Into the fog

As I look out the window this morning, I can't see much farther than the midpoint of our tree lined yard. Today is not a day we live above the fog line. But it is the first day of Thanksgiving break for me and I am thankful none the less for where I find myself sitting at 7:24am on a Tuesday morning in November.

It was just about a year ago exactly that we moved up the hill from our 16 year starter home, to serenity. There has not been a single moment that I have regretted that choice. I miss living across the street from my sister, but that is the extent of my regret.

Last weekend I spent two days feeding a deer apples in my yard. Less than half a mile up the road is McDonald forest. Next door is the sweetest old couple I've known since Ed and Audrey. We live in good people country with nature at the door. Annie has never been happier. Neither have her parents.

Life outside these walls is challenging. School has become an unrecognizable zone this year. Can I just chalk it up to a really bad year, or is it the new normal? The jury is out. I know I can't keep going like it is, but change is hard and in my heart of hearts I love what I do. Sean has deadlines and is pulled in so many directions. Life outside these walls is challenging.

But every night as I drive home, as I turn up the hill and head into the neighborhood, I feel the day float into the mist and I am so thankful to be home.

Fear

This is not the greatest picture, but that is my much neglected mountain bike in the back of my car. Truth be told, I haven't ridden her in over a year. So a few months back when I saw the flyer for the "Women's Mountain Biking Skills Clinic" show up on a Facebook page I knew it was time for me to sign up. Oh, this wasn't the first time I signed up either. I did it last year too. Then a couple of days before the event I gave in to the fear and I canceled.

This year I was the first person to sign up. I did it almost 3 months in advance. I told myself as soon as the weather gets better I'll start riding. Then it was as soon as work settles down I'll start riding. The weeks came and went and I didn't get on my bike once. Fast forward to the week before the clinic. Sean is desperately trying to get me out on my bike or at least into the driveway to practice before the skills clinic. Unfortunately, my body had other plans and I got a case of bronchitis the entire week before the clinic. Nothing a little antibiotics can't take care of, but it was also the perfect opportunity to back out. Again. So, I sent an e-mail to Mary the instructor explaining the fact that I've been sick and I'm concerned about holding others back. She assured me that wouldn't be the case, but left it up to me. So, I mustered all my bravery and I decided it was go time. No more excuses. You see, my whole life I have quit before I really try. This time, that was not going to be the case.

So yesterday I was right on time to the local bike shop. I had no idea what to expect. My fear factory brain started creating scenarios of fit college women who would leave me in the dirt (literally). Instead, what I found was a group of seven women  ages 27-47 who were just like me. They were trying to improve their fitness and challenge themselves in an activity that might scare them a little too. We got our bikes checked out and headed over to a field by the university where we could learn more about the sport, the bikes and strategies to employ as we got started. Mary taught us some drills and we got started. The first thing was riding up a ramp and down the other side. I have always been nervous about narrow pathways, so this was good. I thought nothing could go wrong, but the first woman went right over the edge. When it was my turn I was trying so hard not to go off the edge, I almost did. First rule, look where you want to go, not where you don't! The bike follows your eyes. We practiced several drills and then were sent home with instructions to meet up at the Saddle (a network of trail heads) the following morning.

Today I woke up nervous. My fear was strong this morning as I got ready to go.  As we all met up we chatted about our fears and how we all almost didn't go. Once we all arrived, we headed up to the trail. We took a gravel road that was a bit of a climb. No one tried to outshine anyone else. Everyone just took their time and chatted and encouraged each other. It was such a nice ride up. When we got to the trail, we got instructions from Mary and started down the path. We stopped and regrouped before the technical turns on the path began. I'm not going to lie. The turns were scary and trying to pick a line is tricky when you can't seem to take your eyes off your front tire, fearful that some rogue root or rock will suddenly leap off the trail and attack you. Mary gave us tips like not to run over sticks bigger than your finger, or don't run over loose rocks bigger than your fist (known as baby heads). As the morning progressed, I noticed that with each conquered obstacle my confidence increased. Not enough to do anything stupid, but enough that I was getting a little more out of my head and a little more into the trail. The more I got out of my head, the more the fear began to dissipate.

I'm not going to lie. There were crashes and tears. Not mine today, but we were such a tight group, when someone got hurt or went down, everyone was there to rally around them. It was the most supportive group of women I have ever met. We all vowed to keep in touch and I honestly hope that this is the case. Because when you all go through something like that together, when you all face your fears and support each other, then it forms a bond that I hope continues on.

I also am pleased to report a renewed love affair with my bike. I can't believe that I had forgotten how much fun it is to be out in nature riding a bike. As Humphrey Bogart said at the end of Casablanca, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Possibilities

Today I had my mother in law over to help me plant my native plants I had purchased a couple of weeks ago and to survey the yard. We have an acre and a quarter her at the new place and I've never managed that kind of space before. I'm slightly more than a little in over my head to say the least. The week we were supposed to move in here way back in November, there was the worst ice storm this mountain has seen in 35 years. This is according to all the neighbors, and based on all the damage that we still hear being cleaned up by saws and chippers, they aren't lying. Our amazing next door neighbor did the majority of the big clean-up from the huge trees we lost, but there is still a lot of clean up to be done.

Enter Jane. She was downright giddy about the prospect of spending the foreseeable, non working hours helping me clean up beds, pile up branches and all sorts of other things to whip this place into the showplace of natural beauty it should be. It has been really fun watching all the little bulbs poke their heads up and seeing the poor storm damaged trees still manage to start popping out theirs buds of fresh growth. Spring is coming to the mountain, and it's shaping up to be one beautiful spot. Now, if I can only figure out what I'm going to do with all of this crazy debris. They have no yard debris cart services out here and I have no truck, so it could be interesting.

I'm excited though. Spring break is only two weeks away. Some of the family is going camping, but Sean has to work and can't take time off, so I was wondering what I'd be doing with myself for that time. After the visit and planning session today, I'm pretty sure I'll be busy the entire time. It sure should look nice when we are done though.

Hopefully I will have some opportunities to get some forest hikes and fun in as well. If not, at least the place will look nice!

March?

Holy crap, it's March already? It feels like this year is passing in a blur. I guess that happens with each passing year, but damn, seriously, March? Life at the new place continues to be great. I miss my easy after work running path, and my proximity to my family. Those two things are probably the biggest adjustments. However, I'm sure getting used to the amazing nightly city view and morning sunrise. It's lucky that I get to call this place home. Change is mostly, very, very good.

March? Seriously? I have got to get back to reality. None of my clothes fit any more and swimsuit season (which comes with a community pool), is just round the corner.

March? Seriously?

Just another day in paradise.

2015 is starting out to be a very good year. This photo is actually prior to fixing the wall behind the stove, but the sentiment of the shot pretty much sums up my life since  the close of 2014. Yesterday I turned 46 and something tells me this is going to be the best year yet.

We finally sold the house on 53rd and moved to the mountain back in late November. The chaos and unforseen nightmare of that entire process is best left in last year's memory book. The future is much brighter. The last bit of unfinished business from that roller coaster is the location of our missing appliance suite. It shipped out back on December 11th and has yet to be seen anywhere. Super frustrating, but out of my control. Hopefully they will show up on our door step very soon.

Welcome 2015 and my 46th year on the planet. I'm excited to see what you bring.

And so it goes...

You shouldn't be able to see light under the garage door. That was my first thought as I pulled into the driveway yesterday. My second was, "What is that cable on the outside of the door." As I quickly headed into house and through to the garage, my curiosity turned to rage. The garage door was clearly broken. The reason for the light underneath was that it was off it's track and where a tightly wound cable used to be, there was now an unattached cable. Sean who was a few minutes behind me soon returned home. Shortly after I heard him pull into the drive way I heard him step on the door from the outside. He had seen it too. Soon, there was two of us standing in the garage, unable to believe our eyes.

Perhaps you are asking yourself, why is she making such a big deal of a broken garage door? Things happen right? You would be correct, they do. Except this garage door was perfectly fine just two hours earlier. What had changed during those two hours was that our home was being inspected for our buyer. Somehow our garage door was broken during the inspection. What the hell? Even if for some reason it was about to break which I don't see as possible since there had been no problem with it just last night, a note of some sort would have been helpful. We just came home to damage, no notification of any kind. No information to our agents, no warning to us that our house was no longer able to be secure. Just another check in a long series of pain in the ass boxes that have documented this house selling experience.

There is a reason that buying and selling homes is on the top five list of most stressful life events. We Ross's don't like to do things half ass, so we decided to double down and do both at once. Except for my first year of teaching, which happened to also be the year my dad was dying of cancer, this is the worst and most stressful experience we have ever lived through in our entire marriage. Preparing this house to sell took my entire summer and all of our savings. Then we had  the water heater issue, then the rodent issue and don't even get me started on the ongoing battle of installing hurricane straps. Yes, in the Willamette valley we are supposed to entertain the idea of hurricane straps. We are resisting for now. All this adds up to about $8,000 in repairs after we exhausted our own savings, that mom has financed until we close since one of the fun side effects of buying a house is that you can't take out any debt. Great...we put mom's extra money in limbo so we can fix things that are ridiculous just to be able to sell.

Oh and then there is the buyers. So far there has been three of them. The first had no business even wasting our time since she had no money. The second dropped out as quickly as he got in. The current buyers have made it to the inspection stage, but not without significant bumps, delays and uncertainties along the way. With the addition of a broken door during their inspection, I'm not holding my breathe that their list of requests will be smooth and simple. Oh, and have I mentioned that with all the unexpected items,  and the rock bottom price with closing costs included, we will be lucky to have enough money at closing to just pay mom back.

Which leads me to the buying portion. We have our dream house in our reach. It is absolutely perfect for us, except for one thing. It is no longer a walk to my sister and the kids. That part breaks my heart. But the home is so amazing and we are in the same town that I have resigned myself to driving to visit sister instead of walking. I will not let this location change our relationship. The house is set on the side of a hill, near the top of a local mountain. It is beautiful and you can see half way across the valley from the roof top deck. Initially when we found it, we expected we would have about $25,000 to bring the original 1980s home into our century, but now we will be thrilled just to get in. We will have the rest of our lives to make it our own. Right now, we honestly just want to get home. We've got our financing in order, we've got our inspections done up there and we have done everything right along the way. It's time that our buyers get their shit together and do the same.

We are really hoping for no more bumps in the road. I'm a little concerned though because this morning the fridge is making all sorts of noise.....

The waiting game

I go back to work in two weeks. This summer has been a blur of home improvement projects to get this place on the market. It officially hit the market on Saturday. So far we have three showings scheduled along with a realtor tour and an open house this coming Sunday.

I wasn't prepared for the overwhelming emotions involved in this entire process. Binge watching HGTV is not an adequate preparation for buying and selling a home. I thought all the manual labor of the home improvements would be the worst. Nope, not even close. The worst part is living in limbo land.

See the staging people want you to have a house that looks like a home, but not a home that anyone actually lives in. So you can have the rule of 3. Three things on any flat surface. That means no appliances out in the kitchen, no personal pictures, nothing like that. So instead, we get to live as if we were in a hotel, out of a few bags that can easily be tucked away with the phone call that a showing is scheduled. The only difference is that there is no maid here. I'm constantly tidying up and poor Annie is searching the want ads for a new family. Seriously, this blows.

We have found our dream house. I'm not sure if that makes this game we are playing right now better or worse. There is a goal in mind, but it is just feels more unattainable with each showing that doesn't produce an offer.

Let's just hope that we get an offer soon.  Patience is not my forte'.

Change in the air

July is a big month for the Ross family. We will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on the 29th. I have no idea how in the world that ever passed by so quickly. That will be the subject of a later post.

The bigger news is that after 16 years in our starter home, we have decided to entertain the idea of moving on. Our street has become busier and we have just decided it is time for a change for us. The problem with this idea is that we have not done much around here other than minor improvements over the past few years. This includes some pretty bold paint colors. We have also, let the yard go to chaos and the back deck has long outlived it's lifespan. So we have quite the project list out before us.

We got a good start on it last weekend, but I certainly did not think when I ordered the tiny dumpster. Wednesday the large one will arrive and that should make short work of getting the deck and all the yard trimming I did all weekend out of the yard and into the dumpster. That will also allow for us to get going on returning the majority of our back yard to grass. Since we live in a nice family neighborhood and in the boundaries of two of the best schools in town, we hope that the bigger lawn will attract buyers.

So, I suspect over the next few weeks I will be typing out my frustration and experiences as Sean and I move into the uncharted territory of house sellers and buyers. When we moved in here it was a one stop shopping experience which is why we jumped on it. I'm nervous and hopeful that we can make this happen kind of quickly, since we have our eye on a diamond in the rough property that we'd love to move into sooner rather than later. Time will tell. As my brother told me "your house will sell for what someone will pay for it on any given day."  I hope this day is soon and the price is enough to get us where we want to go. I guess it's time to put away the computer and get back to work. My worker gnomes have yet to have appeared even though I wish for them daily.

Post 30

So it turns out I was terrible about documenting my 30 day clean journey. I had to do a ton of that with the program itself and it never quite migrated to the blog. My bad for not realizing what that would actually entail. However, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words so here are a few photos. 

Front view: Before and after

 Side view: Before and After

Back View: Before and After

30 days of clean eating speaks for itself. I feel stronger, I've lost 9 pound and 5 inches and there is no way I'm going back.  Seriously. I love the way I feel and for the first time in 25 years I'm starting to love the way I look.  I can't wait to see what the next 30 days will bring. I'm officially done with the challenge, but honestly, I'm adopting this as a way of life for now. Hmm, eating real foods is not a bad thing. So I'll just keep with it.  Perhaps I will have a piece of cake or cookie at some point, but the detox from the sugar was exceptionally brutal so I believe I will avoid that process again in my lifetime and just stay clean.  This whole experience has given me a new found respect for any kind of addicts trying to kick a habit.  Who knew it was really that hard.

Anyway, tomorrow I'm heading off for my first biking event. Not only has this new lifestyle given me a new found energy. I also have a new embracing of things I've always wanted to try. If not now, When?

Cheers!

Day 3

Here is the food:

 Repeat of the egg muffin and cantaloupe and blueberries.

 

Lunch: Left over turkey burger and sweet potato fries. Sugar snap peas and strawberries.

Dinner: Left over chicken breast with asparagus. Delicious!
And the physical challenge:

One mile run.
Today I felt really tired. I had a headache for some of the day. I think it is the lack of sugar. I'm hoping this gets better. It is worst in the morning. All in all though I think it is going pretty well.

30 Day Clean- Day 2

Here is what today's food looked like:
Out of order of course:

Lunch -Mason Jar Salad with Walnuts

 Breakfast, repeat of day 1. Mini egg loaf with strawberries and blueberries

Dinner: turkey burger, romaine lettuce and homemade sweet potato fries. Yummers

The food is delicious. My energy level is low, and I was pretty cranky. I'm sure it will get better. I'm still struggling to get all my water in.

I did still manage to get a 3 1/2 mile jog in after work too. I sure hope this gets easier. Right now it is pretty all consuming between workouts and food prep. Oh, you know and things like life and a job.

I see why those biggest loser people get to go away to a ranch to change their lives.

Clean in 30 Challenge- Day 1

I spent a lot of time yesterday prepping for success for today. Good thing I did because as usual I was late getting out the door. Thank goodness my food was already ready.

I started my day with mini-egg loafs and strawberries and blueberries. Delicious. The egg loafs have bacon and spinach in them. 

By the time lunch came around I was starving. I had a spinach and prosciutto salad with cantaloupe and avocado. The dressing was balsamic and olive oil made myself. Again, delicious.

When I got home I ate a banana while prepping the stuffing for the chicken breasts for dinner. Then I hit the spin bike for ONE HOUR of spin and core work. OUCH. It felt good to be back but damn that was hard.

The challenge of Day 1 for non-food was 90 seconds of tap squats. I did 34. Then I had to see how many push ups I could do in 2 minutes. The answer was 26, barely. On my knees.  Sensi Donadio would have my belts back if he knew how far I've slipped.

Dinner, chicken breast stuffed with artichoke hearts, water chestnuts, sun dried tomatoes, rosemary, pine nuts, garlic and paprika. Served with asparagus. Um, yes please and thank you very much.

So far so good. I'm really struggling with the idea of all this meat. I'm going to cut out the salty meat for a while. It's tough for me to drink all my water, but I'm working on that too.

I sure hope this works. I also hope that my hunger signals mid morning and mid afternoon disappear. That could get old really quick.

She's back!

It feels like it has been a really long time since I've been here. Not much has changed, except, I'm about to make a huge change.

I've decided to take charge of my health and my fitness. I'm tired of feeling tired, and flabby and generally not really knowing who the person in the mirror is anymore. So a friend and I signed up for the Clean in 30 challenge. We are going on a 30 day clean diet where we eliminate, dairy, grains, gluten, soy, alcohol, corn and gulp...sugar.  Additionally, there are workouts that we are expected to do as well.  I'm looking forward to taking charge. They have even given us shopping lists and the first few days of meals ahead of time so I'm going to spend time preparing and freezing them for the week tomorrow so I don't have the chance to fail. I know my track record.

I've also taken up knitting. I've been taking classes and labs with my sister and I really enjoy it. My sister is kicking my ass with her mad skills, but I'm having fun anyway. I make many, many mistakes and sometimes get myself in over my head and have to head to the shop for help, but they are great about it. We have even attended a couple of social nights. Right now I'm working on a scarf sized shawl that has lace work. It was a bit ambitious, even though it was labeled as "easy".  I'm excited.

Work is work. I really don't know where I stand on that right now so I'm not going to comment on that at all. I will finish out this school year and see what I feel like doing after that. I'm honestly not sure how much longer I will work in this field. Right now I want to focus on getting healthy before I make any major life changes like that.

Anyway, I think I may chronicle my journey on here. It depends on how it goes. I have a feeling it really could be life changing.

I'm ready to change. I'm done with this. As the wise Master Yoda says "Do, or Do Not, There is no Try."

Spring?? Break!

This has been one bizarre winter. We had 8 snow days, all of which are required to be made up by our school board. What does that mean? Well, it means that I will be teaching for almost all of the month of June. It is going to be one long haul from here on out, so I was really looking forward to spring break.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature has a different plan. Pouring down rain has been the weather this week. Windy too! Yuck. I hate that. We are supposed to go camping tomorrow, but we have decided we can have more fun at home than being cold and wet huddled under an easy up. 

It has been a fun week so far. I spent a day with Madeleine when we had a day of sun. We rode bikes, worked in the yard and played with Annie. Since then I've visited a friend with a new baby and gotten happy bright pink toes. I have loads of projects I should dive into at home, but so far have yet to find the drive to jump into it. This is the middle of the week though so if I'm going to do something I probably better get it going soon.

Or, perhaps those projects that were waiting for spring break will just wait for summer vacation. After all, everyone in my life has real jobs now, so I'm going to have a whole lot of project time come summer.

Now if I could only have the weather to match the season name.

Forty-five!

Yesterday I turned 45! It has been a bit of a shock to see these numbers. I had no trouble with turning 40, but 45 has thrown me a little.  Between not yet being healthy from my pneumonia and my hindered running, I've felt older than I should lately.

Last night was spent celebrating with some wonderful people who made me remember how lucky I am and how much I have in this life. So, rather than feeling sad for the years that have passed, I need to embrace the years yet to come. I am going to live in the moment enjoying every second of this beautiful life.

Goodbye 2013

This was me 10 days ago. This was the first day of winter break and I spent it in Urgent Care getting some treatment for my fresh case of pneumonia.  Good Times. I'm nowhere near back to normal yet, but 10 days makes a big difference when you are talking about the ability to breathe.  Ending my year like this makes me forget all the great things that happened this year. I keep catching myself in a negative mindset from frustration. This post is to help me remember all the good that happened in 2013.

My biggest achievement of the year, honestly my biggest achievement of my life was finishing my master's degree. So much work, so much stress and so thankful that it is done. However, it's all mine and no one can ever take it away.

This year I also got a PR at the Corvallis Half Marathon. I think we finished in 2:16 ish, which was about 8 minutes faster than the previous year. With my ongoing foot issues I'm not sure if I'll be half-marathon worthy again, so I'm sure proud of that accomplishment.

Tiny and Tab!

This year we got really, really smart and we sold the monstrosity toy hauler trailer and the big diesel truck. They netted us a really nice profit which we used to pay off some old debt. We additionally sold my car and consolidated down to the Honda Pilot (Tiny) and a Tab teardrop trailer. Hands down this is the best move we have ever made. We have already had countless adventures and have camped more in the past 6 months than we have in the past 20 years. We look forward to many more adventures in this little piece of heaven in 2014.


Friends and Family! These crazy folks! I count my blessings every single day that all of these people are close enough to see on a daily basis if I want to.

And finally, the best part of 2013. I am lucky enough to continue to be a member of the Ross pack. There is nothing I would rather be and while we certainly have our moments where we could throttle each other, isn't that what living passionately really is all about?

2013- It really was a good year. 

Cheers!

Cabin Fever

Fast forward 5 days from the "Snow Day" and you arrive at Day 4 of school canceled due to this fantastic weather. Yes, that's right, 4 days of no school due to the 9 inches of snow we received last Friday. No, we haven't received one additional flake since then. Instead we have received 5 days in a row of sub freezing temperatures resulting in no melting snow. Apparently we have no infrastructure capable of handling this and thus this town has given up any sort of fight to restore our lives to normalcy. It will rain soon. That is their snow removal plan as near as I can tell. Great. I'd like to know what the "restore my summer" plan is because while I'm sitting here watching every Christmas movie ever created on all networks, my summer slowly is tick, tick, ticking away to snow make up days.

On a more positive note, I've got the house nice and clean as well as completely decorated for the holidays. I resorted to cleaning my closet today. I may even tackle the spare room before the day is over. It's funny, I'm so excited for winter break, but this is different. Winter break is when we are all off together and can spend fun free time with friends and family. This however is a time where I'm trapped in the house with no car and nothing to do but chores. I'm ready to go back to work and earn my winter break.

I never thought I'd say this, but come on Oregon winter rain. We need you.

SNOW DAY!

This is what it looked like outside my house at about 7:15 this morning. What a fantastic treat for a Friday morning with two weeks still to go before Winter Break officially starts. It didn't let up and soon my front yard looked like this.

OSU made the brilliant call to remain open so Sean scraped off Tiny and headed in to work. They quickly realized their mistake and closed and sent everyone home at noon.  This give us the unexpected opportunity for a mid day family walk.

What a beautiful day! It is supposed to be down to the single digits tonight so I expect we will have this 8 inches of beautiful scenery around for a few days to come.  Fine with me. I've got no where to be until Monday morning.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving morning. I'm reflecting on the past year as I wait for the spectacle that is the Macy's Parade. I'm a sucker for traditions.  The past several years have been spent running the Turkey Trot this morning, however this year, injury has kept me from the starting line. I'm going to do a walk, trot to the park and back when Sean gets up. I'm hoping to convince him to swing through Safeway for a cinnamon roll on the way back home since I forgot to buy our traditional Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I've been out of it the last few days working way too much. Time got away from me and I lost track of what is important. This is the post to remind me.

Last night we had happy hour with friends. It had been months since we saw them. That was ridiculous. Good friends should not go for months without seeing each other. We will remedy that one and already have a December date for a meet up. Friendships are one thing I'm very thankful for. Melinda and I finally got back on the meeting up for the Sunday coffee run. I'm so thankful for that!

Family. They make you insane. They pick you up and carry you when you have nothing left to give.They get your dumb jokes, they give you crap and call you on your bullshit. I couldn't ask for a better group to call my clan and I love them more than they will ever truly know.

OREGON. The most beautiful state of them all. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Seriously. Enough said.

Finally, the thing I am most thankful for in the world. LOVE. This man is the first and last thought I have every day. He gives me strength when I need it and space when I don't. We have an ideal mix of opposite and aligned tastes and I can't imagine navigating this life of mine without him.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. Count your blessings, eat your pie and pour a second glass of wine. This really is a wonderful life. (Sorry George Bailey, your season starts tomorrow!)



Cheers!

Random Thoughts

It's been a long week. It's parent teacher conferences again and while I love the opportunity to meet the families and share my experiences thus far in the year, it's always a little like preparing for the unexpected. So far, they have gone well. There are two more days to go so we will see how it all pans out.

I've been over worked and over stressed and let my toxic attitude seep out of my pores this week. I feel ashamed for that. I had a sharp tongue and let thoughts that should have been filtered and stay in my head escape my lips. I hope I have not damaged friendships. It was a very long week, but time does not excuse bad behavior. I will not let that happen again.

Last week I tried jogging for the first time in three months. It was only for a block or two and only a couple of times during my walk, but you would have thought I just completed my first big race. The amount of joy I felt at the end of that exercise session was ridiculous. It could have something to do with the fact that I was also reunited with the most amazing exercise buddy I know, but honestly the running, how ever slow and how ever little, felt like coming home. I sure hope that my foot finally heals up or I decide to go for the surgery so I can feel alive every day again.

Last night I went to an after work crafting party. I didn't want to go. I'm not crafty. I grabbed my knitting bag and went anyway. It was the best decision I've made in a long time. It ended up that there were only three of us and what was supposed to be crafting turned into three hours of snacking and deep, thoughful conversation among friends. It was one of those perfect storm moments where had we tried to plan something like that it would have never happend. Souls were bared, stories were told, advice was given and taken and at the end of it all I felt more whole than I've felt in a long time.  I hope I have the good fortune to experience that again some day.

The weather has been beautiful this week. Cold, bone chilling cold for the valley, and clear. I love this kind of weather. This weekend will be spent in the yard finally cleaning up the death of summer. I'm ready to let it all go. There are many parts of my life, house and yard that need cleaning out and letting go. I'll start with the yard and go from there.

Happy Weekend Everyone!