Using most of Mandy's words . . .

Beginning tomorrow, I will not:
• Go to work
• Worry about budget cuts
• Clean the house
• Cook
• Wash dishes
• Do laundry
• Get gas
• Pay bills
• Set alarms
• Grocery shop
• Take out garbage

Because I will do this:
• Relax
• Have fun
• Eat great food
• Play bingo
• Lay by the pool
• Play Phase 10
• Work out
• See places I’ve only read about
• Dress up for dinner
• Read a book
• And best of all – spend time with family


Yippee!!

Oh, my cockiness!!

When humility goes out the window, so does the Flex Plan! I was so cocky about doing well over the last couple of days and then today happened. I was fully prepared for my visiting teaching appointment at Best Burger. This morning, I had a 1-point omelet; 2-point cereal; 2-point milk. At lunch, I ordered the chicken sandwich, cheeseless and dry so that I could just add mustard. I ordered extra lettuce and tomato for veggie effect. I even ordered the extra small fries so that I wouldn't be tempted. I figured it was at most a 10-point meal. Alex took a class today to get certified to be a security guard (Brenda said she could get him a job at John Muir). His class ran until 6:00 p.m. For dinner, Alex and I were going to have a very lean pork loin meal with lots of veggies. And, because I earned 6 activity points from Lanette's class this morning, I was going to be in great shape today even with French fries.

WRONG!!

I was blissfully answering phone calls and emails at work when, at 5:50 p.m., the elders called to remind me that they were coming to dinner. TRIPLE YIKES! They asked if they could come at 7:00 p.m. I thankfully told them 7:00 was great. I texted Alex to alert him because I was sure that he forgot, too. Lucky for me, his class was in Walnut Creek by our old Weight Watcher's meeting so he didn't have to travel far. I racked my brain to think of something to cook that a) I had at home; 2) was fast-cooking; and d) was enough to feed four people. I was busy thinking when Alex called and told me he HAD forgotten, that he was on his way home, and was it okay that Jessica stays for dinner. I said yes, of course, and came up with the brainy idea to order food out saving me the hassle of pulling it all together. What was close and not too crowded? Yanagi's. Yes, you read that right, YANAGI'S. So, I ordered a bunch of food, Jessica helped me present and serve it all and it looked wonderful on the table. Elder Folsom was so excited because he has lived in Japan for the past 8 years. We ate all of the food and then topped it off with our traditional missionary dessert: Dove Bars.

I ended up with 30 points ;-(

All I can say is that I am glad Lanette kicked my butt this morning! I don't want to get on the scale tomorrow morning because of the sodium bloat.

Mariposa Fun

On Memorial Day, Alex and I went to Mariposa to spend some time with Mom and Dad (Oma and Papa).

Here are some of the things that we did:

Alex got a cooking lesson. We cooked together and ate a ton of yummy food!


Played Phase 10, Uno, and Wii

To our chagrin, Alex won Phase 10 and Uno!


Went to church and took some after-church pics. Note Mom standing next to her thriving "hot" cactus.


Helped with clearing brush for fire season






Saw deer getting some snacks on the "peninsula"


Walked the trail and saw some beautiful flowers


I had never seen these on the trail before


If we hadn't stopped to look more closely at this . . .

. . . we would have missed this

and this

We really did WANT to miss this

And, finally, you never know what you will find on the trail

Maybe Arie rode this down the trail one day . . . hope he wore a helmet!

Thanks for a great time, Mom and Dad!

SOS Relieved - and Thanks, Lanette!

Rain or shine - every Tuesday and Thursday morning, Lanette leads a group of women in a workout that exceeds any gym workout I've attended. She does this at no cost (other than a little pain at first) to those who attend her sessions. She has said on many occassions that she wants to be here for her grandchildren and so she works out to stay fit. That is a goal for many of us but if you are like I am, you may need a little help in the motivated-to-stay-fit department. That is why I am so grateful to Lanette for generously sharing her fitness training talents with any and all who have the desire and the early-morning time to become and/or stay fit. This morning I made it through another workout, phew! Obliques were sore from Tuesday's workout and I am sure that other muscles will feel it tomorrow, but my brain didn't scream what my shoes were displaying ("SOS") as loudly as on Tuesday.

Thanks, Lanette!

SOS

I love my new New Balance shoes. Although you can't tell on the picture, they have my favorite color (red) on them and they fit perfectly from the start--no hot spots. I've walked with them around the Lafayette Reservoir with Diane and even up KILLER Hill, no hot spots. The "model" number is 505.

On Tuesday this week, I rejoined Lanette's early morning workout. This month's workout is "Boot Camp" and my body felt it. At one point, when I thought I couldn't breathe anymore and wanted to call the paramedics, I looked down at my new shoes and from my vantage point, they were showing the message that my brain was sending . . . SOS. See for yourself.


I'll be back at it tomorrow morning and hope that my stamina is better!

Frazzled

I'm a new blogger and feel some pressure to add a post . . . this is hard when you're already frazzled. I just returned from a fabulous trip to Seattle, but my house is in dire need of cleaning, my Dutch cousins are coming for a short visit beginning on Sunday, and I just found out that tomorrow is Administrative Assistant Day (aka Secretary's Day). YIKES! Luckily, my mom and dad were here last week and helped Alex and me clean out the vast majority of the garage and Bethy cleaned all of the windows so those things look really nice. In a minute, I'll be off to the store to pick up something for AA Day so that I don't look like an uncaring boss. Then tomorrow evening, Alex and I will begin the deep clean for the visitors! Wish us luck...

Finally Here!

I'm the person who made sure that microwave ovens were in use by consumers for five full years before using one and the same person who would not expose her unborn babies to ultrasounds and the same person who used a Commodore64 until it died before getting a real pc. It should be no wonder, then, that I'm finally entering the blog world, but here I am. Now, let's see if I have the time to keep it updated.