thoughtful. It was really wonderful. Unfortunately for me, I was in a lot of pain from my knee that day and I was kind of miserable. Everyone was really nice about that, too. I felt bad that I couldn't help my mom with meal prep or anything. I could barely put weight on the leg because my knee was so swollen. It was awful.

Speaking of the knee, my surgery has been pushed back a couple of days to January 26. I'm okay with the change. What's two more days? I have begun a countdown, though. I'm hurting.

I spent yesterday and today thinking about resolutions for the new year. I know it's hokey, but I really like to think that I will change and that change is possible in the new year. In fact, change is my guiding word for the year. Actually, my word is TRANSFORMATION. Sounds more fancy and inspiring than "change", doesn't it? There are two things in my life that I want to transform in 2017: my weight and my clutter. I actually considered the word "reduce" but it didn't feel right.

As far as my weight goes, this must be the year that I get back on "ONEderland." That's what us Weight Watcher types say when our weight gets under 200 lbs. I want that. The goal is totally attainable as long as I pay attention to what I'm eating and how much I'm eating. Cutting back on sugar would be a key to achieving the goal, too.

As far as the house goes, I have lots and lots of random stuff that can be purged. I've had a couple of really good experiences with "tidying up" that have made me feel not so overwhelmed by the process. I just have to do it. Just thinking about it is pretty intimidating, but the results are so worthwhile that I'm going to commit to it.

So...here we go! 2017 should be an interesting year.

#1802 still here

I haven't been doing such a good job of writing lately. Let's see, what's been going on?

Lizzie left early this morning in what I can only say feels like a completely different day from right now. We were together for about 10 days and it was so fun to hang out with her! I was sorry to see her leave, but I'm happy that I'll see her again in just a few weeks for Christmas.

Yesterday was Saturday. We met my BFF LA and her family for lunch at a fun restaurant, The Porcupine Grill. It was great to see LA and her husband and especially their son Caz. I've known Caz since he was in utero and it's wonderful to see what a smart, cool man he has become. Lizzie hadn't seen Caz since he was a baby. How time flies!

On Friday we ran a couple of errands in the morning, then we settled in to binge watch the Gilmore Girls Revival on Netflix. I binge watched all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls starting last winter, I think, and I finished up this year. Lizzie loved GG and was the one who turned me on to it. It was fun to watch the revival with her.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. I don't think we left the house. The day was filled with cooking and snacking and a nice dinner in the evening when T got home from work. MT, Lizzie and I watched the original Star Wars trilogy plus the latest Star Wars film. It was all awesome.

Now you're caught up with my activities over the holiday weekend. Did I mention how much I loved hanging out with my sister over the past week and a half? We had a great time!

Tonight I have been downloading all my photos from the New Orleans vacation. Looking back through all the pics made me happy and excited to tell you more about the trip. I'll be sharing photos soon!

It's time for me to wind down and finish up some laundry before I go to bed. I hope you all had a great weekend!

#1748 simple pleasure Monday : relaxing

I was a little bit more active today than yesterday, but thinking back on yesterday, it was pretty perfect. Sometimes the very best thing to do is hang out and rest which is exactly what I did. I had a little more of that today, too. I have mostly been just puttering around today and I took a great nap. Hopefully I will still be able to sleep tonight.

Now that I think about it, today's simple pleasure is giving yourself permission to just chill, to relax, to not worry about getting something done. I tend to be very task-oriented. I have my to-do lists and I don't feel happy with myself if I don't check everything off the list. It can be hard for me to recognize when I need to back off and just let it go. When I do recognize it and actually do it, though, it's pretty great.

I hope you all had a great weekend! 

#1658 simple pleasure Monday - I found some money!

The other day I was listening to the radio and there was an advertisement, or maybe a public service announcement, about the government having unclaimed property. They gave a website address - I can't even remember what it was now, but I decided to check it out.

I entered the information it asked for, and a list of like names popped up along with addresses. I saw my name and address with a note that there was unclaimed cash over $100 and it was from the ISU Credit Union. That credit union is where I had my first account at college and I guess I had forgotten that I had a balance in the account!

I requested a check and got it today. It was $101, not much, but it's $100 that I didn't have yesterday!

#1649 bad and good

Since I've been back from San Diego, I have had an emotional week culminating with some upsetting news from my knee doctor on Friday. I think I mentioned before that I had to go to University Hospital for a CT scan on my right knee. It turns out that I have a few cysts in the kneecap between the bone and the implant. The cysts are not causing me pain, and they haven't grown from September to March, so we plan to watch them and see what happens. I'll meet again with the surgeon in six months for another evaluation.

Removing the cysts would require surgery and the hospital where the surgeon practices is not covered as a primary provider by my insurance. I can still have the surgery there, but the out-of-pocket expenses will be higher. Also, my left knee has been causing me lots of pain lately; in fact, I had a steroid injection and liquid drained from the knee on Friday also.

It was a lot of shit to deal with on a Friday morning! I cried a whole bunch, even though I knew the tears were worthless. Stress relief, I suppose.

Today I felt better about life in general. My left knee felt good because of the steroid injection. At WW I stepped on the scale to find myself up 1.6 lbs. I wasn't surprised. I've been doing some emotional eating this week, plus I ate like I was on vacation while I was in San Diego. It was worth it. And bright side, when I weighed myself on Tuesday morning here at home, I was up about four pounds over my last WW weigh in, so I think I did a pretty good job of getting myself back in line before today's weigh in.

To get out of my dark mood, I was a giver today. I gave blood at the Red Cross. I do double reds which means I'm hooked up to a machine that takes out whole blood, filters out the red blood cells and puts everything else back in. The hospitals end up getting two pints of perfectly wonderful filtered red blood cells that are ready for use and I don't have to give again for 112 days.

After the blood giving, I headed up to Red Butte Garden to do a little volunteer work. I spent a couple of hours wandering with purpose around the Children's Garden recording everything that is in bloom. There are a lot more things in bloom this week than last week. It's really cool to see the changes. I like bloom recording because I have to stay focused and in the moment. My mind doesn't get to roam around and think about anything but the plants and trees that I'm looking at. I get completely caught up in the task at hand. I love that.

After thoroughly looking through the Children's Garden, I got my camera and walked around the whole garden taking photos. I don't know if they will find anything they will ever use, but I sure have fun. I just like to take photos of landscapes and colors and shapes that I find beautiful. Here are a few photos that I took today:

click on this photo and you'll see a duck on the left that came in for a landing

entrance to rose garden

I liked the look of this fluffy flowering plant

Texas scarlet flowering quince. First time I've seen it in bloom

view to the Oquirrhs

cute fish sculpture by the pond

LILACS!!

I love this Gambel oak covered with ivy

Just...ahh

this is the first time I've seen the flowering pears on the trellises

the path through the cherry blossoms

I am totally infatuated with Red Butte Garden! Every time I go there is something new to see. I wish you could smell some of these photos. The aroma up there is incredible. I have a personal goal to have 50 hours of volunteer time there this year. I'm pretty sure I can do it. I worry about getting burned out, but so far so good :)

~~~~~~

I finished this book! Check out the 2016 Reading page

#1576 2015 recap

Since this is my final post of 2015, I guess the time is right to recap the year. 2015 was a good year for me in lots of ways. First of all, everyone in my family is healthy and safe, so I'm thankful for that. I was able to go on two wonderful vacations and I had a couple of trips to California, too. I got to spend a long weekend with my sister. I read a lot. I lost a little weight. I feel pretty good mentally and physically.

Here are my highlights:

January - we bought the property we now call the fixer upper.

February - I went to southern California to visit my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary

March - T turned 17

April - T and I went to southern California to celebrate my dad's 75th birthday

May - my BFF LA came over for our "girl's weekend" and T received the Mayor's Star of Excellence award

June - 10 days in Hawaii!!

July - MT and I saw the Zac Brown Band in concert; T went to visit friends in California by himself

August - T got a job and started his senior year of high school; MT and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary

September -  T and I saw Taylor Swift in concert; I spent two glorious weeks in Barcelona with my mom and my sister!!

October - I was sick the entire month (the worst thing of the year); Lizzie came for a visit

November - Thanksgiving in Pocatello with the worst possible road conditions on the way there

December - T and I went to Southern California to celebrate my mom's birthday; Christmas in Pocatello

I've lost about 16 lbs this year. I read 53 books - let's say 54 because I'll finish the book I'm reading now by tomorrow afternoon. I've seen a bunch of movies and gone to several Jazz games.

I'm looking forward to 2016. It will be a very interesting year for me.

I wish all of you a safe and happy new year. Talk to you again soon!

#1553 out for a walk

First thing...I said I wouldn't talk about my health until I had taken all the meds. The last antibiotic and nasal spray treatment was taken last night, so I can now tell you that I feel a lot better! Hurray! The stuffiness is gone, the headache is gone. I still have a little sinus drainage, but the worst of the coughing fits are gone. The extreme fatigue is gone too and I'm super grateful to be feeling more like my old self.

Last night I wrote that I felt like I must get out for a walk today, so I did. I was planning to take Osi with me, but yesterday she had two seizures. One was at 3AM and the other was around noon. I was afraid a walk would excite her too much and bring on another seizure, which has happened before, so I went out on my own.

Not too far from where I live is a new-ish housing development that runs along the Jordan River Parkway (at least I think that's what it is). There are a couple of man-made lakes and the river walkway and that's where I decided to walk. It was pretty chilly, in the low 40s, but I bundled up and felt good. I wasn't out for very long and the best part - no coughing during the walk!

I took a couple of pics:

This first photo shows the river in the foreground and the Wasatch Front in the background. You can see it was a pretty day. Clear and cold.

I took this photo down at the edge of the lake looking back to the west toward the sun setting behind the Oquirrh mountains. 

As I was wandering around, I noticed a sidewalk that went through a neighborhood. This sidewalk goes along the river (?) and there are houses on either side. I would like to walk through here some more. The houses are very nice and it's really quiet, too.

Like I said, I wasn't out for very long. I set the timer on my phone for 15 minutes and started walking. When the timer went off, I turned around and headed back to my car. It felt really good to get outside and stretch my legs. I listened to music and cleared my head and enjoyed the moment.

I hope you all had a good weekend! Talk to you tomorrow.

#1457 a new toy

My boys gave me a FitBit ChargeHR for my birthday. I'd seen a commercial for it one time and commented that it was cool that the FitBit had a heart rate monitor in it now, and I guess the comment stuck with MT. He knows I've been getting back into exercise and I always liked my heart rate monitor. Honestly, the FitBit is something I never knew I wanted until I put it on this morning. It's a pretty cool little gadget. Mine is black and pretty much looks like a big bracelet. It's not really that cute, but I'm going to wear it all the time! It tells me the time, how many steps I've taken today (13,748 - more on that in a minute), my current heart rate (66), how many miles I've walked today (5.82), how many calories I've burned (2,718), and how many flightes of stairs I've climbed (21 - have I been up and down the stairs 21 times today?) There's also an app that I downloaded on my beloved iPhone that syncs with the FitBit and keeps track of stuff so I can compare all those categories daily. I think I'm in love!

So about all those steps I've had today...I'm gonna go ahead and say that number will not be normal for me. You see, I walked to my Weight Watchers meeting this morning and then back home. It was about four miles, two miles each way. (Oh yeah, the FitBit also has an exercise tracking function so you can set it when you start and it will tell you how long you did the exercise and what your average heart rate was during the activity. Genius!) It wasn't too bad to walk like that. I don't mind walking if I have a destination. Also, I think there will be some walking involved during the time in Hawaii, so I wanted to make sure I was feeling up to it. What I learned today was that my Keens (shoes) that I was planning to do most of my walking in are great on gravel but not really cushion-y on the road and I got a little blister on the bottom of my left foot.  I will be taking along my Sketchers Go Walks because those shoes are like walking on a cloud. I also learned that I must have an awkward gait because my right hip/lower right back is feeling very uncomfortable with every step I take with my right leg. Hopefully I will be able to sleep it off and stretch it out. I was feeling pretty old with my blister and my hip. :(

The FitBit will also track my sleep or soemthing. I'll be trying out that feature tonight, and probably pretty soon. I'm tired!

A couple more random things to mention:

I'm reading a book, The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper, that I really think I read before. It's kind of familiar, but I don't know what's going to happen, so I'm not sure if I've read it but I think I may have. The whole thing is kind of messing with my brain, but it's a good story, so I'm going to finish it. I looked at my 2012 Reading List and didn't see it, so maybe I read it before 2012 or maybe I haven't read it at all. See? I'm confused!

Last night MT and I went to see Spy. It made me laugh. Melissa McCarthy was very good in it. I have kind of a love/hate thing with her. I liked her in The Heat and Bridesmaids, but I couldn't finish Identity Thief and didn't even give Tammy a try. It's hit and miss for me with her. But Spy was a hit. Liked it a lot!

Summer has officially started at my house. T is finished with school! Yesterday was the last day and I didn't see him at all since he was hanging out with his friends and attending a graduation party. No, he didn't graduate, but he has friends who were seniors so he partied with them. I think he had a fun night. He was the DD.

We are now only days away from the Hawaii trip! I will actually be putting stuff in my suitcase probably as early as tomorrow. Well, maybe I'll wait until Monday, but maybe not!

Have a great weekend!

#1448 gym time, coconut oil hair treatment and wishing for four day work-weeks

A quick follow-up to yesterday's post:

I mentioned that MT had never read anything I've written here, so I asked him specifically to read what I wrote yesterday because I was worried that I wasn't accurately describing the work he was doing on the fixer upper. He said I was doing just fine, so I felt better! And since he was looking at the blog, he scrolled through and read some other posts, too. He didn't say anything about any of them, though.

Today is Memorial Day, a day to honor the fallen heroes and to remember our loved ones that have passed. I will confess that I didn't do much memorializing. I did enjoy having the day off from work, though! I started out the day at the gym. It's been a long time since I did back-to-back classes, but I decided to give it a try today. I did an hour-long spinning class, then a 75 minutes Zumba class. I won't lie: I was tired and a little stiff in the joints when it was over. It felt good, though, and I'm glad I did it, especially because I haven't been very good at watching my food intake this weekend.

I had a hard time sleeping last night. I think it was mostly because I was really full from the feast I made for MT's birthday dinner. I cooked rib-eye steaks, prosciutto-wrapped asparagus and potatoes with onion. I also made a killer chocolate cake (I think I mentioned all this yesterday.) So I ate heartily, and was very full. T went to see a late movie with a friend, and I always have a hard time sleeping when he isn't home. I had just fallen asleep when he got home, so then I was awake again, so I looked at Pinterest. I saw something about using coconut oil as a hair moisturizing treatment. I happen to have some coconut oil in my cupboard (from Trader Joe's!)  so this morning after my workout, I decided to try out the coconut oil hair treatment.

All I did was put some coconut oil on my hair, paying special attention to the ends. I use heating tools almost every day, and my hair was looking a little like straw. After I was coated with coconut oil, I wrapped a towel around my head and sat around reading for about half an hour. I took a nice shower and washed my hair twice to make sure I got all the oil out. I didn't bother with conditioner. My hair is soft and clean and looks good. I let it dry naturally, too, so I think that helped. I will definitely do the coconut oil treatment again.

The rest of the day was pretty lazy. MT was at the fixer upper; T was mostly here at the house. I had to take a nap this afternoon. It was luxurious. Kids just don't know how good they have it with nap-time. I've been reading a lot today. I intended to watch some movies this weekend, but that didn't happen. I like my book too much, I guess.

What a lovely weekend! I wish we had three day weekends all the time.

#1417 hanging with the family

T and I got to Southern California on Thursday evening. I still didn't feel well. Everyone commented on how stuffy I sounded and not like in a "Hello Luvey" kind of stuffy. I was all nasal-y and yucky. I am taking some good meds now and I can feel them working, but I've been so stuffed up and yucky that it's taking time to get better.

On Friday we all took it easy in the morning. In the late afternoon we had Dad's birthday lunch at Panda Inn. The food was good and plentiful; the company was wonderful. We didn't do much in the evening, just watched TV and chatted.

Today is Saturday. I went to WW. Here's a bonus about being sick and eating nothing but toast for a few days: you drop LBs. I was down three pounds this week. Sheesh! I would dearly love to keep those pounds off, too.

Lizzie and I took Dad to dialysis, then the remaining four of us went to El Cholo for lunch. The filet mignon tacos there are about my favorite meal in the world. This afternoon, after picking Dad up and bringing him home, Lizzie and I went to see a movie, The DUFF. It's adorable and the people were attractive and fun to watch.

Now it's time to watch basketball and maybe even some Ghost Adventures. (It's Lizzie and my guilty pleasure!)

The weather has been beautiful and I have enjoyed sitting outside a little bit. I'm still pretty congested, but I am feeling better. My sinuses are draining and that is causing me to cough, which is annoying. I'll keep medicating and sooner or later I will be back to full strength.

Spending time with my family in California gives me special joy and I'm thankful for the days I get to hang out with them!

#1412 finally...some rain

I'm so happy that it is raining a little today. It has been so dry that I think everyone felt relieved and happy to see the showers.

Plus, April showers bring May flowers! :)

It's weird when I write every other day. It feels like so long ago since I wrote, but it was just on Monday when I was watching the NCAA Championship game. And it's not like I have been busy doing really cool things on the day in between the writing. Last night I worked a little late, went to the grocery store and cleaned up the kitchen. Big fun at my house! MT watched TV, T did homework and I squeezed in a little reading.

Tonight, another late evening at work (I'm training a new employee and she hasn't hit her groove just yet). When I got home, I quickly put on some gym clothes and headed over to take the cardio kickboxing class. It was fun. The instructor is nice and energetic.  She is an apple-shape. She's kind of round. Her punching style is funny. Her arms kind of flail about because she's going so fast that her form isn't very pretty. I have to remember the sequences she calls out, "Jab! Cross! Hook! Upper!"  and not watch her because I can't tell what the hell punches she's doing. I still enjoyed the class. :)

I haven't been doing a very good job of getting to bed by 10 since the sleep challenge of our safety meeting. This month's challenge is getting in 64 oz of liquid every day. This one has been easy. It seems like I'm always sipping on something. The safety challenge organizers even said the 64 oz don't have to be just water. Any liquid is ok except for alcohol. Like I said, easy. I'm told the next challenge will be a lot harder. It will probably involve vegetables. I'll find out next week.

Speaking of challenges, Easter is over, so my Lenten fast from sweets is finished. I was really looking forward to having some Easter candy and I made a special trip to the store to buy what I wanted: a Reese's peanut butter cup egg. I bought some little Cadbury cream eggs for good measure. On Sunday afternoon I unwrapped the Reese's, smelled it and took a bite. It didn't taste very good. I put it down and walked away. About 20 minutes later, I took another bite. Still not good. I threw it away and left the candy at Linda's house. I did eat a cookie with lunch. It was all right. On Monday I had a cupcake that my friend Gabby made. That was good. 

I am going to make some cookies on Saturday or Sunday. I've had the recipe pinned (from Pinterest!) for about 45 days now and I think I'd like to make them, eat one (or maybe more?)  and get them out of my system.

When I think about the weight I've dropped in the past 40 days and the willpower I have demonstrated to myself, I think, "Why do you even want to have a sweet? You don't need it and you're doing so well." I just try to take it one day at a time and give myself something to look forward to.

I think what I want to try to do without is diet soda. It would be good to get out of that rut.

#1391 Saturday matinee: Cinderella

There is no explaining how much I LOVED watching Cinderella. It was beautiful and magical and perfect. I might go see it again tomorrow because I loved it that much.

Where should I start? From the opening scene, I was entranced with how beautifully filmed the movie was. The location was spectacular. The story differed a little from the fairy tale, but it worked for me. (Although I was sad there was no Bruno.)

The actors were all wonderful and lovely. The costumes were exquisite. The ballroom scene was breathtaking.

I know. I'm gushing. I just really loved it.


The fairy godmother. Just the right amount of ditzy and wonderful.

The prince was hot. Great smile.

Cinderella was gorgeous.

But Cate Blanchett though as the stepmother. Every time she was on the screen, it was like no one else was there. I couldn't stop looking at her. She's fantastic.

The costumes - have I mentioned the costumes? Every one made me say "Wow".  The blue dress was spectacular. It floated and sparkled and was dreamy in every way.

The ball scene was my absolute favorite. Look at all the dresses. Beautiful!

But my favorite dress...that dress at the end - the wedding dress. It was so beautiful I almost teared up.  My goodness. I loved loved loved it. Could it be any more perfect?

The movie was a feast for the eyes and for a girl like me who loves the Disney fairy tales, it was perfect.

I almost forgot! Before the actual film even started, there was a wonderful Frozen featurette that was GREAT. Elsa was throwing Anna a birthday party, then Elsa caught a cold. Every time she sneezed, little snowmen came out of her (that doesn't sound appealing, but it really was cute). There was a peppy Frozen song and everyone was there and it was awesome.

When I was thinking of writing about the movie, I was going to be a little more mellow about it, but then I started looking for the pics and got all caught up in it again. Sorry to be so girly and gush-y. But...sigh...it was just so wonderful :)

#1381 second class of the month is done

I was back at the gym tonight. I did a spinning class. I was pretty sore all day, but once I got on the bike, everything kind of loosened up and I felt good. The instructor was a lady that I have taken classes from before, but a couple of years ago, and I was surprised that she remembered me. I told her that I'd been on a lengthy "sabbatical" from the gym and it was only my second day back. She told me to go at my own pace and that she knew I would be fine. It was good encouragement. I rode pretty hard for about 40 minutes, then I was out of gas. I kept pedaling and breathing hard, but kept a pretty easy pace and resistance level. It was the right thing for me because I felt good after the class.

Even though my muscles have been sore (and now my bum area will be tender from that bike seat!), it feels good to get back into some physical activity! I think classes are definitely the right thing for me. I know they will be an hour long and I don't have to think about what to do. Someone tells me and I do it to the best of my ability.

#1343 hair day

I got my hair did today :) I schedule my hair appointments every 12 weeks. As it's getting longer it doesn't need to be cut as often, but I do like to get a trim every three months. Today I added some dark "low-lights" also. The white hairs around the front of my face were starting to bring me down. I also changed the style just a tiny bit.

before

 

 

 

 

during

after

 

 

I don't know if you can tell much difference, but I can! I felt spunky and sassy and just better after my time in the salon with Lanna. The biggest difference, besides the richer color is that she trimmed a long bang. It's kind of driving my crazy right now, but it will be just right in a week or so.

In other news, I was down 0.2 lbs at WW today. It's not much, but it's a minus. I'm bummed when I'm up 0.2, so I'm happy when I'm down 0.2. Our leader devises challenges for us to keep us interested and motivated. She just created a new challenge and she calls it "6-5-4". The challenge lasts for six weeks, it costs $5 and in the six weeks we have to lose four pounds. The challenge ends on Feb. 14. If we lose the four pounds, we get our $5 back. If we don't, the money stays in the pot and the person who loses the most weight in that time wins the pot. It's the first time I have participated in this challenge and I am very interested in getting my $5 back. It would be great/fantastic/phenomenal to lose more than the four, but I will be super happy with minus four by Feb. 14.