We have not had chips, packaged cookies, etc. in the house for a couple of months now. Our sons have not commented on the lack of processed snack foods, so I guess they are good with not having them around. Last week, I saw Lay’s Original Potato Chips on sale. They are pretty pure (potatoes, oil, salt), so I thought they would be a good splurge. This same week, I received my Girl Scouts cookie order. Were the chips and cookies a fulfilling and satisfying treat? No, alas, they made me feel sick to my stomach and sluggish. Not that I haven’t had a few chips and a cookie here or there, but there was only a limited amount. I don’t do well with a large supply on hand, apparently. Once again, there is a ban on snack food at home.
I commented to my younger son that I enjoy being old…er. He snickered like I was crazy, so I explained further. There are events from my 20s that are better left forgotten, things don’t bug me like they did when I was younger, and I feel more comfortable in my own skin (grey hair, fine lines, and all). The conversation ended, but I still pondered my life to this point. There have been ups and downs, but I have lived long enough to know that neither lasts forever; enjoy the ups and wait out the downs. I have said, “Oops,” a million times, and I will say it a million more. Through it all, I have grown in my relationship with God, his Son, and the Holy Spirit. I have searched and researched, doubted and submitted, fallen and risen. There are still so many questions, but in my faith, through the Word and His work in my life, I have learned to trust Him. He knows the big picture; my finite human brain cannot grasp it. There is a reason we don’t know everything, though we feel some entitlement to have the answers. He created us to praise, love, and have a relationship with Him. Why is that not enough?
Posted in General | Leave a Comment »
- Celebrated another year of life, otherwise known as my birthday
- Variety Show at school
- Quiet time at work to clean off my desk because of snow day
- “Sword” fight with Gavin (more like plastic bat and spoon fight), little boys are so much fun!
- Ran 8 miles Sunday; although, my foot started hurting just after 7 miles and is still hurting…may need to increase mileage more slowly
- More days at or above 40 than below
Posted in General | Leave a Comment »
I just celebrated my birthday. Another year down, but I don’t keep track, anymore. Seriously, I haven’t been able to readily remember my age for years now; I have to do the math. We had dinner plans with the family to celebrate, so I could not fit in a run or workout in the afternoon. Well, I could have completed a couple of miles and just changed clothes, but that would not have been pleasant for anyone. A couple of hours after we got home from the restaurant, I felt like I needed to get out and run, run, run. Alas, the gourmet hamburger was still sitting in my stomach, and it would be near midnight by the time I changed, stretched, ran, showered, stretched again, and got into bed. I opted to get my things ready and get up at 5 a.m. to run the next morning.
Now, I did not feel the need to run so that I could burn off the calories from my birthday meal (hamburger, fries, and part of an ice cream sundae), nor am I obsessed with exercise. I was just feeling keyed up that night because I was in charge of our school’s variety show the next day, and I needed to burn some extra energy to relax and focus. Exercise is nature’s way of relieving stress, better than a cocktail or other chemical relaxer. When we work the human body, the brain releases natural mood boosters, with no side effects. And, there is no co-pay! Besides the chemical benefit, the rhythm of the movement and breathing seem to bring everything back into sync. Running, walking, swimming, biking, dancing, and so much more, choose your type of exercise, get into a rhythm, release those beta-endorphins, and unwind.
Posted in Fitness | Leave a Comment »
Last night, my McAfee icon in the system tray popped up with “Restart Computer to Apply Updates,” or something like that. After I clicked to restart, I got a pop-up that said I needed to terminate or debug a program that was closing. I chose debug, which was apparently the wrong choice when you are restarting to update McAfee. There were several flashes on the screen and then the fatal error message, along with “Windows has shut down.” I tried rebooting and a couple of other things, which required me to reboot each time they didn’t work. It would show Windows XP, then flash to the same blue screen and fatal error message. Needless to say, I did not get a good night’s sleep.
This morning, I spoke with Kim, our IT gal at work. She told me to bring in my hard drive; she would see if she could salvage any of the data (backups from now on). As I explained how it happened, she told me to first try F8 and choose Last Known Good Configuration (or something like that). I went home, did the F8 thingy, then closed my eyes and listened to the computer; I was too nervous to watch. If it continued to make booting noises after a few seconds, I was probably in the clear. Yea, I could hear it working! I opened my eyes, saw a black screen, and quickly shut them, hoping that I had just looked too soon. About 15 seconds later I opened them again and saw…Starting Windows XP! And directly after that, my login screen popped up! Hurray, Kim and F8 saved my computer! I am looking forward to a well rested night.
Posted in General | Leave a Comment »
Better to Laugh 