Sunrise with Coffee

My camera is on the fritz right now but luckily I had H's close by as I drank my morning coffee.  This is the view out the back window.

Halloween in Utah

Halloween is alive and well and living in Utah. When I lived in Alabama where the southern baptist and fundamental Christian churches were prevalent, Halloween didn’t get a lot of play. In the Bible Belt it seems, Halloween was evolving into an opportunity for churches to put on plays or haunted houses to scare kids straight out of drugs and sex. They weren’t comfortable with the idea of a holiday that has pagan or maybe occult origins. It’s been seven years now since we lived in Alabama so I don’t know if things have changed at all. But because of this experience and the fact that the office and area that I work in are predominantly Morman, I was surprised at how much my co-workers got into Halloween. When I raised the issue with a few of them, they didn’t understand my surprise. They obviously focus on the family element.


We had the kids of employees come in and trick or treat and I guess I’ve become a scrooge because it was a waste of half a day of work for me. One of my colleagues asked, “Is your daughter not into this stuff? Is she not coming in?” I responded by simply saying, “She’s 15”. One of my friends in the office laughed and said I’d be surprised how old kids trick or treat here. I guess we’ll see tonight.

Proper Snow

I cleaned about four inches of snow from my car this morning.  If my camera hadn't broken, I'd have a picture!

Media Overload

I was talking to my friend M not too long ago and mentioned how depressed and anxious I’ve been feeling.  I think I’ve realized that living in the UK was a vacation from some of the economic problems.  When we were there I was pretty choosy about the news from the States I paid attention to thinking hey I’m not living there right now.  I was also pretty choosy about the UK news I consumed because I just didn’t feel as invested knowing.  I get back here and turn on the news, start reading the newspaper and I want to jump out the window.  My friend M confirmed that the economic news has been bad for some time.  No wonder we’ve become a Prozac nation. 

I think I need to go back to burying my head at least half-way in the sand.

Cisco

When K and her husband G came to visit on Labor Day Weekend, we took a drive down to Moab to see some of the natural beauty at Arches National Park. We took a short side trip to Cisco, a ghost town which provided some of the settings in Thelma and Louise.


It’s taken awhile for the idea of the west to sink in, but Cisco brought it home. I love the vulnerability of being out in a wide open space that also offers a level a freedom you don’t see every day.

Hooray for Fall!

Yes, fall, I’m claiming that term once again.  Not long after locating to England and using “fall” in a sentence I was quickly shut down and told to use “autumn”.  What a wonderful time of year it is.  Because there’s a lack of pumpkin flavored items in the UK, I’d forgotten how pumpkin crazy we get.  I had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season last week and it was as good as I remembered.  My sister-in-law B sent me a Starbucks card in the mail knowing how much I love and have missed them.  We had a virtual coffee break together last Sunday afternoon.

Buh-bye Buttah

After force feeding me butter for about a year calling it homework, I get back to the States, get my cholesterol checked and am told by the doctor that no medication is necessary, but through diet and exercise I need to drop my cholesterol by about 30 points. H, on the other hand who has been eating the same things goes and gets his checked and it’s great. Where’s the justice? While I enjoyed every mouthful, it’s time to pay the piper.


Work has been tense and I made a decision when I got back that I would start working on things I could control like the cholesterol bit. A and I have started working out at rec center and I thought I would take it a step further and hire a personal trainer, one rec center has on hand. My first discussion with J went something like this. I can’t afford to hire you for a weekly appointment but I need some accountability and would like someone to help design challenging workouts for me so I’d like to meet with you every month. J is great. She’s perky but not too perky. She’s encouraging but not easy on me. By the end of the workout, I hate her guts. After my first appointment I walked in my bare feet around the house like I had high heels on because my calves were unbelievably sore. It has been a good investment because the exercises she has me do really are things I would have never challenged myself to do. When I’m in the weight room I’m actually out of breath during my workout, something I’ve never experienced before.

So, what’s the end result? I’m a work in progress, LOL. I should be proud that I’ve been making fitness a priority since June, and that’s probably the longest stretch in my life. Have the pounds just melted away? No, but my stress level has decreased. I was doing pretty good cutting back nutritionally until all of the company rolled into town. Now I’m struggling to bring that back in line. I’ll get there.