Choosing to be happy

Sometimes it's just easier to be grumpy. It takes no effort to NOT smile. If you don't feel like talking to anyone, you just don't.

Sometimes it's just hard to pull myself out of a funk. But it gets old for me.

And I get "funky" for no reasons I can really tell.

Around the new year, I started an exercise program which Handsome bought me for Christmas. It is the EA Active Sports 2 for the Wii. There are 2 programs, a 9 week program and a 3 week program. I jumped right in and chose the 9 week workout plan.

Each workout seemed to get progressively more difficult and longer in time. But I was feeling awesome. Finally, the end of the 9 weeks was here and I was working out for an hour before work 3 times per week and another hour on the weekends.

After the program, I decided to continue but try the 3 week program to assuage any commitment issues. The workouts are much easier, much shorter (20 minutes) and I don't feel like I'm attaining anything.

In other words, I feel like I'm letting myself down.

So, I've decided that after the 3 week program ends, it's another 9 week program for me. It just makes me feel better about the effort I'm making and I feel like I can see results.

Getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. is the hardest part. But if it makes me happy, why wouldn't I?

Thankful for my good health

Even though I'm not to the point where I crave and love and am blissfully happy when I exercise, I am VERY thankful that I have the ability to get up and move around at my will and leisure.

I have been working out with regularity since January, 2010, and believe that it does wonders for both body and soul. I challenge myself with new classes and test out different machines to see just what my body is capable of.

Generally speaking, I am a very healthy person. My "temple" still has quite a few miles left in it and I'm thankful that I can utilize this body without pain on a regular basis.

Crazy dreams lately!

Last night I had a dream about a boy I went to middle and high school with. We weren't super close, but we were nice to each other. His name is Dana.

Dana and I were in a giant farmer's market. The plan was he was going to cook me dinner. I remember seeing giant displays of asparagus (both green and white) and potatoes. I had to go visit the restroom and Dana said he'd be waiting right there. For some reason, I left the restroom from a different door I entered, and through that door, my mom and her sister and my grandma were waiting for me. I was excited to see them (I don't see my grandma or aunt very often) and before I knew it, we had piled in the car to go away.

Suddenly, I was completely distraught. I had left Dana at the farmer's market. I pleaded with my mom to take me back and we turned around. The sky had become gray and the wind had picked up.

I searched for Dana frantically, finding him poking around some vegetables, looking totally crestfallen and rejected. I couldn't have been more sorry, and I apologized for leaving him there.

He broke my heart with how sad he was. I told him how awful I felt, and he said it's okay, and asked if we could go and cook dinner now. Then I woke up.

I am disturbed. And I have no idea what Dana represents to me, so I can't really figure this out.

The Rubber Band Effect

It's funny, isn't it, how you tend to not see someone for a while and then you run into them and spend lots of time together, then you become distant and unresponsive again?

That's how it is with my blog. Sorry blog. I really do love you. I just think you deserve more creativity than I can give most days.

And instead of giving you half-assed posts, I withdraw completely and you must think I've abandoned you.

On the contrary. I adore you and if the mundane is better than nothing, well, then here I am.

So, Handsome and I had a wonderful four day trip to NoCal to visit Cousins W and T and their spouses and kids. This family I adore so much. They are close in age and wry in spirit. They also make Handsome nervous or uncomfortable. I think because the two cousins are brothers to each other, there is an impenetrable field around them that Handsome has never felt nor been able to breach.

First we flew into Sacto and hopped in our rental Ford Focus (which was both quite adorable and very fuel efficient. Handsome loved it because "it's American, dammit!") We drove to San Francisco to meet a girlfriend who I went to kindergarten with and haven't seen or spoken to in, oh, about 25 years. She looked me up on Facebook a couple months ago and I thought a quarter century just too long to go between visits.

We met Francis in the City and walked to the Ferry Building which is like an enclosed open air market, full of shops carrying fresh cheese and fresh bread and fresh smoked meats and fresh organic vegetables. I was in heaven. Had I $500 and 3 hours and no restrictions on my flight back, we would be eating like royalty right now.

We settled on a seafood place and got a 1/2 bottle of wine and sat out by the San Francisco Bay to eat and drink and catch up over the last few decades. It was beautiful. There are some people that you can connect with again after forever has passed and you just feel comfortable with them. Francis is like that. I found and showed her some pictures of us when we were three or four and she laughed, just like I had when I saw them.

It was easy to be with her. I think we all need more people like that in our lives. Francis and her husband actually met in college in Colorado, about half an hour from where Handsome and I live now. We were 30 miles away from each other for several years, and had no clue. Strange, isn't it, how the universe plays these little jokes on us?

We should've gotten bread while we were in SF. We didn't, forgot, were in a hurry to get to Sacto for the surprise birthday celebration for Cousin T, who was driving with his wife and kids from Los Angeles. Apparently we missed rush hour (Hallelujah!) but beat the LA cousins by about 5 hours. D'oh.

Cousin W and his wife are renting a house that has a squat little orange tree and a tall grapefruit tree in their backyard. The oranges were as big as grapefruits (and so were the grapefruits!) and we had fresh juice every day we were there. Of course, I mixed mine with champagne and called it the thickest mimosa ever made. Surprisingly, it was the first time they had made juice from their fruit. They would buy a box of California clementine Cuties for $10 (!!) but hadn't ever eaten the fruit growing in their own backyard.

The surprise was pulled off without a hitch. Cousin T was excited that we had made the journey to come celebrate his birthday with him. The impetus for us was that Cousin T and his wife and kids are preparing to move to Australia. I figured the plane trip to California would cost far less than a trip to Australia, and we can afford it right now, so we'll be saving up some money before we can spring for the Australia trip. However, how freaking cool will that be? Flying out there will be our only expense - we will stay and eat with them while we are there.

The weather was great, kind of cool but not frigid like Colorado. And everything was so GREEN, it was such a fresh scene. The kids were fun, they tend to socialize with each other more than with anyone else. We went bowling, I bowled a 115 my second game (woo hoo!) and that was fun.

Ate, drank lots of wine, enjoyed some other recreational activities and really fell in love with California again.

Dreaming

Had this crazy dream last night where I was hanging out with my high school girlfriend E. and some of E's friends but her friends were freaking me out. I think my high school boyfriend L. was there or I was talking to him on the phone and he was going to come hang out with me. I left E. and her weird friends and drove to my college girlfriend H's house, which I was house-sitting. (it totally wasn't H's real house, but it was seriously an awesome house!) There was a group of bikers (like bicyclists, not motorcycles) who had stopped at the house to grab a bite to eat before setting off on a big ride. I got a text message from E. which said "I expected Reece to leave but didn't think YOU would." Obviously, E. was pissed that I had left. Then my best friend J. showed up at the house and he and I were hanging out, eating grub (salad) with the bicyclists in the kitchen. Then I woke up.

I told my girlfriend E. about this dream and she said that what struck her was that it was so busy! She asked me if I have been under stress lately?

Hmmmm..... Nothing I can't suppress in a conscious state! Obviously my sub/unconscious has some stuff to work through. E. and J. both are very good friends. I can totally be myself with them. H. is someone who I have been friends with but we aren't really close. I feel like a doofus sometimes when I am around her. And L.? Well, we dated for a year in high school, and he was a great boyfriend when he wasn't freaked out about everything. On some level, evidently, I see him as someone who could take care of me. That's comforting.

What's interesting to me, and this has been true for as long as I've known him, is that Handsome rarely makes an appearance in my dreams. I wonder what that means?

Dreaming

I've heard that it's healthy for your body to wake up at the same time every day, weekdays and weekends. I think that is a bunch of crap. I don't think my body was designed to wake up at five a.m. every day. Not that I don't get appropriate sleep during the week, either. I'm a sleep at least seven hours a night kind of girl. I think that is the recommendation, right?

When handsome's alarm goes off at 5:00 on Saturday mornings, I'll wake up, talk to him, wish him lots of love and miss you's and then when he leaves for work, I'll fall back asleep. I think it's my body's way of saying, damn, I'm tired. Some Saturdays I'll wake up around 7:30, sometimes later. This morning it was almost nine. Whenever it is, I feel like that's what my body needed.

Often, it is during those precious few hours of "nap time" that I have vivid dreams. Like this morning...

A series of three separate dreams clouded my subconscious this morning between 5:00 and 9:00 a.m. The setting was Las Vegas, I'm sure of it, although no neon was to be seen.

The first sequence was of me on a roof with a bunch of others. We were taking turns flying a glider off the roof and around the yard and landing back on the roof. I'm not sure if I had taken my turn yet but suddenly, I felt as though I was running out of time. I jumped in the glider and took off. It was delightful, that feeling of weightlessness, of freedom. All was dandy until I realized one thing: I didn't know squat about how to fly a glider.

A moment of panic while I steered and banked left and brought the building's roof into view. I glided right on to that roof and landed the plane without incident. I was exhilarated and more than proud of myself.

Shift into the next sequence, where I was trying to capture a photo of what appeared to be my class reunion's participants. Loads of people, and I was trying to find the best location. I wandered around an enormous hotel until I found a beautiful, empty marble staircase. At my direction, everyone was lining up on the stairs while I was keeping them in the camera's viewfinder. I kept checking the shot while more and more people joined in the photo. Lots of noise and chattering and I was giddy at the thought of capturing all that energy on film.

There were several people who should have been in the picture but were in different areas of the hotel and I was trying to gather all of them before I lost the opportunity to take the shot. I got a few, but before I could snap the picture, a bell sounded, as though classes were changing. I glanced at the clock on the wall which said it was early afternoon, and I couldn't understand what was happening.

All of a sudden people from all over started walking through the hotel, up and down the stairs, infiltrating my group and my photo opportunity. Someone was trying to direct the reunion participants to be still and shift to their right, over by the wall. They were distracted, though, and I knew I wouldn't get the picture. I was crestfallen.

Shift again to a hotel room the likes of which I've never seen. The inhabitants were of the variety that spent weeks there, or maybe the room was theirs if they ever needed a place to stay while in Vegas. Very classy. The man and woman were both in silk smoking jacket/wraps and she was in the bed talking with one of her lady friends.

Handsome was with me in the room, we sat on a chaise lounge while the man sipped his brandy and handled his wooden cane. He was talking to Handsome about a financial problem Cousin W had found himself in. With his cane, he poked a sleeping Doberman who lay snoring under our seat. I hadn't even noticed the dog until the man started talking about how some people hurt the animals of people who owe money. Then he unfastened the end of the cane which held a needle-sharp point and went to poke it at the dog.

I realized that Cousin W had gotten himself indebted to the mafia and wondered what our role in that was. I started thinking about whether and how we would bail him out but hadn't any clue how deep in he was. I thought if it was less than $10K, I could probably get a cash advance on my credit card and pay the mafioso standing before me. As I began to think in that both irrational but logical way, I woke up.

Life in a tornado

Sometimes it's just all so overwhelming. The good, the bad, they all gang up on you and you feel small and kind of melty (it is too a word).

We had the midget this weekend, which I have been looking forward to for weeks. Spending time with a ten year old is such excitement. First there was a little league game. Parents can be totally crazy at little league games. A man argued with the umpire about a questionable call (apparently you have to slide into home plate if a play is happening at home plate, running across it means you're out) and I thought it might get ugly. Did I mention the kids are ten? I mean, really, let's try and set an example!

It was cold and windy at the game, but the sun shone all day and I didn't use sunscreen. I have a niiice farmer's tan going on.

About the third inning, I got a voicemail from my mom who had been crying. My great-uncle passed away. Sad, but neither tragic nor completely unexpected. He was the remaining half of a grandparent-esque couple I only recently got to know - my grandpa's brother and sister-in-law. Honestly, my first thought was relief. I know how much pain he has been in and how tough that is for an old body to handle. But also, I thought I was off the hook for feeling guilty about not visiting as often as I should wanted.

The family fell apart after my great-aunt died. She was truly the glue that bound the family together. Lord knows I fell apart after she died. Some people just show you what family is all about, and Marge was the epitome of the word. Harry, her husband, bless his heart, couldn't hear a damn thing anyone said for the better part of 20 years because he refused to get hearing aids. Finally, he gave in, and they arrived in the mail in time for him to hear the eulogy given for his wife.

Having the midget around for the weekend left no time to really grieve, which I took as a good thing. It seemed my mom was crying enough for all of us. After the little league game, the midget and I high tailed it to Tar-Jay for a gift for a four year old. My girlfriend from college, Alaina, whom I haven't seen in YEARS was having a party and I was excited to see her! The midget popped open the Transformers pinata and played with some other kids kicking ball, throwing the Aerobie and apparently cavorting with real-live chickens. The two other children there who were his age were from Korea. As I was thinking about it all later, I realized I totally missed my opportunity to talk to their parents as the third member of the adoption triad. I guess it never occurred to me to bring up adoption with them. Maybe the opportunity will present itself again soon.

We took in a movie that night - grumpy Handsome, the midget and me. We saw Monsters vs. Aliens, which was pretty cute. Handsome laughed out loud during much of the movie, which is always a good sign.

The next day, the midget helped me make Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake for breakfast, which was so delicious! I love that he's old enough to help cook, or do yardwork (I think Handsome had him mow the yard for a little while, too). I'm not sure if his parents give him such responsibility. I was thinking about when I was ten, we were living in Christiansburg, VA, and I came home from school and spent about 2-3 hours all by myself. I'm sure I fixed snacks and who knows what else. Ten back then seemed a lot older than ten does on the midget. He'd probably do all right.

It was little league day at the Colorado Rockies so we went to the baseball game. What a madhouse! There were at least 500 little leaguers all excited to be there. The midget, however, was the only one we could find from his team. The fun part was they all got to walk around the warning track on the field. I was worried if he didn't see any of his teammates, he might not want to participate. Handsome came to the rescue, saying that since even the coach didn't show up, Handsome himself would walk around with him. Well, that sealed it. Eventually, three more kids from his team showed up, and Handsome wore the biggest grin of them all out on that ball field.

The Rockies did a great job, winning their 11th straight game. Of course, there was a 55 minute rain delay, but it was really because a tornado had formed just northeast of the stadium. Really, a tornado! We decided that, instead of hanging out for an hour in the concrete stairwell playing "I Spy", we should bail and see what the weather was like at City Park. Handsome had his usual panic in trying to drive downtown (why do I not learn and just commandeer the whole driving operation whenever we are downtown?) but we made it to the midget's house. We walked to City Park with our baseball gloves and ball and the Aerobie. We played and played and played. Then we fielded balls for some guys who were batting and pitching at one of the playing fields. The dark clouds started rolling in and I was getting hungry so we made the trek back to the house to change clothes and eat.

The look on the midget's face when we announced we had to go back to the house was priceless, just total defeat. Poor guy - he was having so much fun! But, we had a schedule to keep, and a concert to see! After a YUMMY Thai meal (where the waiters gave the kid no less than three full glasses of a caffeinated soda pop, ugh), we headed to Trinity UMC for a choir concert like no other.

There were five or six churches, each with at least 50 members, packed into the choir loft and the balconies of the church. It was totally beautiful. The acoustics were great, the choir members were amazing. The midget was bouncing off the walls. =)

Handsome and I fell into bed last night. He said, are you sure you want kids? I laughed and said, absolutely, we survived a lot this weekend, and I couldn't have done it without you, and kissed him good night.

Bloggy blah blah

Man, you know those times when you clean out your contacts and you don't really want to delete someone, but you know you haven't talked to them in a thousand years, and then you feel kinda sad because you really wish that you had kept the relationship up?

I'm kinda feeling that way with my blog and my website.

Remember the song "Video killed the Radio Star?" I feel like this blog killed my website and Facebook killed them both. It's kinda sad.

It takes a lot of work to maintain a relationship. You really have to nurture it if you want it to survive. The same thing goes with online relationships - they don't just hang on waiting to see if you're going to post an update.

My son is still a baby on the website he's ten and a half. My husband and I just bought our house on our website, but in real life, we recently closed on the refi and are building a deck!

I was never very good about keeping up with my journal writing either. But it sure is neat to go back and re-read the old entries.

So, I vow I won't let this puppy die. I won't succumb to the endless posting of quizzes or photos or all the other stuff that is lacking in substance. I believe I need this for more than the mundane. I believe it's a sanity keeper. And who couldn't use more of that?

Thanks for hanging in there and for providing the applause I can hear, even if it's cyber, nobody else can hear it, or you're not really there at all. *mwah*

Dirty Dozen

See, once you realize that with publishing 100 posts you are obligated to create a "100 things about me" to put on your sidebar, all regular posting comes to a screeching halt while your brain shuts down in an attempt to prolong the work required to come up with 100 things about yourself that anyone else would find remotely interesting.

In lieu of posting my 100 things in this, my 100th post, I have decided to post a list of the fruits and veggies you should absolutely buy organically whenever you buy said fruits and veggies, and which ones you can assuredly get away with buying the cheapies.

So, here they are, the dirty dozen: Fruits and Vegetables you absolutely must buy organically, or not at all.

1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Lettuce
9. Grapes
10. Pears
11. Spinach
12. Potatoes

And here are the fruits and veggies which you can get away with buying non-organically:

1. Onions
2. Avocados
3. Sweet corn (frozen)
4. Pineapples
5. Mango
6. Sweet Peas (frozen)
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Bananas
10. Cabbage
11. Broccoli
12. Eggplant

My theory is that because so many of the foods on the non-organic list have some type of peel, they are safer than the other foods on the organic list, which you don't normally peel.

(data from www.foodnews.org)

So, it wasn't a list about my 100 things, but at least it was educational and delicious. I'll get the 100 things post going right now. Promise.

A-Z about me

This is one I haven't seen before. Cute!

Attached or single? Attached to my loving husband.
Best Friend(s)? Jesse, Celia, Echo
Cake or Pie? Cake, German Chocolate please
Day of Choice? Saturday followed closely by Sunday, then Friday!
Essential Item? A good book
Flavor of Ice Cream? Goo Goo Cluster (do they even make that anymore?)
Gummy Bears or Worms? Bears, I guess, though I like Hot Tamales even better
Hometown? Born in Berkeley, CA
Indulgences? Play silly video games when Handsome lets me have the computer at night
January or July? July, it's warmer
Kids? Sorta
Last Movie I saw in theater? Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull thingy
Middle Name? Lynn
Number of Siblings? zero
Oranges or Apples? apples
Phobia or Fear? Crazy phobia about wasps.
Quote? “Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.” - Winnie the Pooh
Reason to Smile? Every new day.
Season? Fall!
Title of your autobiography? Curly girl takes on the world
Unknown Fact about me? Chronic nail biter until the age of 27.
Vegetarian or Carnivore? Omnivorous and loving it!
Worst Habit? Grinding my teeth or clenching my jaw.
Xrays or Ultrasounds? Ultrasounds are so much cooler
Yummiest food? Avocados, I could eat them on cheerios, they're so good.
Zodiac? Scorpio baby!

Cycle-path

An interesting tidbit: In February, a TN woman was arrested for biking under the influence... on a stationary bike... at her gym. She got a BUI.

I loved to ride my bike as a kid. Handsome and I each own a bicycle. I was tickled when Handsome and I went on our first bike ride as a couple. It is just plain romantic to me.

Then, we bought a house and the remodeling hurricane ensued. We were plum exhausted after all the work we put into said house remodeling.

Our bikes now hang from the ceiling in "his" garage. With all the projects we've pursued over the summer, we never got to ride together. I consider bike riding an enjoyable fitness activity.

Handsome believes that because he stands on his feet all day, he gets all the fitness he needs. I believe he does walk a lot, but it's not like the cardio aerobic activity that bike riding, or walking, produces.

I've taken to going to the Rec Center to walk on the treadmill after work. I figure, if he won't take the time to go bike riding with me, I cannot let that stop me from going after my own fitness goals.

I do wish we could take this journey together. I do want to get that romantic exercise feeling back. Bike riding together is just plain fun!

100 things

1. I am a wife, daughter, birthmom, niece, daughter-in-law, half-sister-in-law, cousin and friend.

2. I am a textbook Scorpio.

3. I'm an only child.

4. At one point, I had four step-sisters, three step-brothers and a nephew two years younger than me, but none of them lived in the same house as I did.

5. I have no idea what happened to any of them. (Update! Found one on Facebook!)

6. By the time I was 25, I'd lived in 22 different places in my life.

7. No, I was not a "military brat". I just had a very indecisive mother.

8. I have lived in four states: California, Oregon, Virginia and Colorado.

9. There are so very many things to love about Colorado, but my heart will probably always be in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

10. If I could live anywhere other than CO right now, I would move back to VA or maybe North Carolina.

11. There are tons of places I haven't been yet, so I can't say for sure where exactly I would live.

12. I have had the same best friend since we were ten years old.

13. I wish I had more friends like her, in both substance and longevity.

14. My folks divorced when I was 18 months old.

15. I don't care what they say, kids never have the same lives after divorce.

16. Because of that, I honestly believe I won't get divorced.

17. I went to eight different schools from K-12.

18. Going to so many schools growing up taught me to make friends quickly but not to cultivate deep friendships.

19. Through Facebook I have found kids I went to school with all the way back to kindergarten.

20. I have a master's degree in Sociology.

21. My degree doesn't really do a whole lot for me in my job or my life.

22. I freaking despised my entire grad school experience. The advisor, the classes, the thesis - what a waste of time and money.

23. I can't even say specifically what my thesis was about, but it was generally about open adoption.

24. I am a birthmom in an open adoption. I had a baby in 1998 and placed him for adoption with a wonderful family. We talk to each other every week and see each other several times a year.

25. It was the hardest but most amazing choice I've ever made.

26. Sometimes I feel God put me on this earth to educate people about how amazing open adoption can be.

27. I feel blessed to have a part in my son's life. His parents feel blessed to have me in their lives!

28. I own two cats: Marigold and Obi.

29. I don't think Marigold will ever stop peeing on the floor.

30. To me, dealing with the cat peeing on the floor is akin to changing a baby's diaper. However, it drives my husband completely bonkers.

31. I work at a prestigious law firm.

32. I actually like my job. It's ridiculous that they pay me so well for what I do.

33. Some days I get wanderlust and think about leaving my job and doing something more emotionally fulfilling. Then I panic because I don't know what else I would do.

34. I really wish I could get paid similarly for walking dogs and petting cats.

35. I love to cook. If I could get paid to cook, I would.

36. I also love to scrapbook.

37. I do not work for a big time scrapbooking cult corporation.

38. I lost invested a lot of money over time by working for such a corporation. But I got a lot of cool stuff out of it.

39. I've taken more personality tests and career tests than I care to admit.

40. Maybe I'm just afraid of change after all?

41. Once I thought that working in a high security government job was right up my alley.

42. I let that dream go after my husband freaked out when I shared the idea with him.

43. I thought it might be fun to tutor kids in math or Spanish. I just don't know how to get started.

44. I wish I had the creativity to write a book.

45. I did paint a really cool picture of a rose I saw in a magazine. That painting hangs on my wall today.

46. I bought my first home when I was 25.

47. I didn't paint a single wall for 6 years. Then I painted one bathroom really REALLY blue (like taskbar on your computer blue).

48. When my husband and I bought a house, I painted every wall a different color before we moved in.

49. I got my first credit card when I was 26, the year after I bought my condo.

50. I am going to be credit card debt free in 2010. (AMEN!)

51. I am blood type A. This means I should be vegetarian and should not eat red meat or dairy.

52. I do not like parmesan cheese or cilantro. I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't.

53. I have a weird crush on Eminem. I cannot explain what I like about him (certainly not his body omigosh)

54. My celebrity boyfriends are Matthew McConaughy and Kenny Chesney. I have asked for a pass from my husband if either of them wanted to take me on a cruise for the weekend.

55. I played flute and piccolo in high school and college.

56. Yes, I was in the marching band.

57. Everything they say about band camp is true.

58. I really really love to sing.

59. I met my husband while I was singing.

60. It was karaoke night, the song was "Travelin' Soldier" by the Dixie Chicks.

61. I'm a Broncos fan.

62. I think part of the reason my husband asked me to marry him was because I cooked him great meals and I could hold my own in a football-centered conversation. I'm okay with that!

63. I was really good at math in school.

64. My calculus teacher taught us by bringing in cheese, crackers and salami to demonstrate a problem. I thought if I were a teacher, I'd want to be like her.

65. My favorite fruit is the Honeycrisp Apple.

66. I drink at least half my body weight in ounces of water every day.

67. It started out as a weight loss tool but I'm not losing a bunch of weight and now, if I don't get that much to drink, I feel dehydrated.

68. I wish I could get rid of 15 pounds.

69. I did a summer project for Habitat for Humanity when I was in college and helped build a house from slab to shingles.

70. I can totally hold my own with a miter saw.

71. I didn't know either of my grandfathers. One took his life 4 years before I was born and the other died when I was one.

72. I became very close with my grandfather's sister-in-law.

73. She taught me a valuable lesson about time. We lost her to cancer in 2005.

74. Reading old journals I wrote both cracks me up and grounds me. I try to keep up with journal writing but I'm a slacker. Most of my writings when I was young were about boys.

75. When my husband and I were still engaged, we stopped using tobacco together on the same day in 2005. On a road trip. In a car. On the way to introduce him to my father. No stress! We still liked each other after that trip and haven't used tobacco since!

76. Spending six weeks in Mexico while getting college credit was the sweetest trip abroad EVER.

77. My favorite thing to do is read. However, I have a terrible memory, so even if I have read a book, I might not be able to tell you a darn thing about it.

78. I go to the library at least once a week because I never want to ride the bus to/from work without a book. I have bookshelves full of books I have read but don't want to re-read because of all the great books yet to be read in the library.

79. I got to drive my 1983 Mazda RX7 across the country when we moved from VA to CO the summer before my high school senior year. In Kansas, I put the cruise control on 110 mph and didn't slow down until I hit the Colorado border.

80. I'm learning to sew.

81. It's not as easy as some people make it seem.

82. I sewed two curtains for my living room, which took me several hours start to finish and I ripped out at least a foot of seams during the process.

83. I am determined to learn how to knit and/or crochet this winter. I have no doubt this will end in the production of a blue and orange blanket in the future.

84. My husband gave me diamond earrings for my first birthday we were together. Not being a big earring wearer, we turned them into my engagement ring.

85. We bought a 1976 Dodge Motorhome for $900. We call it the "Shaggin' Wagon"

86. The Indigo Girls have been my favorite group since 1989. Up until a few years ago, I knew every Indigo Girls song by heart. I haven't kept up with their new music as much.

87. I've been skydiving twice. Now, after taking off in a commercial jet, seeing the squares of land below, my stomach does flip flops. I'm not sure I could jump out of a plane again.

88. I like to travel in the winter and spend summers in Colorado. The Czech Republic is the farthest I've been, and it's REALLY cold and dreary in the winter. Hawaii, however, is beautiful.

89. My stereo wakes me up every morning at 6:00 playing the classical music station. The first song is always the "Sunrise Serenade" which is supposed to ease you into the day. It works!

90. I really like to turn the volume up LOUD while listening to classical music. It vibrates in my soul.

91. My husband is much better at making coffee than I am. I don't know why.

92. I have one cup of coffee every morning. Rarely two. Must have creamer (Vanilla, if I have a choice)

93. I used to drink tea only if it was iced and sweet. I'm learning to really like hot tea.

94. My first, and last, attempt at snowboarding was on a 13,000 foot mountain. It was comical and battering.

95. I went skiing down that same mountain later that year.

96. I haven't done either since.

97. Having a good hair day can make everything else completely bearable.

98. I struggle with my faith on a daily basis.

99. I realize that I the reason I adored Choose Your Own Adventure books so much as a kid is because life is a lot like them, except you don't get to see what would happen if you made the other choice.

100. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change anything. Or I'd change everything.

Friday funny

Redneck Fire Alarm

Playing the numbers game

Isn't it funny how the littlest things can really blow up and change our thinking - about our day, about ourselves...?

Our company brought in representatives from our insurance company to run tests on employees who wished to have their numbers. They took measures for weight, blood pressure, BMI, body fat percentage, glucose and cholesterol.

They do this because they want to encourage healthy lifestyles for employees so that we may work for the machine longer. I get it.

I feel quite healthy in general. Low blood pressure, which is odd for a law firm secretary.

My blood glucose level was well below the normal range. This is great news, because I was borderline gestational diabetic 10 years ago. I'm always suspect regarding those levels and how my blood sugar may fluctuate throughout the day. It's good to know that I'm not diabetic.

Apparently I'm just fat. I always struggle with my weight, it's so easy to struggle with! I would like to drop 10 pounds but would LOVE to drop 15. Using weight and height, they calculated my Body Mass Index. This number doesn't tell you anything except what your weight divided by your height is. Frankly, I think they should toss out the BMI number entirely.

Then they took my body fat percentage. Apparently, one out of every three cells in my body is a fat cell based on the results of that test. How much does that suck? For females, 18-39 years old, the ideal range is 14-23%, 40-59 years old it's 18-30%, and I'm up there with the 60+ year olds. Actually, it's off the chart. Sad, isn't it?

I have been really focusing lately on getting healthy. The truth is, I eat really healthy. I have ever since I found out high cholesterol runs in my family. And I knew I could lose the weight if I just exercised more. So I've been hitting the circuit at the Rec Center after work, and that has really been great.

I would advise other people to not base their self-esteem on what some numbers on a sheet of paper say. But I have a hard time not doing the same thing. I guess I need to view it as a personal challenge: to lower every one of those numbers each month.

So, wish me luck. It's time to take charge of my health. I want a HOT body, but more than that, I want low numbers all around. Lower the numbers, the body will follow?

House guest

My mother-in-law and brother-in-law, who live about 75 miles away, are staying with us Saturday night. This has prompted a necessary whirlwind cleaning session in our house.

Handsome was completely apathetic about it.

What are you worried about? All we need to do is change the sheets, vacuum, sweep, mop, do the dishes, clean the bathroom, clean the other bathroom, and I should probably hook up the plumbing in the basement so we can do laundry.

Um, yeah. Oh, and I'm going to be out of the house all day Friday and Saturday. *sigh*

My Best Friend

My bestest friend in the world has created a blog to celebrate the birth of her son.

Check it out!

Congrats!!

A "W" is still a "W"

I heart Jay Cutler. Can I just say that right now? As a Broncos fan, yesterday's game was as exciting as they come.

The home team took the lead early in the game and didn't let it go until late in the fourth quarter. In typical Broncos fashion, it was a nail biter at the end.

Sure, people are screaming about the botched call(s) by the officials. But c'mon, it's football! Things will go your way sometimes, other times you get hosed.

However, this kid is simply unbelievable.




What he's done with the team is amazing. And he's so darn confident. Oh, Jay, thanks for being a good kid and a great QB.



Unlike your nemesis in yesterday's shootout.




Smack talkin' P-Riv. Not liking you so much. Frankly I think you got what you deserved yesterday.

And Norv? Really? I thought he was going to pop a gasket or a heart valve on the sidelines.

I'll take that 2-0 record. Leading the division. I'll savor it as long as I can.

Thank you Broncos. It's good to be a fan again!

Stuffy haiku

Left nostil is plugged
No, wait, now it's the right one
Cold meds do not help.

News which made my day

When Handsome and I bought our house, it needed quite a bit of work to make it work for us.

The itty bitty kitchen was very cut off from the itty bitty living room by a 3/4 wall with a barely there window cut out above the sink. The kitchen counters were pomegranate red and the floor was flesh colored. The carpets were dingy and the light fixtures were ghastly.

We worked every night after our "real" jobs for two months straight fixing that house up. We knocked down the wall between the kitchen and living room and made a breakfast bar out of what was left. It opened up the space tremendously.

We built a cabinet to house a double oven given to us by my father-in-law (oh, how I love that double oven!). We purchased new tiles for the kitchen floor, the entryway and bamboo flooring for the living room, hall and office area. While looking into kitchen countertops, we thought that wood would look splendid in the rustic Tuscan kitchen we were creating.

There was a problem. Nobody had wood countertops.

We couldn't find butcher block countertops for as much space as we needed for anything under $1000. We didn't have $1000 to spend on wood, for our counters.

But I was in love with the idea of wood, so we kept searching.

My search led me to IKEA. They had wooden countertops. For much less than $1000. Unfortunately, there are no IKEA stores within 500 miles of our newly remodeled house. Why does Texas have three and California have eight of these stores yet Colorado has NONE? *sigh*

Smack dab in the middle of our remodel project, we took a trip to Montana to celebrate my dad's wife's 60th birthday. The drive up to Montana is never as cool as the drive back, usually because we head up at night and are totally exhausted and then drive all the next day to get to their house. We usually drive up through Wyoming and cut across the vast expanse that is Montana. Sometimes we drive back the same way, varying slightly for sight-seeing purposes. This time, we had a whole house remodel to come home to, so no sight-seeing was in the plan.

However, as we were planning for this trip to Montana, an idea struck.

There was an IKEA not too terribly out of the way back from Montana. You know, in Utah.

Yep, we got our wooden countertops, loaded them up in ol' Ruby (our Jeep Liberty) and drove those 800 miles home with our new finds. Actually, the only way they would fit in Ruby is by laying the passenger seat back and stacking them on top of each other in the vehicle.

Visualize it.

I spent most of the ride home in the back seat, directly behind my awesome chauffer husband.

By the way, those countertops (96 inch long, 26 inch wide) were only $70 a pop! I KNOW!

Soooooo.... the reason for this entire post, besides cementing the memory of redesigning our kitchen and scoring the most awesomest kitchen countertops for a steal is this:

THEY ARE BRINGING IKEA TO DENVER!

I am a happy happy girl! What works for you?

Quote of the day

Feeling kind of funky today and already arguing with my boss about something that he specifically instructed me to do, which turned out to be wrong instructions...

So, this quote struck me as funny and very apropos:

Whatever you give a woman, she's going to multiply.
If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.
If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.
If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.
If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.
She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.
So - if you give her any crap, you will receive a ton of sh!t.

Have a glorious day!