Time to get going again

I have been very fortunate for the past 9 years to not have any trouble with my knee.  In December of '09 I had to have my knee reconstructed after a softball injury.  Until March of this year I had never had any issues with it.  Then I twisted it.  I cannot believe how long it has taken for me to be able to even think about jogging again because of the stiffness in my knee.  This past weekend I decided I would give it a try and I was able to jog a mile straight through and do a walk/jog combination for the other 4 mile.  I was so excited.  I feel like I have been given my freedom back.  I was depressed thinking that I was not going to be able to jog again after just starting to really try.  The best news is that it was just a tiny bit stiff after that walk/jog but not unbearably so and I also felt like I could do it again the next day (if my quads hadn't been so sore).

Under the Dome

I am trying to be very cautious to not give away and of the plot when I do a book review.

I have always been a Stephen King fan and this book did not disappoint. It was a little daunting at 1074 pages, but right away King's characters had me in their grasp and I had a hard time taking breaks from the story.

An invisible barrier has come down around a little town, resting right on the town borders severing them from the rest of the world. Set in the small town of Chester's Mill, this story portrays what might happen if a small pocket of society were suddenly cut off from outside contact. The dome not only causes problems politically, relationally, and emotionally for those affected by the dome, it also causes some environmental impact on the area that is cut off. The citizens of Chester's Mill fight along with the United States Army to try and figure out a way to get rid of the dome, while some corrupt people trapped beneath it take advantage of the isolation to increase the tyranny that have been inflicting on the small town all along.

King does such a good job of character development throughout the story, I found myself reacting emotionally to the storyline as if it were happening to me. I cannot tell you the last time a character in a story mad me as angry as the villain in this story did. And even at the end of the 1000+ pages I was still wanting more.

 

I Did It!!

I have always been a walker. It is one of the great things about living in the town we do. There is not only a sidewalk system that makes it possible to walk to the post office, library and Starbucks. There is a developed path that stretches for miles called Pollyann trail. That trail is less than a quarter mile from my house. For the 11 years we have lived here, I have used the sidewalks and trails many times.

In January, I had decided I would like to lose 10 pounds and started walking for exercise. Dean found a treadmill that someone had put out at the curb with the instruction manual attached that he brought home for me. He had to fix a bracket, but it has worked ever since. I used that treadmill through the winter and this spring and I started bumping the speed up to a jogging/running pace. That made me start to consider entering a 5K this year.

My brother in law, Kris, suggested that I needed to move from the treadmill to running outside. I was forced to a couple of weeks ago when we had no power for three day. I was amazed at how much harder it was to run the trail. It took me about a week to figure out how to pace myself. I did not have a machine electronically telling me how fast I was going. After I figured out what pace was a good one for me, I was able to jog two miles but I was having to stop and alternate walking and jogging for the last mile. Today I was able to jog the entire three miles!! I got to the mile marker in 35 minutes so I had also broken the 12 minute mile. These are huge accomplishments for me.

The bad news is I haven’t actually lost any weight. I cannot deny there is a big difference in my body shape, but the stubborn number on the scale just isn’t budging! I have started a different eating regime. I will keep you posted on the changes that come from that.

Book Review Wednesday

Since I am a bibliophile, I thought I would start doing a very short book reviews each week. The book that prompted me to think about doing this was Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I had seen the book a few times in the store and heard a little buzz about it so I decided to check it out.

The book has the same characters and writing style as the original by Jane Austen with a twist.

An infestation of Zombies is plaguing England. The entire country is on their guard against zombie attacks. The militia spends all their time trying desperately to banish all the zombies. In that same vein, Mr. Bennett makes sure his four daughters are trained in Zombie fighting. People that have very good zombie fighting skills are revered throughout society.

In spite of the infestation, Victorian life must go on. There are balls and dinners that may be interrupted by the animated dead in their quest to eat the living. Courting, flirting and socializing continue with small interruptions to have to kill the attackers. In spite of all the circumstances that seem to keep them apart, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth find a common bond that brings them together in the quest to rid the country side of the awful creatures.

I was not expecting a great work of literature so I was able to get past the many references to vomiting and the sexual innuendo. The question I was left with after finishing it is, "how did zombies come to plague England?" There is no explanation of how it started. All in all, I would probably not recommend the book for purchase. It is worthy of a library check out to see what all the hoopla is, but I wouldn't spend my money on it.

Milestones

I think it is funny that we spend so much time documenting the milestones our children achieve through their second year of life and then we quit. There are so many milestones that have not been reached by the end of their second year.

This year seems like it has had many milestones for our family.

Our older daughter has taken driver's ed and is now driving on her learner's permit. She has turned into a beautiful, pleasant young lady. I think she has her first romantic interest but I haven't heard it officially yet.

Our youngest daughter has achieve a new level of independence. She now has a cell phone so she can head to the library (with a friend) and choose books. They have even headed to the local party store by themselves to buy candy and pop. She has asked for and started using deodorant and lip gloss!! She has spent some of her own hard earned money on clothes. In other words, she is turning into a pre-teen!

I've even had one this year. For the first time ever, I felt like I needed to clean the house in preparation for our oldest son coming home. The other ones are just signs that I am getting old!

Our family has made it through the milestone of survivng the first year of Dean's company! When he decided to start a home remodeling business in January '08. Initially, it looked like an illogical decision. But after talking about it we agreed he should give it a go. He has had some amazing oppotunities to create some beautiful works of craftmanship.

Fun time last night!!!

I decided to have a Mystery Hostess for my at home business, Usborne Books and More. I sent out an e-vite to all my customers but I messed up the way the I put the addresses in so I had no clue how many people were coming!! I decided to be ready for 10 but I wasn't going to be too disappointed if only 3 showed up. Well, 8 people came!! I had a friend join my team and had a great time talking about our wonderful books with everyone there.

July Flew By!!

I am amazed by the fact we have had to flip the calendar to August already. Where did July go? When I sit back and reflect, I realize it was crazy, busy at our house.

Our oldest son came home on leave. That was quickly followed by ALL of my siblings arriving (one at a time). That is the first time in 5 years we have all been together. We spent the majority of 2 weeks hanging out and catching up. Thrown into that was a party to celebrate my brother's wedding, my mom's birthday and Steve's deployment to Iraq. Here is a picture of the 6 siblings all together in age order.


Then July 18th we said a very teary good bye to Steve, our oldest, as he left to go back to Fort Lewis, WA, where he got ready to deploy on the 24th. He is currently in Kuwait getting equipment ready for the rest of his unit to join him and then they will head into Iraq. We have been so happy that he has been able to contact us a couple of times by phone. I cannot imagine if we still lived in the era of snail mail and no easy worldwide phone connections.

Throw in a few struggles with Tori's diabetes (2 bad sites, ketones and an endo visit) and Teddi's driving and it has been quite the eventful month!