Are we done YET?

I'm pretty much over winter by January 1. Truth be told, I'm over it before then, but it kinda fits in nicely with the whole Christmas ambiance thing. By the time January is over, and we get teased by the Annual February Thaw, I am WAY over winter. But it always comes to rear it's ugly head again . . . and again in March . . . again in April . . . and at least one last gasp in May just to show who's really in control. Sometimes it goes on into June. If it isn't snow in June, then it's rain . . . and rain . . . and still more rain. Don't even bother with the whole "but we need the water" concept. I'm bored with that.


Some years ago my mom took me to see "Camelot" up in SLC (with Robert Goulet, no less), and it was then that I decided that I need to live in Camelot. Who wouldn't want to live there?

"A law was made a distant moon ago here:

July and August cannot be too hot.

And there's a legal limit to the snow here

In Camelot.

The winter is forbidden til December

and exits March the second on the dot.

By order summer lingers through September

in Camelot.

. . .

The rain may never fall til after sundown.

By eight the morning fog must disappear.

I short there's simply not

A more congenial spot

For happlily-ever-aftering

than here in Camelot."

Yeah, I gotta move there. Particularly on a typical February/Utah day like this that started off so beautifully sunny and warm and ended so nasty and windy and cold. It is for this very reason that this is part of of my homepage. Lane and I sat at this very beach just last November, although it seems like a lifetime ago.

Must get back to 7 Mile Beach.

Soon.

Disability Awareness

Isn't it pretty? There is actually a patch and pin too, but I couldn't find pictures of those. I found out about the patch at a Roundtable Meeting and decided we were going to earn it. Little did I know, how much blood, sweat and tears was going into earning it. I shouldn't say that. It's not quite blood, but there was sweat and there were lots of tears.

First, let me say I don't like to ask for help. I know that other people are busy with their own lives and fitting in "helping Lari out" can be an annoying burden. But, darn it, I was committed to earning this award but I couldn't do it on my own. I have no disability qualifications - well, not the required disabilities, anyway. I have plenty of things that could probably count as a disability of one sort or another. For instance, have you seen me throw? Or run?

Anway, I had to ask for help. There was no getting around it. Thank goodness for good friends. The three people I asked for help each said yes without any sort of hesitation, even from my life-long friend Nichole who is, and has always been, a crier. Thanks Nichole. I know that was hard for you, but I know 6 little boys who have a greater appreciation now for your sweet little angel. And to my friend Camie, who managed to get there to help me out tonigh despite me telling her the wrong address and the wrong day, a heartfelt thank you. And, of course, to Marilyn, who herself was born to be a Den Leader - thank you for your help.

Somehow my 6 little scouts, bundles of perpetual motion that they are, managed to sit there politely and respectfully and listen to the lesson. I was so impressed with them. Whoever says they will never serve in a scout position doesn't know what they are missing out on. To be involved in the life of a cub scout is truly a gift.

See Lari run. Funny, funny, Lari.

Addie called to come home from school yesterday afternoon. Since I was at work, I called my parents to see if they were available to go pick her up. They were, so they went and got her and took her to their house. Around 2:30 my mom called to say that Addie had a fever of 102. I told her I would call the doctor and see what he recommended.


I called my doctor and he said he wanted to see her. Her temperature was 103 when they took it there at the doctors office, but she wasn't acting very sick. The doctor looked her over and pronounced it a virus. Lots of rest, he said. Watch to see it doesn't turn into anything more serious.


She was also scheduled for another blood draw for her coumadin, so we got that done since we were right there by the hospital. Poor thing, has had to have her blood drawn so often - sometimes once a week, sometimes every other week - and she has been so brave. They called me with results today. Her PT/INR level has been consistent for a while now, so we don't have to have another draw for 3 weeks! Wahoo!


I kept her home from school today, and I stayed home with her. Her fever was low-grade and she played and was quite herself all day. She ate good today, so hopefully there will be no fever tomorrow and she can go back to school. She was climing the walls a little bit from being inside all day long.


So I went for my run tonight. My shins are doing so much better - it's quite miraculous really. I wasn't dreading the run, and curious to find out how these old shins held up after the TLC I've been giving them. I got to the gym with Jack and started up my ipod app only to find out that my ipod battery was at critical level. Yikes! How did that happen? The optimist in me said that I had enough power to do my little-bitty run. Um . . . not so much. Half way through the first song, it went kaput. Great. Now how was I supposed to know when to walk and when to run? What was I supposed to use as a pacesetter? I didn't even have a watch on to time myself.


I knew that my runs now last for about 3/4 of a lap. But since 3/4 of a lap is hard to keep track of, I opted to do a 1 lap run, 1 lap walk. (Stop laughing!) Well, what do you know? I did my 1 lap run and didn't die. My shins were not screaming out for relief. My last lap I even did an extra 1/4 just for kicks and giggles. And do you know what? I could have kept going. I wanted to keep going. I should have kept going. But it was 9:00 and time to get Jack to bed. So I stopped.


While my 1 lap run is barely noteworthy, it is a milestone to me. After all, a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. Or lap.

Why not red?

Thanks in part to some new running shoes (a thoughtful birthday gift from Lane) my screaming shins have pretty much stopped screaming. I have completed 2 weeks of my Couch25k training and am still alive to tell the tale. Every time I complete my run/walk (which to be honest is really more of a shuffle/walk) I feel like I have accomplished something huge. I have never been a runner at all (ask anyone who has ever had the misfortune to see me run) so to do this is a huge accomplishment. The run/walk is now up to almost 2.5 miles - an on a track, not a treadmill. It's true that some other people on the track can walk as fast as I run/shuffle. It's also true that I determine my distance from a pedometer that counts my steps, rather than my distance because my run/shuffle stride is so short that I figured I would get discouraged if I counted my actual distance. I am working on lengthening out my stride now that my shins are recovering. And so far none of the friends whom I run into at the gym have snickered about my form to my face. And most importantly, I'm still sticking with it. Commitment to any form of exercise has always been, and continues to be, an enormous challenge.

I got a new scout shirt for my birthday. The one I had I got as a hand-me-down about 7 years ago and it has never fit well. So I spent the Super Bowl today getting all my patches moved from my old shirt onto my new shirt. It's a tedious task, so it's good to have it out of the way. Since I was at it, I sewed Jack's merit badge patches onto his sash thing. Not sure what it's called. He has another Court of Honor coming up this month and should be advanced to First Class, which means another pin for me - as always, it's all about me.

I also got a new phone last week. I like the new phone, but dislike tremendously the learning curve of getting a new phone. I got a new phone back in October - a touch screen/non-Smart Phone type that I kept for a week and returned because I hated it. This one is much better. Except that nothing on the LG phone is where it was on my Samsung phone. Go figure. Don't even get me started on the ringtone fiasco. I have opted to settle for Coldplay while I am figuring out how to get my Friday Night Lights theme song on there again. And this new phone isn't red. All phones should have a Red option. It's just a good policy. Black phones are boring. Silver phones are boring. This one has orange on the slide-out keyboard, but orange isn't red, and the face is still black. Boring. So very boring.

Stunned, I tell you

I've been a pretty good girl lately, so I treated myself to a Baking Day today.

This is Pina Colada. It starts with a yellow cake mix . . then a little crushed pineapple . . . then frost with whipped cream and top with coconut. If only there was a little steel drum music in the background it would all be perfect.

I've been summoning up my courage for a long time to try this one out. It is a French Toast cupcake. Seriously. And it tastes exactly like french toast. The frosting is a maple buttercream concoction that is a perfect compliment to the cupcake and makes it taste exactly like french toast. It's a little bit freaky. Topped with crisp bacon crumbles - how can you go wrong? It's another keeper.

I finally made time to try out my new pasta machine. Pasta dough is super, super easy and then after kneading you just divide the dough into four balls and roll each one through the machine. Each ball takes 7 times through the pasta machine - starting first on a thick setting and working down to paper thin. After it's at it final thin-ness, it goes through the cutting mechanism. Although it is really a 2 person job, it was so totally easy. The pasta was so delightfully thin it dried super fast and is now in the fridge awaiting next week's chicken noodle soup dinner. I paid about $40 for this genius machine (totally worth it) and I got it from Overstock.com. If you were thinking of getting a pasta machine, think no more my friend. Get one. Get one now. Or come over and play with mine. You will be stunned at how easy fresh pasta can be.

I need more

I have 10 pairs of pajamas. Is that a lot?



I would wear pajamas 24/7 if I could get away with it. I change into my jammies as soon as I know I'm in for the day. I love pajamas and if I know myself at all, and I like to think that I do, I will get even more pajamas. For instance, I only have 2 pairs of red pajamas and I really don't think that's enough.



I also have 10 watches, but I think that's enough for now. Especially since only 2 of them are working. I do have room for 1 more watch if, and only if, I can find a Monopoly faced watch like I had in 1987. Unfortunately, since I am now . . . um . . . slightly older than I was in 1987, and since Armitron no longer makes that watch, it has become a (gulp) "vintage collectors item" (ouch) when I look it up on Ebay or Amazon and costs more than I am willing to pay. It's a very insulting and painful thing when items when your youth become "vintage" and/or "collector" items.



I also don't have enough shoes, but what woman does? I have a picture of a pair of really great red pumps in my head, and as yet I've been unable to find them. Probably because I'm looking for them at the ever-elusive free shoe store (coincidentally located next to the also elusive free couch store, free computer store, and recently added free dining room table store). In addition to the red pumps, I also need a pair of brown slip on flats/loafers, black espidrilles (well, espedrilles in any color really - how can you go wrong), and a pair of silver something-or-other would probably be fun. All I know for sure is that I simply don't have enough shoes. Gotta get more.


There is also a slight possibility I may have a few too many lipsticks. Doesn't matter. Must get more.


I also think I need more dishes. I do not need more mugs. Why must all dinnerware sets come with mugs? Just wondering.

227 Days to Paradise

I'm cruising in 227 days.



Do you have any idea how important it is to have something sun shiny and beachy to look forward to when each new day only brings various shades of gray?



January is the very worst month of the year. No question about it. There's the post-holiday blues, which is about the only thing blue during the month, and the endless gray weather. Snow can only stay pretty around here for a short time before it is all uglied-up by car exhaust and other nasty pollutants. Then since birthdays are no fun anymore, I have that to dread all month too.





I shouldn't say dread. I'm not THAT person. I don't dread my birthday. I don't really mind getting older, although I must say 40 was hard to swallow. I just wish that there were a few more viable birthday activities than are available in January.





So back to happier thoughts - did I mention I was cruising in 227 days? We are thankfully going back to Miami this time. I heart South Beach!! I even branched out and booked us on one of the bigger ships. All the times we have gone we've gone on a different ship, but always the same class/size of ship, which certainly has its benefits. On Boarding Day, while everyone else is wandering around with their little maps and confused expressions, we know exactly where everything is since the layout of the ships we have been on is practically idential. It's nice to not have to waste 2 days figuring out where the elevator is.





We are stopping at Grand Turk (Turks & Caicos) and then have 2 different stops at the Bahamas. We've never had 3 stops before, and we've never been to these islands either. New ship, new stops . . . It should be a great cruise.





We have a party of 13 this time. We are taking our kids and some of Lane's family is coming as well.



I even found me a screaming deal on airfare. I don't usually book air this far out, but I do love me a screaming deal and I couldn't pass it up.





The mouse who has invaded our house is still at large. He comes out once in a while to taunt us, then quickly scurries away, nimbly missing all the traps we have carefully placed. I hate mice. And I certainly don't remember inviting him in.