Wondering what to do?

What should you do if you wake up 1.5 hours earlier than you have to...
and your toes are freezing cold,
and your total hours of sleep is 1/2 of what your doctor chided you to get in before he'll listen to your "I'm tired all the time" complaint,
and it's snowing outside,
and it's BLOWING outside?

Here's a tip/suggestion/opinion. If even one of these conditions exist, and most especially, if they all coincide, DO NOT go running!

At least I shared this morning's misery with an equally crazy friend. You're a good sport, Kellie. Kyri was the brain today and sent me a warning text which I received too late. I should have taken her "Go back to bed," advice!

My new boyfriend, Dyson.

He's handsome.
He's easy to figure out.
He's low-maintenance.
He's upright.
He's hard-working.
And, he CLEANS!

I am so in love.

Lingo of Late

Alec's mouth has been a phrase flood lately. Here are some of his most recent utterings:

"Good one, Mom." Used most commonly after I ask him to do something..."Alec, please get your pajamas on so we can get ready for bed." "Good one, Mom."

"I know how to solve this problem." Announced to Kenna when the computer game hung.

"This will do the trick." Upon his recommendation to Brent for how to make a toy work.

"No prob-blay-mo." Thanks to Widget of Wow Wow Wubzy for this one. Very cute.

"I knew I could count on you." Uttered to thank Brent for helping him find his shoes.

" This will be classic." Said to me when he was going to tickle Todd.

My "plan" update.

The correct way to weigh oneself.

You would think that I could enjoy not being mentally battered two or three times a day by a digital readout but it was crazy hard not to weigh myself for an entire week.When I finally stepped on the scale, I was on the borderline of my number nemesis which is 1.5 lbs down from last week but 0.1 higher than my psyche needed. My 1 day of mourning turned into 2.5 days but I'm back on the road to trying again. Thank you again for your kind words, co-misery, and encouragement.

Living in the now.

We're online again!! Normally I would be annoyed that a service person was in my house before Brent could take care of his bedhead but this morning I almost proposed to the guy who fixed our internet problem. Prepare for a blog deluge of catharsis and family updates.

ARRRRRGH!

Seriously!! Our new service was up for a week before it went down on FRIDAY and in which wrecked state it remains. Brent has been his calm, patient self while trying to work through the problem with various High School dropout Customer Service Techs. to no avail. Yesterday I could not take it any longer (tirade triggered by a 1.5 hour session at the public library with 3 little, bored, loud kids while I returned work emails and sent an overdue report to my "side" job!) but I called yesterday even warned the UNhelpful individual on the other end that I had red hair as an indication of the escalating seriousness of the issue. No change. Don't quit checking my blog or sending me email just because we've reverted to the dark ages at home. I hope, hope, hope to be back in the swing of things very soon. (And now, back to work...Pretty naughty to waste time doing this, huh?! I won't go to lunch to make up for it.)

The plan.

Thank you for your supportive comments. Self-acceptance should be at the top of my pile of options but I think my thighs are covering it up.

My latest rant wasn't intended to be a poorly-masked plea for compliments, although the kind words were a very nice by-product ;), and while running this morning I came up with a simple plan.

Usually I weigh myself several times a day in order to remember that weight fluctuates. This seems to be my undoing of late as I tend to give up or give in when I get below a certain weight and I'm especially bad if I hit that number on Friday or Saturday. So, the plan for this week is to keep up with my current efforts--running a little more, eating a little less--but not to weigh for an entire week.

Radical the plan is not but maybe it will keep me from slipping backwards, especially over the weekend. Other parts of this week's efforts include:
* take Kristen's advice to brush right after dinner,
* drink equal parts of water to DDP (sad that it has to be such an overt effort),
* stock up on salad and veggies for wEAkend snacking.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I neeeed a plan.

A goal without a plan is just a wish.
- Antoine de Saint Exupery

Way to go, Antoine. You nailed it. Oh yeah, I loved La Petit Prince too. Okay, okay, my goal, er, WISH for too long now has been to ditch some weight. I neeeeeed a plan. I've dropped 8 pounds since January...3 times!!! When I arrive at a certain number which number I will not mention in order to spare you cardiac arrest, I sabotage my own efforts and fall back to indulging in "bad" foods in "VERY BAD" amounts.

What is wrong with me???

I need a plan.

I am up and down in a 3 lb range but can't crawl out of the hole. Don't confuse my problem with the set point theory in which a body is comfortable at a certain weight and resists efforts to drop below that. Nope. This is not physical. This is a serious mental problem...Any suggestions to beat the beast within? I'm running about as much as my schedule and knees can handle but I'm going to try to up my mileage on my short runs. I do pretty well at counting calories during the week but have yet to successfully navigate a weekend without gaining weight. {:*( I'm also very susceptible to evening snacking. Help me, RHONDA...or anyone else.

Satisfied - minus 11 lbs (former Weight Watchers goal that I stayed at for 2 years)
Happy - minus 14 lbs (weight at first St. George Marathon)
Thrilled - minus 17 lbs (probably not since my freshman year at BYU and I was still F-A-T!)

School's not so boring after all.

My kids rarely give me any meaningful feedback to my daily question, "How was school today?" Wednesday was a different story...In fact, a story which landed itself in the local paper!


Church roof offers sanctuary to boy, 11
By JESSE FRUHWIRTH

LAYTON -- An 11-year-old boy who feared he would be punished for striking his teacher with a yardstick caused quite a commotion on Antelope Drive on Wednesday when police say he ran across the street from his school, scaled a church and refused to come down.

Both Layton police and fire departments responded to the incident around noon. When an officer also climbed onto the roof to retrieve the boy, the child jumped off the roof, falling about 10 feet and landing on a grassy area, said Layton Police Lt. Quinn Moyes."Just out of precaution ...they did take him to McKay-Dee Hospital," Moyes said. "He wasn't jumping to hurt himself, but to get away from the officers."

After the altercation with the teacher, he ran across the street, scaled a chain-link fence and climbed onto the church roof. He was running from school officials, Moyes said. "His parents were contacted, and they arrived on scene," Moyes said. "We began to ask him to come down. ... He was frightened that he would be in trouble if he came down."

Moyes said the boy threw something -- shingle particles or pebbles -- onto the road that he found on the roof. "One vehicle was damaged, but nobody was hurt," he said. After that incident, an officer got on the roof. "He saw the officer and -- again, not to hurt himself, but to flee -- then jumped," Moyes said. The case will be screened by juvenile court, he said. Moyes said the boy's parents said the child has had some behavioral problems.

New Camera

After years of longing, I have finally joined the ranks of DSLR owners. Rita granted my wish this past week by buying me a Canon Digital Rebel XSi. This camera is so much better than our previous camera that I have been drooling on it.Here is a sample picture:

It's not the best picture ever, but it was a simple point-and-click using the standard equipment. An upgraded lens and flash, plus some post-processing, would make it even better.

One of my goals is to use the camera for astrophotography. My first attempt was to get a picture of Comet Lulin. On Friday night Todd, Kenna, and I drove to rural Syracuse to do some stargazing. We were able to get a good view of the comet in my telescope, but none of my pictures turned out well at all. Hopefully with practice I will get better.

Training again

The Winter Racing Circuit is in full swing. Two weeks ago, my friend Mandy and I ran the 5K. Today was the 10K and we had the pleasure of taking yet another crazy running lady with us to the fun--our new friend Melissa.

For years I preferred to run alone because it was my escape time, nearly sacred for the effect it had on my self confidence and mood. Also, it's totally hard to run and talk! I supposed I could run and listen but for me keeping quiet would be harder than regulating my breathing during a chat!! I began tolerating running with others when I hit a totally unmotivated stage. I couldn't get my lazy self out of bed except when I was beholden to someone else. Now I love, love, love to run with other people and I have a handful of girlfriends that drag me along their path to accomplishment. Sometimes we run with each other, sometimes we start together and go our own way/speed but it's always great.

Can't we all just get along?

Are you sure, Officer?

My lead foot struck again.
On the way to my sister's house over the weekend
I got a speeding ticket just outside of Malad, Idaho...

92 in a 75
$140
OUCH!

Happy Heart's Day

I was never a fan of Valentine's Day due to a long, sad history of feeling ugly and unloved on such a smoochy day. [Insert your own pity party memory here...or just roll your eyes at my constant victim status.]

I'm an old, WISE woman now and realize that love is better given away than waited for. I'm a slow learner but I usually get it..eventually...sometimes.

To commemorate new affection for the day of hearts and CANDY, here's a list of 14 things that I love to do (three days late).

1. EAT breakfast food.

2. SPEND TIME with my family.

3. HEAR:
"Wow, you look skinny."
"Thank you."
"You're smart."
"I thought you were a lot younger than that."
"You're beautiful."

4. LAUGH.

5. RUN.

6. SMELL lemon or bleach. Mmmmmm clean.

7. WATCH a great movie.

8. SEW.

9. READ a beautiful quote.

10. MAKE someone's day.

11. BEGIN and FINISH something I've been putting off.

12. FIND something I've been looking for.

13. CRY...just get it all out...preferably in privacy.

14. REMEMBER what's important and what is not.

Fishing "the Juan"

I spent this past weekend fly fishing the San Juan river with my brother Steve. The part of the river where we fished is described in wikipedia like this: "One section deserves special mention for its fly fishing allure: the 4.25 miles just below Navajo Dam in northwest New Mexico, near the small town of Aztec. This stretch, known to fly fishermen simply as 'the Juan', is among the most hallowed trout fishing waters in North America!"

The trip started Thursday morning when I drove nine hours from Layton to Navajo Dam, New Mexico. Steve flew from Raleigh to Albuquerque and drove a rental car three hours. We met at a local fly shop where we bought five-day licenses and stocked up on flies. We managed to get in a little fishing before dark. We caught three fish before it got too dark to see. (OK, *Steve* caught three fish.)

We spent all day Friday wading in the river, with relatively little success. The other fishermen we talked to were also having slow days, so we didn't feel bad. Steve had a bit of a hot streak in the late afternoon and landed a few good fish, including the one below.

Just as it was getting dark I got a huge strike and set the hook. But, the fish snapped the line. Every fishing trip has the big one that got away and that was mine. I only landed one fish all day, but it was a decent one.

On Saturday we hired a guide to take us down the river in a drift boat. Fishing from the boat provides easier access to more of the river. It also allows for longer and more natural drifts of the fly. Having the knowledge of a guide that fishes the river 200 days a year also helps. We therefore had much more success. We each caught too many fish to count. As far as winter fishing goes, I don't think we could have asked for a better day. Here is a picture of my best fish.

On Sunday, I drove to Aztec and visited Aztec Ruins National Monument. The ruins are from the ancestral Puebloan people that lived there during the 11th century. One structure, the West Ruin, had at least 400 rooms and was over 30 feet tall.

The most impressive structure is The Great Kiva, which held over 200 people. It has been reconstructed, so you get to see just how amazing the building is.

For those that have read the book Collapse, you may remember the chapter on Chaco Canyon. That site was inhabited at the same time, and by the same culture, as the Aztec Ruins. The too locations are 75 miles apart. I thought about also visiting the Chaco Canyon site, but you need a four-wheel-drive vehicle. I think I will visit that location, along with the Mesa Verde ruins, on a later trip.