Pity Party Hoodoo Style!

Many many thanks to all of you who read and/or commented on my last blog entry! You deserve medals for putting up with me. Thank you soo much for your many ideas and suggestions. I thought about them all weekend.

You might be happy to know that I have ended my pity party and have pushed myself into action. ;)

I am creating a blog dedicated to weight loss and fitness. Making my goals and progress public just might be the catalyst I need to stick with the plan this time. I'll post it within the next few days.

Thank you, blogging friends. You are all so patient and wise and wonderful and I appreciate you!

Tomorrow is a new day.

*Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
Eleanor Roosevelt

It's seriously going to take a village.... (DANGER AHEAD)

This is an irritated, annoyed, and gnashing of the teeth kind of tyrade! I just need to get this out of my system so I can fix the problem. You may want to turn back now.




<--- ME






Anger and rage looms ahead in this blog rant.








Enter at your own risk!








Okay - here goes. But, remember, I warned you...

WHAT IS MY DEAL?! Why can't I just stick to a plan and lose the weight? Seriously, what is so hard about denying myself food and expending a little energy during exercise to get healthy?!

I hear the words that I need to be healthy. I know the importance of putting good food in my mouth. I know how good exercise is for the body. I remember how good it feels.

But why can't I do it?

I'm now having some health issues because of my weight. High cholesterol is already here for me. Diabetes is pointing and laughing at me because it knows it will be next. Now I'm having gallbladder issues.

This was never supposed to be part of the plan for me. I didn't grow up thinking I would one day be overweight.


I signed up 6 months ago to run the half marathon with my brother next month. Am I ready? Of course not! Did I exercise? Nope. At all? Uh uh.

Having a friend drag me to weight watchers worked at first - but lately I've just been paying money to show a weight gain.

Something must be done.

After much soul-searching this week, I've determined that it will take a village to get me healthy!

Today I'm taking drastic measures. And I'm telling my friends in blog-land about it so that I will be accountable for my actions.

Here are my thoughts and I hope you'll share what works or doesn't work for you. I know this affects a lot of us. I'm sure that I can't be alone in my feelings.

But I also know that some of you are doing things right and have made changes in your lifestyles.
These are some things I really really want:

• I want to lose 50 pounds.
• I want to run a marathon next year for my 40th birthday (yikes)
• I want to lower my cholesterol and high blood pressure
• I want to be peaceful and less harried - more introspective
• I want to get a good night's sleep and feel energy during the day
• I want to be loving and forgiving of myself

I'm going to post my weekly progress to my blog each week. I'll post how many times I exercised during the week and if I showed a loss at WW. I'm also going to try to bust through some of my fears.

I truly welcome your feedback. What was it that finally pushed you to make the change? Are you currently struggling with motivation right now as well? What are some of your tricks?

Jane Austen

I must confess that I have never read a Jane Austen book nor watched a movie about any of her books.

I know - shocking!

A lot of people talk about Jane Austen on their blogs so I clearly must be doing something wrong.

SO - in order to correct this error, I will pick up a book and/or movie this weekend.

But - which one? And should I watch a movie first or read a book first?

Help!

Raising children..

I received this great email today. This one struck a chord with me...
-----
Paul Harvey Writes:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room,but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it.. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hannukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

We have a winner!

We have a winner!

Whew! What a day.

I took my son to a doctor’s appointment at 3. I knew I had to be home by 5 because of the drawing – but the traffic, you know – it slowed me down.

So then I finally got home. It was before 5. But barely.

And I realized that I forgot to figure out how the Random.org random number generator thing worked.

So I had to browse that website to find out how to actually do it.

I thought I had to register – so I tried. But it wouldn’t let me register.

But I figured out how to get a random number anyway – without registering.

And I got the number.

But then I tried to post the winner’s name to blogger – it said “TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE”!

ARRGHHH!!

Oh – it just occurred to me that you might possibly want to know the name of the winner.

Oops – sorry!

Okay.

Can I just tell you how EXCITED I AM?!

First, I want to let everyone know that my comment and the comments of my immediate family members (sorry, fam) did not count – so I skipped right over me, Todd (twice), and Connor to get to number 12.

Here is the winning number:


Here are your random numbers:
12
Timestamp: 2008-06-23 23:13:26 UTC


Which just so happens to be…






FRUMPIN' IT UP!


Frumpy won. She is the winner!

Go Frumpy! Go Frumpy!

I am so happy Janell won because she is going through some challenges right now. I've never personally met Janell, sadly, but I can tell she is pretty dang cool! She was actually my first blogging friend and I'm happy to know her.

For everyone else - thanks for sharing your comments. It was sooo much fun getting to know all of you. I can't wait to read all of your blogs!

100 things and a GIVEAWAY!

Apparently it is blogging tradition to post 100 things about yourself when you reach 100 posts. Please don't fall asleep. There is a reward at the end! Here goes..

1. I won't eat olives.
2. I am an EMT.
3. I was the hula hoop champion of my elementary school.
4. When I was a little girl I was terrified of dogs and was scared to walk to my friend's houses for fear of seeing one.
5. I am a writer/reporter for a city newspaper and cover the government beat.
6. Cottage cheese disgusts me.
7. I crashed a driver's ed car in high school.
8. I burned up my parents brand new car when I was 17. A blog for another day. *Sigh*.
9. I think my husband is perfect for me.
10. I have the most hilarious brothers in the world.
11. Cherry flavoring is gross.
12. I absolutely adore my kids and think they are so fun to be around.
13. I'm not a fan of the colors blue or gray.
14. I am thinking of enshrining and displaying a bag of crazy bread in the foyer of my house.
15. I have had thyroid cancer.
16. I love my cats entirely too much.
17. I love strawberry chapstick and have placed one in my purse, my car, my nightstand, my bathroom, my school bag, the kitchen etc etc.
18. An old boyfriend of mine from high school was killed in the Iraq war.
19. Mean people really do suck.
20. I think my daughter Elora is one of the sweetest people on this earth.
21. I used to race home every day from elementary school to watch the Brady Bunch.
22. I am extremely claustrophobic.
23. I have always wanted to run a marathon.
24. I've never met someone who wasn't interesting to me in some way.
25. I have a son on a mission in Russia.
26. I want to do humanitarian work in another country.
27. My high school had a "nerd day" where we could all dress up as nerds. I proudly won my Sophomore class's "queen nerd". A title I hold dear to my heart.
28. A lot of what I say is sarcastic - but I worry that it comes across as rude. I am just trying to be playful and I would NEVER want to offend someone.
29. I once saw a woman hit her little child a few times and was being horribly mean to her. I burst into tears and told her she had no business being a mother.
30. I talk to my cats in a baby voice.
31. I wouldn't eat cole slaw if my life depended on it. (see #28)
32. My favorite movies are Castaway and Chocolate.
33. One of my favorite songs is "Edelweiss".
34. I have only given birth to one child - Connor. Darren, Elora, and Larissa are my step children (my children, nonetheless).
35. My cat, Creature, follows me wherever I go.
36. I would love to go back in time to see what it was really like for the pioneers.
37. I love history.
38. I have a horrible habit of procrastinating until the last possible minute.
39. I haven't eaten a hamburger or a hot dog in about 17 years.
40. I wish I could go back in time and redo some of my poor decisions in life.
41. I also realize that some of my poor decisions have made me a better person today.
42. My favorite colors are yellow and coral.
43. I like to be by myself to recharge.
44. I like to write poetry.
45. I have an amazing sister that has chosen to live in a cabin that has no running water or indoor plumbing. She grows a lot of her food. I'm planning a blog post about her and her fascinating life.
46. I don't personally know anyone that has a blog. I keep working on friends and family to try it out.
47. I once cried when I saw a dog in the middle of a busy street.
48. I am the third of four children.
49. There is a person in my life that I have difficulty forgiving. I think it's only hurting me but I don't know how to get past it.
50. I love the song "God be with you til we meet again" and could listen to it over and over.
51. I have no musical ability whatsoever - and this is not an exaggeration.
52. I LOVE Bryce Canyon (as if you haven't noticed).
53. My dad tells me that when I was a little girl, I didn't know how to be mad and would say "I'm mad now!"
54. I think my daughter Larissa is hilarious!
55. I love going to temple square and feel so fortunate to live so close to it.
56. My son Connor is going to Europe next month and will skydive in the Swiss Alps.
57. Autumn is my favorite season.
58. Writing this list feels awkward and self-centered to me.
59. Some words make me giggle, like - giggle, shenanigans, broo ha ha (sp?), rural, guru etc. I think I'll try to come up with a blog using all of my favorite words.
60. I love PEZ!
61. If I had a choice between chocolate or pizza - I would choose pizza.
62. I once packed up my little car and moved across country to Florida just for the adventure of it. My car broke down in Tallahassee and that's where I stayed. I lived there for a year.
63. I love learning about other people.
64. Todd loves to make me laugh. I love to laugh!
65. I feel joy, optimism and hope for my future.
66. I love to watch other people's successes.
67. I love the game "cake mania". (Drooping head in shame).
68. I haven't always felt the way I do in #65.
69. I miss working with my friends at VISTA.
70. I've joined weight watchers.
71. I think experiences and adventures are more important and rewarding than "things".
72. My favorite movies growing up were "Karate Kid" and "The Jazz Singer".
73. I won't eat raisins.
74. I have lived in Las Vegas, NV.
75. I want to move to Arizona.
76. I love talk radio.
77. I want to write a book some day.
78. As much as I love the red desert, I have never been to the Grand Canyon.
79. I can't tell jokes. No, seriously, I am horrible at telling jokes.
80. I love classic rock - Styx, Eagles, Journey, Bob Seger, Foreigner, Led Zeppelin
81. My favorite scripture is Mosiah 2:41.
82. I love my Savior.
83. I had three surgeries last year.
84. I have had kidney stones - worst pain I've ever felt.
85. I have never broken a bone.
86. I love ghost stories.
87. I love game night with the fam.
88. I can't wait until I reach #100 of this list! ;)
89. I miss my friend Geri who died a few years ago.
90. I have lived in Sacramento.
91. I want to go to nursing school.
92. I'm terrified of being in an earthquake.
93. I am proud of my son Connor and his excellent grades. He tries hard at everything he does.
94. Chocolate Peanut Butter is my favorite ice cream. Mmmm.
95. My fingers are double jointed.
96. I dream of a life without money worries.
97. My friend Chen and I stole her parents car when they were out of town. I was the designated driver and didn't have a license.
98. I am proud of my heritage.
99. My parents gave me a wonderful childhood.
100. I want to try yoga.

Okay - since you've endured this long and boring list - I am going to give away some of my favorite things!

Journey CD's, Phase 10, strawberry chapstick, weight watchers cookbook, Chocolat dvd, Time Out for Women devotionals, PEZ! These items are all new except for the chapstick (ew!).

All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me something interesting about you! Anything at all. If you don't have a google id - just leave an anonymous comment but be sure to leave your name in your post. I will choose a random name on Monday at 5 pm (MST).

On your mark - get set - go!

Mom

Thinking of my mom today. I am blessed to have her in my life. She is fun to be around. She is musically talented. She loves and worries about all of her children and only wants the best for us. I laugh at her little comments, especially this choice nugget when we ate out the other day: "Oh, they know me here. They know to bring your dad extra napkins." I've been chuckling about that ever since!

Love you mom. Thanks for your love and support in all I do!

Here's our song: