Last night I was at my sister's house and before I left I offered to take some kids home. They have been begging me for months to have a sleepover and I decided now was a good time with no school and all.
Even though we didn't get home until pretty late I agreed to play a game with them. I think we had fun. This morning they slept-in late which was good because I was able to get up and get some things done.
After they were all gone and I had breakfast cleaned up and was getting myself ready for the day I went into the bathroom they used. Now I will note that I usually don't have to do much cleaning in this bathroom because I don't use it very often, but when I looked into the sink I saw toothpaste all over the sink.
I turned on the water and started to wipe down the sink and gave a thanks for the blessing of having had kids in my house. What a blessing to have nieces and nephews who like to come to my house sometimes.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Before and After
Here they are as promised although most people have seen me in the past few months. I did have one of those in my sweats pictures but, they are a little too embarrassing, not that these aren't...actually it about makes me cry to see what I let myself get to, but here it is anyway.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
So Many Errors
Wow, just re-read my float post and there were a lot of errors.
For those of you who care (probably just me) I made an attempt to correct them and may have improved the telling of the story in a line or two...yes this is a lame attempt to have people read my blog again and to get more comments. :) Yes I used the word lame despite my efforts to get people to be careful with word usage in all areas of speech...
For those of you who care (probably just me) I made an attempt to correct them and may have improved the telling of the story in a line or two...yes this is a lame attempt to have people read my blog again and to get more comments. :) Yes I used the word lame despite my efforts to get people to be careful with word usage in all areas of speech...
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Tube Terrors: A Tale of Floating the Boise River
As I mentioned in my last post, one of my favorite activities is to float the Boise River. It is the right speed to relax and keep moving at the same time. It also has about 3 rapids that make for a little excitement providing you miss the big rocks that really can bruise the bum...not really hard to miss if you know what you are steering clear of.
So when I went to visit my sister this summer I really wanted to do this. We were a little uncertain about the logistics of it because normally we have two cars so one driver can park at the finish then drive with the other driver to the start. The problem was we only had one car this time. We thought about inviting others to join us but we didn't want to invite someone just for their car. Fortunately we discovered a shuttle that was relatively cheap that would take us from the finish to the start.
So, we drove to the finish, got on our suits and sunscreen, grabbed our tubes and waited for the bus. The float down the river is approximately 6 miles, I imagine the drive is a bit longer since you have to take the streets.
This river is also great because they provide air filling stations at the put-in area, which is great when you are carrying tubes on a bus. It would be crazy to have a bus full of people and inflated tubes and rafts. When we got there however, we discovered that our tubes were missing their valve caps.
At first we weren't concerned because tubes have valves that prevent the air from escaping unless you push on them in just the right way to release it, but when we started to fill the tires we discovered it was more difficult than it should be. Even when we were able to get some air in them the air wouldn't stay in! That is when we discovered the the stems were empty, there were no valves in them!
So there we were standing in only our bathing suits with two deflated tires and no way to return to our car. We were seriously debating if it would be faster/easier to swim down the river or walk back to our car (on the main roads in only our bathing suits I will remind you).
As we considered our options, like looking for a small rock to fill the hole. Then I thought there must be some caps people had dropped just lying around so we kind of walked around looking for whatever we could find that might solve our problem.
We saw that some people had abandoned some tubes that clearly had been through the ringer and were full of holes. There was clearly some attempt to patch them but, clearly the tires did not come through with success despite some serious duck tape usage. It seemed apparent that no one would be returning for them so we took the cap from the one that had one...they too were missing their stems or we may have taken them as well.
So while my sister blew up one tire that would have a cap I continued to look around. Desperate I ripped some of the used duck tape from off of the abandoned tubes thinking maybe I could tape mine. Then we discovered the cap was broken and had to use the duck tap for reinforcement on the cap...but I went and got some more old, used, abandoned tape on a tube for my tire.
In the end we had two tubes which we filled to capacity hoping that between the two of them we would be able to have enough air in at least one of them to get us both to the end of the journey...we did this knowing that the time might come very quickly and that we would be sharing one tube.
It was apparent that the duck tape alone did not work as well as the duck tape combined with the broken cap. As I sat on it in the water little bubbles came out of it and when I pulled it out of the water a small hissing noise could be heard. Knowing that our only other option would be to walk the roads in our suits we headed out on the water and prayed for the best.
It was a fun float, we talked as we tried to steer clear of the edges and avoid cliff and tree divers. We joked about how quickly we would be sharing a tube and when we would have to swim the rest.
Amazingly enough both tubes made it to the end and though a bit smaller than than when we began not too small that we had to take such drastic measures to swim or walk.
All in all the whole story may sound funny and be poorly told, but we laughed and amused ourselves by our McGalver-like abilities to make due with only used duck tape.
Floating the river once again came through as one of my favorite activities!
So when I went to visit my sister this summer I really wanted to do this. We were a little uncertain about the logistics of it because normally we have two cars so one driver can park at the finish then drive with the other driver to the start. The problem was we only had one car this time. We thought about inviting others to join us but we didn't want to invite someone just for their car. Fortunately we discovered a shuttle that was relatively cheap that would take us from the finish to the start.
So, we drove to the finish, got on our suits and sunscreen, grabbed our tubes and waited for the bus. The float down the river is approximately 6 miles, I imagine the drive is a bit longer since you have to take the streets.
This river is also great because they provide air filling stations at the put-in area, which is great when you are carrying tubes on a bus. It would be crazy to have a bus full of people and inflated tubes and rafts. When we got there however, we discovered that our tubes were missing their valve caps.
At first we weren't concerned because tubes have valves that prevent the air from escaping unless you push on them in just the right way to release it, but when we started to fill the tires we discovered it was more difficult than it should be. Even when we were able to get some air in them the air wouldn't stay in! That is when we discovered the the stems were empty, there were no valves in them!
So there we were standing in only our bathing suits with two deflated tires and no way to return to our car. We were seriously debating if it would be faster/easier to swim down the river or walk back to our car (on the main roads in only our bathing suits I will remind you).
As we considered our options, like looking for a small rock to fill the hole. Then I thought there must be some caps people had dropped just lying around so we kind of walked around looking for whatever we could find that might solve our problem.
We saw that some people had abandoned some tubes that clearly had been through the ringer and were full of holes. There was clearly some attempt to patch them but, clearly the tires did not come through with success despite some serious duck tape usage. It seemed apparent that no one would be returning for them so we took the cap from the one that had one...they too were missing their stems or we may have taken them as well.
So while my sister blew up one tire that would have a cap I continued to look around. Desperate I ripped some of the used duck tape from off of the abandoned tubes thinking maybe I could tape mine. Then we discovered the cap was broken and had to use the duck tap for reinforcement on the cap...but I went and got some more old, used, abandoned tape on a tube for my tire.
In the end we had two tubes which we filled to capacity hoping that between the two of them we would be able to have enough air in at least one of them to get us both to the end of the journey...we did this knowing that the time might come very quickly and that we would be sharing one tube.
It was apparent that the duck tape alone did not work as well as the duck tape combined with the broken cap. As I sat on it in the water little bubbles came out of it and when I pulled it out of the water a small hissing noise could be heard. Knowing that our only other option would be to walk the roads in our suits we headed out on the water and prayed for the best.
It was a fun float, we talked as we tried to steer clear of the edges and avoid cliff and tree divers. We joked about how quickly we would be sharing a tube and when we would have to swim the rest.
Amazingly enough both tubes made it to the end and though a bit smaller than than when we began not too small that we had to take such drastic measures to swim or walk.
All in all the whole story may sound funny and be poorly told, but we laughed and amused ourselves by our McGalver-like abilities to make due with only used duck tape.
Floating the river once again came through as one of my favorite activities!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
I Kissed the Chain
So since my 100th post I have been meaning to get some before and after pictures, but I am still working on getting some after pictures. Anyway in the mean time I had to tell about some of my summer activities. 
So I did a lot of fun activities this summer. Some were completely new to me and some were repeats of old favorites. One of my favorite activities is to float on a tube down the Boise River which I got to do. I have no pictures but it was very adventuresome. I will try to tell the story on it soon.
So I did a lot of fun activities this summer. Some were completely new to me and some were repeats of old favorites. One of my favorite activities is to float on a tube down the Boise River which I got to do. I have no pictures but it was very adventuresome. I will try to tell the story on it soon.
Other activities included hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, and rock climbing. I am featuring the rock climbing here obviously because it was such a huge thing for me and maybe too because I have pictures. ;)
So first I have a picture of what I was going to climb. I was probably one of the last ones to go and those ahead of me at least had some experience and made it look a little easier than it was.
So here I am getting started. I think at this point I was saying (probably out loud, but only to myself) I can't do this, it is too hard. Then I answered back with I have to do this, I can do this, I am going to do this! 
So I kept going. When I got past this part everyone started to tell me I only had the hard part left. People, for the record, words of encouragement usually don't include "you only have the hard part left." But I was determined by now.
I made it to the top and as tradition has it for rock climbers, when you reach the top you are supposed to kiss the chain...and I did! So cool that I was able to do this!
Friday, July 29, 2011
100 I Did It!
So as many of you know I have successfully been loosing weight and though a lot of it has finally shown in the last 8-10 months I really have been actively working on it for a little over two years. It has been a long slow road but 100% worth it!
So how much have I lost? You guessed it 100lbs! What a great way to celebrate my 100th post.
Let me start off by saying I am very happy and excited about where I am but in all honesty very sad about the fact that I ever had to do it. No seriously, I was looking at an old skirt I used to wear a few years ago and almost cried, and they were not tears of joy, they were sadness for who I was before. If there is anything I would encourage anyone to do it would be to learn who you are, what your body is and make it that.
I have written pages of thoughts about what I have been through in case anyone wants to really know, but I am going to try to summarize with just a few points some of the things that made me successful. But as I tend to be long winded I am sure it will be long anyway.
-When I first started I prayed for the desire to change, overcoming something as big as this starts by making the choice to do it and if you are having trouble with that then first pray for the desire to do it so when you make the choice it is easier.
-That leads me to say that it isn’t about how I look physically so much as knowing my body is a temple and if I understand spiritually how it makes a difference I can make better choices to take care of my body. This also means I can pray for help which also holds me to a different level of accountability.
The choices, the work, the effort required...
-I exercise a lot because it really makes a difference and because I am at a point in my life where I can. That is all I will say about exercise.
-Be aware of nutritional values of food. I don’t think I knew how bad some of the stuff I ate was for me before I started educating myself on it. I learned for example that one brownie is about as bad for you as two and a half cookies so when I am going treat myself to something I go for the cookie because it isn’t as bad so I can enjoy it more.
-I have accomplished it all through small obtainable goals...one step at a time is what got me here. Now really I did start with a 100 lb goal in mind, but it took me about a year longer than I originally planned. I am totally ok with this though because I have lost steadily over the past couple of years so I know the change is for good. I still love food and splurge sometimes (what girl doesn’t go crazy once a month?) but, generally speaking, my habits are changed and even when I do go crazy I stop before I have hit total out of control mode. Plus now that I have hit 100 I am going to keep going just a little further. :)
-One of the main things I tell people who ask how I did it is that I haven’t given up any food I love, I just control when and how much I eat. I have lots of little things I do to make this happen. For example I make the yummy lasagna that I love and then put it in small portions in the freezer then take it to work for lunch. I still get my lasagna but now it is total portion control.
-I often speak of my problem as an addiction. Whatever it is called it is a matter of bridling my passions. There are certain things in life that aren't in and of themselves wrong, they just have to be kept within certain bounds so control and bridling passions is a good description of what I have learned to do.
-I have also set many small goals along the way and looked for accountability with someone I trusted. For example I decided at one point I could only have ice cream on dates. That made it easy for me because I didn’t have it in my house but I didn’t deprive myself on special occasions. Then I committed to reporting to my sister anytime I had it so she would know if it was within the guidelines I had set for myself.
-It isn't always easy and I still struggle sometimes. One weekend I was having a particularly hard time and wondering if I really could continue to exercise so hard and not eat whatever whenever. At about that time I pulled into the temple parking lot and realized what I was thinking. Right then and there I repented of the temptation and recommitted to stick to it.
I know that sometimes the spirit is willing but the flesh is week but I love how I feel now and I never want to feel the way I did before again! I will never go there again! Really the journey has been one of body, mind and spirit. The whole picture is needed to be realized to make it a success.
So how much have I lost? You guessed it 100lbs! What a great way to celebrate my 100th post.
Let me start off by saying I am very happy and excited about where I am but in all honesty very sad about the fact that I ever had to do it. No seriously, I was looking at an old skirt I used to wear a few years ago and almost cried, and they were not tears of joy, they were sadness for who I was before. If there is anything I would encourage anyone to do it would be to learn who you are, what your body is and make it that.
I have written pages of thoughts about what I have been through in case anyone wants to really know, but I am going to try to summarize with just a few points some of the things that made me successful. But as I tend to be long winded I am sure it will be long anyway.
-When I first started I prayed for the desire to change, overcoming something as big as this starts by making the choice to do it and if you are having trouble with that then first pray for the desire to do it so when you make the choice it is easier.
-That leads me to say that it isn’t about how I look physically so much as knowing my body is a temple and if I understand spiritually how it makes a difference I can make better choices to take care of my body. This also means I can pray for help which also holds me to a different level of accountability.
The choices, the work, the effort required...
-I exercise a lot because it really makes a difference and because I am at a point in my life where I can. That is all I will say about exercise.
-Be aware of nutritional values of food. I don’t think I knew how bad some of the stuff I ate was for me before I started educating myself on it. I learned for example that one brownie is about as bad for you as two and a half cookies so when I am going treat myself to something I go for the cookie because it isn’t as bad so I can enjoy it more.
-I have accomplished it all through small obtainable goals...one step at a time is what got me here. Now really I did start with a 100 lb goal in mind, but it took me about a year longer than I originally planned. I am totally ok with this though because I have lost steadily over the past couple of years so I know the change is for good. I still love food and splurge sometimes (what girl doesn’t go crazy once a month?) but, generally speaking, my habits are changed and even when I do go crazy I stop before I have hit total out of control mode. Plus now that I have hit 100 I am going to keep going just a little further. :)
-One of the main things I tell people who ask how I did it is that I haven’t given up any food I love, I just control when and how much I eat. I have lots of little things I do to make this happen. For example I make the yummy lasagna that I love and then put it in small portions in the freezer then take it to work for lunch. I still get my lasagna but now it is total portion control.
-I often speak of my problem as an addiction. Whatever it is called it is a matter of bridling my passions. There are certain things in life that aren't in and of themselves wrong, they just have to be kept within certain bounds so control and bridling passions is a good description of what I have learned to do.
-I have also set many small goals along the way and looked for accountability with someone I trusted. For example I decided at one point I could only have ice cream on dates. That made it easy for me because I didn’t have it in my house but I didn’t deprive myself on special occasions. Then I committed to reporting to my sister anytime I had it so she would know if it was within the guidelines I had set for myself.
-It isn't always easy and I still struggle sometimes. One weekend I was having a particularly hard time and wondering if I really could continue to exercise so hard and not eat whatever whenever. At about that time I pulled into the temple parking lot and realized what I was thinking. Right then and there I repented of the temptation and recommitted to stick to it.
I know that sometimes the spirit is willing but the flesh is week but I love how I feel now and I never want to feel the way I did before again! I will never go there again! Really the journey has been one of body, mind and spirit. The whole picture is needed to be realized to make it a success.
Friday, July 15, 2011
99...
So this is my 99th post and I wanted to do something big for 100. I am sure most of my readers (all three of you) already know what I am probably going to post, but I was curious what ideas anyone had for me to do. (I think one of my readers out there did a similar post on her 99th...Thanks for the idea ;) Who knows maybe someone will inspire me to do something I hadn't thought of before.
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