Memory Lane

Matt and I decided to do a morning date this morning to change things up a bit. Partially because we have nothing going on today and are able to do whatever we'd like, and partially because there's a storm on the horizon and we're not sure if we should be out and about tonight. So for lunch we went to Winger's. As usual, I had a Sticky Finger Dinner and Matt had All You Can Eat Wings with Original Sauce. YUM!

On the way home, we passed an empty garbage bin in the middle of our dirt road and I had a flash back. The wind is blowing right now at a steady 30+ miles per hour with crazy gusts. Many years ago we were having a seriously windy storm in Tooele. I was pregnant, though I don't recall which child I was carrying. I remember hearing something unusual and looking out the window to see a garbage bin blowing down the street. I ran outside, barefoot and pregnant, and ran down the road to stop the garbage bin. Picking it upright and dragging it back was a bit of a challenge considering we were going against the winds that were absolutely crazy.

Once I arrived back home, I discovered the garbage bin was not mine. *heavy sigh* I had rescued a neighbor's bin. Our typical plan for preventing this from happening again was to put a large rock on top of the bin to weigh it down a bit and keep the lid from flapping open, allowing physics to do it's work as the garbage bin falls over.

Today I was grateful it was not my garbage bin all the way down the dirt road, and I'm also grateful not to be pregnant. As this storm comes upon us, my garbage bins are against the house, protected from the south and western winds that whip around the side of the house and blow everything around.

Now to get the last handful of large things out of the garage so I can park the van inside. Never a dull moment!

Crazy Summer Dayze

School is not even out yet for two of my kids and the chaos has begun. Of course I have to remind myself that I signed up for this. In years past the kids drove me absolutely berzerk by the end of summer and I was ready to pay the school district to take them back. But alas, my sanity was at stake. So now I make sure my kids are busy so that no one is bored or bouncing off the walls.

Not everyday is like today....thank goodness. I've had very few minutes at home today. Elijah's class did a wax museum. It was SO COOL! The kids wrote a report on someone who has influenced America. Then they had to memorize several seconds in preparation for the wax museum. On the big day, the kids dressed up like their character. This caused some unusual havoc in our home at the early hour of 8am.

Last night we had set aside Sunday dress clothes for Elijah to wear. His character was Shia LeBouef. Sadly, I had no idea who this is and said to him a few days ago, "You're going to dress up like a girl?"

He quickly corrected me. I was informed that Shia is a boy who is an actor in several recent movies. Anyway, back to this morning's havoc. After family prayer Elijah says, "Mom, I need to draw spots on my face."

It took me a moment to get it. He wanted to have a Go-T! Okay. So I pulled out my eye brow pencil that never gets used. Why did I buy that thing anyway? For moments like this. Ha ha! I am prepared. Spots it is. He goes and looks in the mirror and exclaims, "What? That's not black!" And the spots were wiped off very quickly.

Umm, who said he needed a black Go-T? He surely didn't. Go-T take two. Pull out the black eye liner....that never gets used. Once again spots are rapidly added to the chin and upper lip. Once again he looks in the mirror and becomes very upset, then removes the spots yet again. "The spots were too big."

By this time his ride is ready to go and he disappears out the door upset with me. Shia LaBouef did not have a Go-T today. So sad.

I quickly showered and dressed. I even put on makeup which is pretty rare for me to do during the week. I grabbed my temple bag and hurried off to the elementary school to the wax museum! After signing in at the office, I find Elijah's classroom. The school is set up in a circular fashion and I feel like I already passed it before I ever get to his classroom. Besides, who puts 4th & 5th grade after 1st grade? No wonder why I always feel like I missed it.

First person I see when I enter the classroom is Elijah's girlfriend, Jane. She's so cute. (She's also a twin and her brother is Elijah's best friend. Interesting, huh?) All the kids have a red sticker on their hand that is their button. So I pushed her button and she came to life and gave her speech and then froze back into a statue again. So cute! After pushing several more buttons, I finally look around and find my son and cross the room skipping half the class. I push his button and he did a magnificent job on his memorized speech about Shia LaBouef. I thought I had taken video of him but for some reason it didn't record. Matt would tell me it's PEBKAC. He's probably right, as usual.

I left the school at 9:50 and realized I was going to miss the 10am session at the temple. I had planned on attending the 11am anyway, thinking I'd spend more time in the classroom. Weighing my options, I decided to just enjoy the extra time reading scriptures while I waited.

Once the session ended I headed straight to a neighbor's house for an appointment to plan the elementary school t-shirts for next school year. How I got roped into being in charge of that, I'm not sure. The new PTA president (No names mentioned) somehow caught me on a good day and sweet talked me into it. Actually she nearly scared me out of it, but somehow I still said yes. I'm still not sure what I was thinking. I haven't served on the PTA in years. I'm a rebel that way. Anyway, my appointment was at 1pm and I got there a few minutes later. I had a granola bar that was practically melted on my way so that my stomach wouldn't do all the talking and forced myself to drink some hot water out of the collection of partially drunk water bottles floating around the car. Today would not be a good day for me to end up in the hospital due to dehydration.

After telling the t-shirt guy everything I don't want, I picked a couple colors, told him he had to be the creative one because my creative juices are fresh out and I left...much earlier than I'd expected, which bodes well for my to do list!!!

After rushing home I tell Sara to hurry and put on her shoes so we can make a quick trip to Walmart. She's got to pick out paint colors for her room. That's a great way to use my extra 50 minutes before my next appointment! Again I have to remind myself, I signed up for this. I'm the one that scheduled everything so far on this crazy day. What was I thinking? So I peel an orange and inhale it on the way to Walmart and send Sara off to look at paint swatches. I scurry through the gargantuan store that is big enough to be an alternative gym as I zigzag back and forth grabbing things that I need as well as things that should have been on my list...or at least I tell myself that to feel better about a couple small spontaneous purchases. Sara is still looking at colors. I decide to join her, but her tastes are much different than my own, so I'm not much help to her at all. But of course the super woman inside me says I could paint this room this color and all the halls this color and that room this color....and suddenly have at least a dozen color swatches of my own to pour through later!

I'm done looking and collecting paint swatches and Sara is still looking. It's time to go or I'll be late for my next appointment. Cash registers here I come. Sara will have to catch up. I text her which register I'm at and she joins me a couple minutes later.

My next appointment is for my haircut. I've been wanting to chop off the bulk so I'm not so hot during the day...or at night when I have the extra heat of the pillow. Gratefully, my hair dresser was not rushed and did a magnificent job and got me out the door to go back to the school to pick up kids. I'm end of the school day taxi driver and if I'm not there when the kids are on their way, they freak out thinking they've been forgotten. Heaven forbid I be just around the corner actually on my way!

On the way home Elijah reminds me I've approved for him to go to his best friend's house to play. Chores come first! But of course his chores are done in a jiffy and he wants me to take him NOW! UGH. Ten minutes from now I have to head out to run errands (Wait a minute, exactly what have I been doing all day if I'm just getting around to running errands?) and sit with Zack through his drum lessons. Elijah is frustrated he has to wait. But this taxi driver wants to avoid one zigzag back to the house in the process of the crazy day. Elijah will survive.

After sending Zack's friend home, Elijah, Zack and I pile into the taxi, I mean van and deliver Elijah to his best friend's house. So glad Josh is okay to hang out with Sara for awhile! But, one of the errands is for Sara. Before drum lessons, we head to Walgreen's to develop some pictures from an old 35mm disposable camera. YIKES! *heavy sigh*

Side story: Yesterday Sara had two guy friends over to make "blood cookies" (Red Velvet Cookies) for another guy friend who is on a mission. Anybody else see the irony? Pictures were taken and must be developed, thus the errand to Walgreen's, as they are the only ones left who develop 35mm one hour photo.

Off to drum lessons. Luckily Zack's drum teacher has two pairs of heavy duty headphones to help muffle the loudness of the drumming and music played on the huge sound system. I try to ignore it all while I sit and read my kindle for half an hour, pretending it's quality reading time. What was the Borg's theory? Oh, right. Resistance is futile. Most of the time I have to reread the page to process the words on the virtual page. But at least I can look cool sitting there with an entire library in my hands!

Drum lessons complete, back to running errands. The Water Mart is not far from drum lessons and we're fresh out, which is not good considering our tap water is SO very disgusting. Since I'm tired of running out of water so quickly now that summer is upon us, I decided to buy two more bottles to add to the collection. Hurray for yummy water!

Our hour is up and back to Walgreen's we go to pick up the film. Of course there's someone else at the film counter taking her sweet time while her children shop the rest of the store and bring her items to be approved for purchase, so while I waited, I shopped for a pair of sunglasses as mine have become scratched from constant use. After all, the taxi driver must be able to see the road through the rays of summer sunshine, right?

Home again, home again, jiggity, jig. Finally at home I collapse into my big chair beside my bed. Two minutes later Matt arrives home from work and we discuss how thoroughly worn out we are. Who needs dinner, right? Because neither of us have the energy to pursue anything in the kitchen. Popcorn sounded good to me! But we decided to go with fried chicken. After sitting for 15 minutes and realizing the chicken still wasn't cooking itself, I look at the clock and realize Sara needs to go to play practice. Don't shut the meter off on the taxi cab. Off we go...again.

Back at home, I look at the wall to see who has clear and set table tonight so that I can have some help getting dinner on. Matt has decided to cut up some potatoes to go with our fried chicken. YUM! I'm an Idaho girl and I love potatoes. Joshua offers to help chop the potatoes and I start hollering for Elijah. Again and again...wait a minute. If you've been following me closely, I never picked him up from his friend's house. HOLY COW! Seriously. Back to the van. If I had realized that you know, five minutes earlier, I could have picked him up on my way home from dropping Sara off. But NO! And yet this won't be my last trip out of the house today.

I collected Elijah and brought him home to get ready for dinner. I thought his chores were supposedly done! Oh well. Too late now. That's what I get for not checking on him. Mental note for next time. We finally sit down to dinner at 7:45 and my brain feels like mush. I'm in a bit of a haze. Dinner didn't sit so well. Too much fried food, I guess. The kids didn't mind, they still have rock hard stomachs that can handle anything.

Moments later the text arrives, "Mom, we're done."

If only I had the attitude of the old song, "Life is a highway, I'm gonna drive it all night long." But at least my sweet daughter didn't start walking home tonight. Someday she will have her license so that a percentage of my taxi driving will decrease. I often ask myself, "Self, is it worth it to have a third vehicle to have to put gas into and maintain just so the teenagers don't crash the family vehicles while driving themselves around so that I can have a break?"

The answer is yet to be seen. But apparently the answer is supposedly yes since I have a fixed up clunker in my driveway waiting to be registered, then driven by a girl who is not supposed to be old enough to be hanging out with boys and talking about her first date. Where did the time go? Not just today, but years. Where have the years gone?

Sitting in a daze I wonder if I have enough umph left to make it to the gym for a workout. I guess I should have dragged my butt out of bed at 6am to do that. The gym closes in less than half an hour. Then again, maybe I should skip getting into the van again, and just go for a walk. My big dog, Nanna would sure like that. Will I? I don't know if there's anything left in me tonight.

If only I had a clone. It would be so nice to have one of me home to do the dishes and the laundry and get the house clean, as well as work on the major projects like tearing carpet out and painting rooms while I'm off in my taxi van, zigzagging through time. Oh well. The house gets to be a mess. It's okay I guess. We live here.

High Adventure!

Two years ago, a dear friend of mine, Verlene, talked me into climbing Angel's Landing for a birthday adventure. All of her other friends had declined the opportunity! I'm always up for an adventure, so we booked a nearby hotel to Zion's National Park and went mid April of 2009.

I LOVE southern Utah with the red rock. It is beautiful. It's like I'm in a different part of the world just a few hours south of my home. The day was absolutely gorgeous. Since it was early April it was not too hot and not too cold. Verlene is much more physically fit than I, so she would have had a bit of an advantage over me; however, that day she got allergies REALLY badly and she could hardly see. I'm guessing her memories of that trip are pretty miserable. That night once we'd figured out it was allergies I gave her some of my allergy meds and she did great the next day. I feel bad that I didn't giver her some sooner.

The climb up Angel's Landing was beautiful! I used my camera as an excuse on dozens of occasions to catch my breath and take some pictures. I probably have 300 pictures from that trip! Towards the top of our climb, you are basically walking the ridge line over to the next peak before reaching the plateau at the top. There are a couple spots where there's no path, just a pole and a rope to help you make it up. At one spot in particular, it is quite narrow and only one person can pass through at a time. Considering how slow I am, many people were coming down by the time we were climbing up it, so we had to take turns and wait. Verlene and I are very friendly people and started to visit with the people around us as we waited our turn. There was a guy behind us from Texas that was on vacation by himself and hiking several parts of Zion's National Park. His name was Joe. He was very polite about waiting and was behind us for probably the last 20 minutes or more.

Here's a side note to help you understand the ending of my story. I used to watch the TV show FRIENDS. Matt and I bought every season and watched it from start to finish. In one particular episode, Joey is dating a girl who would always eat food off Joey's plate. Joey really liked her and didn't want to break up with her just because of this habit of hers, so they guys helped Joey brainstorm ideas. On their next date, Joey bought every side dish on the menu for her so that she wouldn't need to take anything off his plate. But of course she does anyway, after which Joey loudly announces, "Joey doesn't share food!" as he slams his fists on the table.

Now back to our story. At the end of our climb is a huge plateau that seems to be floating. The views around us are absolutely breath taking. Verlene and I sit down to enjoy some lunch. Joe wandered our way and continued talking with us while we began to eat. I put my backpack at my feet and I'm sitting with my legs crossed to eat when I notice a little chipmunk venturing closer and closer. We're watching it and joking about it. I'm using my backpack as a table or bowl so that my food is not on the ground while I eat. Next thing I know that little chipmunk is trying to climb into my backpack and help itself to my lunch, so I loudly say, "Joey doesn't share food!" I didn't think it was that funny as Verlene just about died laughing, when I realized Joe is standing right there looking at me like I'm crazy. Amidst Verlene's laughter, she explains to Joe my reference from the old TV show FRIENDS and tells him I'm not talking about him, which is about the time I figure out why Verlene is laughing so hard. Talk about open mouth insert foot! It was a very funny situation. That little chipmunk provided us great entertainment!

Gorilla Feet: The Results of Research

I've been having issues with threats of shin splints when I run, as well as my foot going to sleep towards the end of my half an hour of jogging and walking. NOT COOL. But, my awesome husband loves to research. So he reads up on how to prevent shin splints, and what causes them. Shin splints are caused by an incorrect stride, meaning how your foot hits the ground. In other words, I'm running wrong. I'm still on week two of the Couch to 5K program, so it's not like I'm running much, but I definitely need to prevent shin splints or I won't be going at all.

In the process of Matt's research, he found a new theory with plenty of evidence demonstrating that running barefoot is best for correct stride, and removing joint and muscle issues. You're not going to find me running barefoot. First of all I'm a woos. I don't want to step on anything that might poke my feet. Second, it's against the rules at the gym, which solves my first problem! SO...there's a brand of shoes called Vibram Five Fingers that fit like a foot glove, with a bit of rubber on the bottom. Wearing them is basically the same as running barefoot! They have several different styles in order to fit your kind of feet. I was very excited they had a pair that fit me, as I have particularly wide feet.

After Matt's extensive research, including reading a whole book about barefoot running, we decided to buy each of us a pair as our birthday present. (Both of our birthdays are at the end of the month. It's very convenient right after tax returns!) We found out that Vibrams can't be found just anywhere. Here in the Salt Lake Valley, one can find them at REI or at Salt Lake Running Co.

There is a catch. Someone who is an avid runner should not buy a pair of these and continue their usual running routine. A person's stride needs to be correct, otherwise the feet begin to hurt and can be seriously damaged. Lucky for me, I'm just getting back into my fitness routine and am not yet running a lot. Even with switching to a new stride, the calf muscles are not used to the new angle of work and become very sore. So my calf muscles are being strengthened! For now I'm just wearing them around the house to get used to walking correctly. Tomorrow I may attempt to run my C25K routine in them to begin my gradual switch to "barefoot running."

Matt has already found a great reduction in pain from wearing his for one day! He's been having knee and hip pain the past few weeks. At this point, when he's on his feet, he's not in pain! Just because his stance is better with the barefoot adjustments. Now if only he could work on his computer standing up!

Today is day two for me. In a few weeks I'll let you know how they're treating me.

Vibrom's regular price is about $100 a pair. YIKES! I know. But if you normally buy running shoes, you know that you'd spend that much anyway. They say to replace your running shoes every 500 miles. The good news is some long distance runners are reporting 5000+ miles on their Vibrom's! That's nine pairs of shoes I won't have to buy (should I decide these work for me), then saving me approximately $900 dollars! I look for good deals and use coupons, so realistically it's saving me $450.

Anyway, at the Barnson's we're all about the weirdness, the geekiness, and all that jazz. This particular health kick involves what I call Gorilla shoes! It's weird having my toes individually wrapped, like toe socks. Meanwhile, I have some running habits to change. Wish me luck!

4:30 am kicks my butt!

The Herriman Rec Center has finally opened. Hurray! It's about a mile and a quarter from our house and I have been anxiously awaiting a membership. Matt signed us up right away and then managed to talk me into getting to the gym when it opens at 5am. In order to actually do this and make it a habit, we decided every day is necessary. 4:30...am? Seriously? I said yes to what? For those of you who don't know me well, I'm a night owl. I love to burn my candle at the end of the day, during the hours when the children are asleep. Oh, sleep is so precious.

Once upon a time I used to run on a regular basis. In fact, when Elijah was an infant, he would wake up about 4:15 am to nurse. After I fed and changed him, I'd hit the road with Verlene to run every morning. Then of course I'd go home and take a nap! This past year and three months Matt and I have been getting up at 6am to cook breakfast for the kids every weekday and I felt like that was uber early. Now 6am feels like sleeping in!

It's been about a year and a half since Matt and I were going to the gym down in South Jordan. Needless to say, I'm SO out of shape. Eat right and exercise is the name of the game. We downloaded a "Couch to 5K" program onto our ipods to help us build up some running stamina. It's pretty cool. I turn on the music on my ipod, then start the App and the guy tells me to walk and run. There's a five minute warm up, then I run for 60 seconds and walk for 90 seconds for the next 20 minutes, finally a 5 minute cool down. I'm so excited to be running again...one minute at a time! LOL! During the last two running sessions I'm basically draggin' my wagon around the track, but I'm feeling SO much better!

I'm ready to start week 2 on the Couch to 5K program. That means I'll be running for 90 seconds and then walking for 2 minutes. Woohoo! I know it's pathetic, but, at least I'm finally working on getting my butt into a nicer shape. Hopefully my belly will lose it's shape all together. In the meantime, I'm no longer a night owl. 9:30 pm rolls around and I am beat. Anything left will just have to wait for tomorrow morning. 4:30 am comes awfully fast.

Defining Moments

It's been somewhat of a shocking day for me today. Once in awhile life provides moments that define who you are, but today, it happened over and over again.

My boys are off track, which is always a challenge for me. I agreed to take a dear friend to an appointment this morning since she can't drive herself. She has become my best friend and I enjoy every moment I can with her. On our way home, we stopped at the Water Mart in Riverton for some Gelato. It is my fault that my friend Jenn is hooked on gelato! Now we must stop to get some each time we go somewhere together. My boys were SO excited about this. The store had just opened, and the gelato was not defrosted enough to scoop yet, so we waited a few minutes. In the meantime, Jenn and I visited while the boys put the chairs down around the little tables in the cafe portion of the store. I was so glad there was something to keep them busy and even more grateful that they offered to help in that way.

After taking Jenn home, we continued to run other errands. Matt fixed my light and light cover on the van this morning, which was the last of the laundry list for the van to finally pass inspection. After verifying this at the Tunex (they have taken great care of us) we headed down to Draper at the point of the mountain to register the van. Thus far it has been a very blustery day, but at the point of the mountain, the winds seemed so much worse. I opened my van door and the wind took the door right out of my hands and SLAMMED it against the Cadillac Escalade next to me. Holy CraP! Just what we need, another vehicle repair bill. We climbed back in the van while I took out a business card, circled my phone number and email and wrote a note on the back apologizing. I felt SO bad. My vehicle is nearly ten years old and has plenty of dings. What's one more? Except that the rail across her doors actually helped protect her vehicle from being dented worse and actually left a huge dent in my door.

On our way into the building, I felt like the wind was so bad it might blow away one of the boys. Craziness! The nice thing about this particular DMV is that there is never a line. You walk in, get your number, wait maybe a minute and your number is called. I paid my registration, made polite small talk with the lady behind the desk and we left. The Escalade was still there, but I felt the need to rush to see if the driver was there, too. She was. I knocked on her window and told her what happened. She hadn't seen my note tucked under her wiper yet so I handed it to her and apologized profusely. She felt bad that it had happened to me and said she'd look at it later and give me a call. I told her it was bad and to not loose my number. I don't know if she had someplace to be or what, but she didn't even look at the dent. UGH.

On our way out of the parking lot I explained to the boys the importance of being honest in all your dealings, even if it means you have to spend money on something you didn't mean to do. We also talked about how that lady might have felt if she came across that dent without knowing it had happened and then had to pay for it herself. Teach by example, right?

After picking Sara up from school, Elijah and I started on the pizza, which was Elijah's choice since it's his dinner night. Dinner was planned to be part of our FHE, so we were excited. Then Matt brings me my phone. It's the receptionist at the dentist office. I thought that a little odd. Then she told me she quit her job last week because my dentist, Dr. Daniel R. Dowdle (4019 W. 12600 S. Suite 100), is not being honest in his dealings with his patients, including me. She told me that he should have sent back the crown and had it remade last August, but instead he shoved it on my tooth and then did a filling around the extra space the crown didn't take up around my gums. WOW. I wasn't sure how to take this news, or really what to do about it, but I visited with this lady for awhile about it. She said it's been eating at her for months and she has watched Dr. Dowdle do procedures that are not necessary and bill insurance companies and patients for things that he didn't even do. Of course when the insurance company sees he's billing for things that are not necessary then the patient has to pay for it.

I'm on overload. This receptionist and I have become good friends over the years since we've moved here and I asked her to please keep in touch and let me know where she decides to work as well as keep me posted as to how she's doing and what I might do as an abused patient. She agreed. I told her how grateful I am for her honesty in telling me what happened and how proud I am of her for confronting him about his dishonesty. I told her about my incident this morning and how I used it as a lesson to teach my boys about being honest in all our dealings and how I feel that she is bringing this full circle. What goes around comes around. Her honesty will save me a lot of grief in the future and I appreciate it so very much. That's a true friend.

By this time, Elijah is frustrated with me that I'm on the phone and not helping him with the pizza crust. I didn't feel like I could cut the conversation short. So finally we're working on the pizza crust and I get another phone call. My loft bed is still advertised on ksl.com and a lady wants to know if I'll give it to her for free because they need it badly but can't afford it. I told her I'd discuss it with my husband and call her back. Just two days ago, a guy in one of the RC clubs GAVE Matt a FREE RC airplane. I told Matt I feel like this could be our way of paying it forward. Once again, what goes around, comes around. I called the lady back and told her we'd be glad to give it to her, as long as they can come get it. Hopefully they'll haul it away tomorrow.

Right now I'm simply beside myself with amazement at the events of this day. Even though we had a double dose of bad news, I'm filled with the Spirit of Christ testifying to me that the relationships I have in my life are good. I try to be honest in all my dealings and the Lord makes sure I'm being watched over, even by my fellow mankind.

We sat down in front of the TV as a family to watch Glee together while eating homemade pizza and breadsticks. I know it's not a Spiritual lesson, but it's family time, together. I believe the lessons came to us earlier in the day. What a beautiful family I have, and how fortunate we are.

The Kindle Plunge

While at Costco Thursday, I decided to buy a book to read, "Matched." I've spent hours in car shops getting the van fixed this week, and figured I might as well have something good to read next time I go in; the van is not done being fixed.

After throwing a party for Joshua, who is turning 7, I was exhausted and decided to hide in my room with my new book. As soon as I got started, everyone began bombarding my bedroom, interrupting me. Next thing I know, Sara is chit chatting and then asks to see the cover of the book and gets excited. A couple minutes later Matt arrived home from work and I set the book in my lap to talk to him. Sara grabs the book and begins to read. So much for me getting to read my new book.

Sara comments that if I had a Kindle, she and I would both be able to read the same book for the same price as what I'd paid for the one book at Costco. A little bug planted and I started to chew on the idea. I've been seriously thinking about it for two months, and I have the money saved up, so why not? I could be buying my books for less and then sharing them with my daughter and husband for all to read at the same time!

While Sara continued reading my book, I shopped online, purchased a Kindle 3 and began a search on ebay for a kindle case in hopes that I can make my Kindle look a little different than Matt and Sara's. I found a seller that sells skin plus case! Yeah! Cool colors and more unique, just what I want. I placed a bid and now we play the waiting game until the auction ends. If I don't win this bid, I will just do the "Buy it now" option and pay the full price so that I don't have to wait again.

After watching TV with Matt for awhile, I send Sara to bed. Mwahahaha! The book is MINE! Sara's halfway done already. Matt gave me his book light and shut off the bedroom lights and I continued to read. I read a few chapters and went to sleep. This morning I had to get Zack off to the Scout PowWow, so it was a good time for me to continue reading without too many interruptions. I was only a few pages away from where Sara was when I turned it back over to Sara so that Matt and I could go on a breakfast date. Several hours later when I returned home, she was done reading the book.

I am SO excited to get a Kindle of my own! Matt tried to tell me he'd share his when I bought it for him for Christmas. That doesn't work so well when we both want to read at the same time, or when he takes it to work with him. I am grateful for the love of reading that exists in our home! While I wait for my new Kindle to arrive, my list of books I would like to buy grows; however, I would love to know what your favorite books are.

Stop, Drop, and Roll!

Coming up on four years ago, I needed to attend a one week residency for school. Since I was attending an online University, I had to travel to Minneapolis, Minnesota for this residency. My mom has a tradition of taking the kids for a week every summer, so we decided it would work out perfectly for me to attend a summer residency so that my mom could take the kids. Matt stayed home and worked during that time period.

We had waited too long to buy my plane ticket, and I ended up flying south to Arizona in order to catch a flight up and over to Minnesota. Being very nervous about the residency, I did not sleep well the night before. I don't usually sleep on a flight, but I managed to fall asleep on my way to Phoenix. The problem with this is that I was in a deep sleep when the plane landed, so I woke up groggy. When I got off the plane, I pulled out my ticket to my connecting flight to tell me how long I had before the flight left. I looked at my watch, and it said I had five minutes before my flight was supposed to leave. How could they do this to me? They had already been boarding for probably 20 minutes.

I decided I needed to at least try to make the connection, even though it wasn't likely to happen. I put my ear buds in and turned on my ipod shuffle. I had my purse over one shoulder, my carry on with wheels pulling behind me with that arm, and the book I was reading in the other hand. I couldn't run since there were too many people around, but as I turned the corner, I reached the area that is a huge straight way with the two rolling sections down the sides and open space between. This was my chance to really book it.

I thought to myself, "Self, I have been doing a lot of running and a great running song just came on my ipod. I'm wearing my running shoes, now is my chance to make good time." So I took off running. Wide open space and I was SO proud of myself. I got in a good groove with my music and I was really cooking. Then all of a sudden, my back foot bumped the wheel of the carry on I was dragging. I....was...going.....d...O....w.....N. It was like it happened in slow motion. Head over heels, I rolled. Somehow the luggage kept up with me. My book remained in my arm and all I could hear over the top of my music was a huge gasp of breath from every direction. To my left were several pilots on the rolling thing, to my right was a few regular passengers on the rolling thing. Nobody was nearby to come to my rescue. But I didn't need rescuing. After my roll I landed on my feet. In that moment I heard someone say, "Are you okay?" I responded with two thumbs up, "I'm OKAy!" And I kept running!

Oh, I was SO embarrassed, I had to get out of there fast. My knee caps took the brunt of my fall and they hurt SO BADLY. But I didn't care. I finally stopped running when I reached the other end of that wide open space. My connecting flight was supposed to be the first one on the left. I walked over to the counter, noticing there weren't many people around and figuring the flight had just left. I handed the lady my ticket and asked, "Did my flight just leave?" I was huffing and puffing and in a lot of pain.

She looked at the ticket and looked at me funny and said, "Your flight leaves in an hour, we'll be boarding in about half an hour." You've got to be kidding me. I had changed time zones and didn't even know it. I would think they would have announced that when we landed, but NO. That's what I get for falling asleep on the airplane during a short flight. How embarrassing!

As it all turns out, I survived residency, with a great deal of pain in my knees. And it took my knees a full six months to heal before I could run for exercise. If you read my previous blog post about sports bras, you may laugh and take note that it's rather obvious I haven't been exercising regularly. Hmm, I wonder why! Good thing my mother didn't name me Grace!

Sports Bras and Embarrassing Moments

HOW TO PUT ON
A SPORTS BRA.

BY ANNA LEFLER

- - - -

1. Approach the sports bra with confidence, secure in the belief that you will wear it.

2. Holding the sports bra open by its bottom edge, peer into it and locate the medium-sized opening in the center of the cavity. This is your target.

3. Take a moment to ask yourself the following questions:

A. Am I naked from the waist up?

B. Have I removed my glasses?

If the answer to either is "no," make the necessary adjustments and return to Step 1.

4. Snake your right arm through the right armhole as far as it will go. Repeat for left arm and left armhole.

5. Assume power stance: feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent. Hook your thumbs into the sports bra's bottom-edge elastic and pull it out in front of you as far as possible. (Note: do not let go.)

6. In one, deft motion, pull the elastic toward you and over your head. If you have martial arts training, this would be the time to release your battle cry, or kiai.

7. You should now be standing with arms pointing skyward, the sports bra encircling you at chin level, binding your biceps to your ears.

8. Remain calm. Visualize yourself wearing the sports bra while engaged in a pleasant activity, such as not watching Jersey Shore.

9. Cross your arms in front of your face, grasp the bottom of the sports bra and begin tugging it down to your chest. This process should take 2-25 minutes and can be streamlined by the removal of one of your arms (advanced yoga practitioners only).

10. If you have followed steps 1-9 correctly, the sports bra is now strapped across the rise of your bosom, compressing the breasts downward to the point that you can see your pulse in your areolas.

11. Resume power stance (see Step 5). Holding firmly to the bottom edge of the sports bra, pull it away from your body in a downward arc until it grazes your kneecaps. Then, with a scraping motion, drag the sports bra upward along the front of your body, capturing all excess flesh in its path.

12. When the bottom elastic reaches the desired altitude on your rib cage, release it. Then, while holding the top of the sports bra away from your body with one hand, plunge the other hand into the sports bra to distribute and align its contents, which should include both of your breasts.

Note: If you are unable to locate two (2) breasts in the sports bra, do not become alarmed as they are likely nearby. Remove the sports bra (see "How to Take Off a Sports Bra") and return to Step 1 of these instructions.

MORE LISTS

Now that it's been about ten years, I have decided I can handle sharing this unforgettable moment. I had been running every morning with a friend of mine. She was doing Weight Watchers and had been told she needed to do some cross training in order to get the last few pounds off. She decided that we'd start at the pool and do laps for half an hour, then our usual run. I was game. I'd lost several pounds due to her diligence as a running partner and didn't mind the challenge.

So. After swimming laps for half an hour, we headed to the dressing room to change into our running clothes. Luckily we were the only two in the changing room at the time. There weren't really separate areas to change so we basically turned our backs to each other and started the changing process. Trying to be modest, I decided to take my bathing suit only down to my waist, dry the top of me, put on my sports bra and shirt, then continue with the bottom half. Everything started out right, I dried off and grabbed my sports bra and started the process, but my skin was still damp. So when I pulled the sports bra on, it rolled. The farther I pulled, the more it rolled, to the point that it was wrapped around my head with both my arms up, quite stuck; chest hanging out and I couldn't do anything about it. After tugging and pulling a couple times I gave up and asked my dear friend for help. Of course she giggled and untangled my mess of a sports bra. In the process, I had dried quite nicely and was able to pull it down without further problems.

I don't remember swimming and running in the same day after that. If my recollection is correct, we decided it was a bit too much. In order to cross train we'd do one or the other, but not both....Thank Goodness!

Yeah! Another quarter finished.

This quarter has been very grueling. Not because the course work was difficult, but because the rest of life won't quit happening. Registration signed me up for the wrong classes to begin with, so it wasn't until week 3 that I was caught up. Then I got sick for three weeks, during which our renters moved and left the house completely trashed. Church_Mouse and I spent a month working on the house and still did not have it done. We found new renters who were willing to continue the work on home repair. Imagine that! By this time I had to start on final papers. Crazy!

Anyway, I now have a week and a half before my next two classes start. I have to finish many incomplete projects around here as well as get ready for Christmas. So little time, so much to do.

Weight Loss Support Group

Leave it to my best friends to kick me in the butt and get me back in shape. I'd been at the point of not caring about my weight for quite some time as it continued to creep up. Anyway, Emily asked me if I wanted to help her do WW without actually going to meetings. Her idea was to create an online support group. After a few days I decided to commit. It's so much easier to not "diet" alone; however, WW is much more of a lifestyle than a diet.

What we do is email each other our food journal at the end of each day. Not everyone in the group is following the WW plan, but the point is to be supportive of the others. The fun part is seeing what other people are eating that is low calorie and healthy. We even share recipes for yummy foods and meals. I've been back on WW for 3 weeks and I've lost 4 lbs. That's pretty good considering I've been sick for half of that time and haven't felt good enough to exercise. I found a Wii Fit at Target this week and it tracks everything for you: weight, BMI, etc. so now the kids are being very supportive as well.

Why am I telling you this? Because if you'd like to join our weight loss support group, that's what we're here for. I believe within a few months, our group will have lost the equivalent of a person, figuratively speaking!