Possum Kingdom

Not just the name of a Toadies song from the 90s.  It's an actual lake in Texas.  A lake that I have spent many summer days on.  It's beautiful, even with some wildfire damage. 

We went on vacation with some friends from grad school last week, and it was glorious!  I was kind of not wanting to go at first, only due to the fact that I had only spent about 14 nights in my new house since we moved in mid-June.  But I am so glad that I went and got to spend so much time with friends!

We had a great time, mostly just relaxing.  We went out on the boat and floated.  We stayed in during the hot afternoons, napped, read, and watched movies.  And we played games at night.

We ended the week with a trip "to town" to see Harry Potter 7, Part II (Is there a movie theater in Graham?).  It was very entertaining.  Plus, before the movie, we went and had Mexican food and accidentally celebrated Jon's birthday, again!

10 pounds

That's right; that's how much I have gained in the last two months.  It sucks.  My pants are getting tight, and I can visually tell that I have gained weight.  With moving, work stress, traveling, mission tripping, and vacation, I haven't done a very good job of just maintaining my normal eating habits and exercise routine.

Thankfully, our vacation in North Carolina (more to come on this later, including bowling scores) was very restful and very active.  We played a little golf, we bowled, we walked in the mountains, we went to the gym, and we played with our niece and nephew!  It was wonderful. 

One of the things that Jared and I realized, though, is that we do pretty well on vacation (when our vacation is longer than just a couple of days); but we haven't quite figured out our new routine since we have moved.  It's hard to do when you're never in town, of course.  But that's our biggest stressor at this point: no routine.  (We also still have some boxes in the house which is driving me nuts!)

I am a creature of habit, and I LOVE having a plan!  So, for the last couple of months (since we started packing to move), our routine has been way off.  We haven't been running consistently, we haven't been eating regular meals that are an appropriate portion size.  The folks at Jared's new church have been giving us tons of food, which is awesome, but it's TONS of food!  (They gave us a "pounding"- again, more on that later.)

And to top it all off, we are only in town for a week.  We are here this week, and we leave again on Sunday for a week.  Thankfully, though, next week we will be with friends at my parents' lake house.  Ergo, we will be cooking all our meals and there's a really challenging road that we can walk/jog.  Not to mention: sleep!  We will be able to sleep in!

So, my hopes/goals for this week is to get some things done at work, to try to find a routine that will work for us, and to unpack a box or two a day- that's really all I have time for. 

And then when we return from the lake house I will focus on finishing unpacking.  Goals, goals, goals!!!

Goal Update for this Week

Well, friends, here's the update for my goals for this week!  You'll recall from earlier this week that I wanted to publicly set a few goals in order to help myself stay accountable before I leave for a couple of weeks!Check out my "New Digs" post. (SKYE: you still have to teach me how to do links!)

1. I haven't quite stopped eating like a horse and gotten back on track. I am down a smidge on the scale from earlier this week, but still up about 6 pounds in general. And I am about 9 pounds away from my ideal weight. This is a weight that is healthy for me, where I feel good and look good. It's nothing too drastic, but it sure is hard to get there!

2. I have been to the gym only once this week. I am planning to go today after work. I am realizing/remembering how difficult it is for me to work out after work. I am way more of a morning person, especially in the working out department. I am not the crazy morning person type- you know, those people who are just so happy and perky? I am NOT one of those, but I tend to get a lot more accomplished in the morning, than I do in the afternoon. I had my gym bag all packed yesterday morning to go after work yesterday afternoon. But a sudden and fierce wave of sleepiness came over me; so I went home instead. Today will be day 2 of working out, though.

3. We will be bowling tomorrow!!! We didn't go last week, because of the move, but we are going tomorrow. I actually have a much needed massage scheduled for tomorrow at 10am; so we will head to the lanes after that. I am so looking forward to both: massage and bowling. I am also sure that we'll do some other stuff while we are here in town.

4. The dining room is almost completely unpacked!!!  I have one box left; it is full of some antique salt and pepper shakers that used to belong to my grandmother, Lois.  There are a few other things in there, which is why I need to unpack the box, but because it is mostly S/P shakers, I haven't touched it. Otherwise, the "bar" is unpacked (This is really just a chest that we use to hold our wine glasses and koozies, but it's more fun to call it the "bar."); the china is put away. The napkins, place mats, and table cloths have found their place!

5. Haven't touched the A/C unit. Although I really can't be blamed for this... It has been raining off and on (mostly on) for the past few days here. While I would normally find this very annoying, we are currently experiencing a drought in SE LA, so I can't complain. We haven't had rain like this for months. So, the A/C window unit not getting in hasn't been the worst thing in the world. Although, I would really love to help Jared get that done before I leave... Perhaps the rain will hold off a little today!

That's it for now. I will post our scores tomorrow, hopefully! And then you won't here from me for a week!

Salt

I would love to say that this post is about something very deep and wonderful, like the passage from Matthew's sermon on the mount about being salt and light, or even talking about how I think people from the Midwest are the salt of the earth, but it's not.

It's not even remotely related to salt in a metaphorical way.  It's not complicated; it's not terribly unique.  It's not even that interesting, but it's something I love.

I LOVE SALTY SNACKS!

I much prefer salty and savory foods to sweet things.  When I get stressed out or tired or emotional, I reach for salty snacks, not sweet ones.  I love tortilla chips with a passion!  I love popcorn, particularly cooked on the stove in some oil.  I love the combination of crunchy and salty.  It can't be beat!

Today is a day where I am a little stressed.  The unpacking is going well, but I have that whole mission trip thing that is going on at work... and that's what's stressing me out.  I feel like Jessie Spano in the "Saved By the Bell" episode where she's hooked on the caffeine pills and she says, "There's never enough time!"  But I am not hooked on caffeine pills; I'm hooked on salt.  Delicious salt.

Anyway, I just thought I'd post a quick note on salt.  I think this would have been too long for Facebook...

New Digs

Well, we made it!  We have moved into our new parsonage, and Jared has had his first Sunday at the new church!  I will have some photos up soon... But between trying to unpack quickly and preparing for the youth mission trip (that I am doing) on Saturday, it's been a little busy around here.

Needless to say, we didn't go bowling last Friday.  We were unpacking instead.  We also haven't been for a run in a while; we were unpacking instead.  And we haven't been eating very well... we were unpacking instead.  The one thing that I can say for us is that we've been reading the Bible, even though we've been unpacking!  We are trying to make it through the whole thing, start to finish, in one year.  It breaks down to about 3 chapters per day.  We did get behind during the move, but we caught back up yesterday.

We've had a lot of friends to support us during this time.  We couldn't have done the move out or the move in without the help of my in-laws!  John and Marie are the best in-laws anyone could ask for--they even had our nieces last week, while Jared's brother and sister-in-law were on vacation; and they still came to help us unpack, not once, but twice!  On top of that, our wonderful friend Mrs. Jones came to help out, too!  (Yes, the same one who we went bowling with the week before!)  She brought her sweet 6 month old baby over to help me unpack!  We have the best friends!

And yesterday at the 11am service at the new church, our close friends Allison & Charlie came to church!  It was such a wonderful surprise that I almost started crying!

For accountability purposes, I am going to put a few goals up here.  I will update you on Friday, before I leave for the mission trip.

My goals are as follows:
1. Stop eating like a horse and get back on track.
2. Work out 3 times this week.
3. Go bowling with Jared before I leave for the trip.
4. Start unpacking the dining room.
5. Get the A/C window unit and curtains installed in the master bedroom.

That should be sufficient for the next 5 days!  Wish me luck!

Rolling with the Jones Trio!

Friday night we bowled at our favorite lanes, Circle Bowl, with some wonderful friends here in BR.  Our friends have been married about as long as we have (2 years today, BTW).  And they had their first baby in December.  So, all three of them came out to roll with us on Friday night!  It was great fun, even though it wasn't my best work. :)

The last couple of weeks have done a number on my diet and exercise.  Our eating has been out of control and very difficult to reign in.  Our fitness has been very sporadic and inconsistent.  Moving really does take a toll on all of the wonderful routines you set up for yourself.  Not to mention the fact that the NBA finals have really messed with my sleep schedule, but thanks to my Dallas Mavericks, I won't have to worry about that anymore!!!

To make a long post short, I am ready to move.  We are almost completely packed, just the small stuff left.  Jared calls this the period of the "stuff boxes."  This includes finding random "stuff" and putting it into a box labeled "stuff."  So, we are in the "stuff" period.  We really just have to pack our overnight bags, a few last minute things in the kitchen, and our freezer full of meat.  I am sure we'll have a few "stuff" boxes to go into that mix, but we are pretty much done!

Movers come on Thursday morning!!!  Really looking forward to getting our home transported to a new house and making that new house our new home!

My First Photo

Thanks to my wonderful friend, Skye, for posting on her blog how to post pictures!  Here's a good one of Jared after he rolled a strike, I think.



Now, if I can only figure out how to make this look like it's just the rounded edges and not the outline with rounded edges inside... Skye!!!