The Hazards of Setting Goals

Well - yesterday was not a good day for me. I wanted it to be, but alas, 'twas not to be.

First of all, let me reveal to you a few of my goals:

• to eat better and
• to exercise at least 90 minutes per week.

Both noble and good goals, to be sure. Let's delve a little bit into WHY I set these goals for my self. I mean, the blunt reason is because I have put on a few pounds lately. Part of the reason for this is because when we were in Farmington, at an altitude of approximately 5300 feet, my digestive system was affected in a not so pleasant way. After dropping 20 - 25 pounds I was diagnosed with IBS - which I obviously had all along, but only acutely affected me when we moved to high altitude because gas expands exponentially the farther up you go. Now that we are back at a relatively low altitude, I've eaten more because, quite frankly, it doesn't physically hurt to do so. This has resulted in me putting on about 15 of those pounds back on. Therefore, the above mentioned goals have been set.

The first goal, eating better, has entailed cutting out between meal snacking and excessive sugary foods and serving more vegetables. Believe it or not, the vegetables are the hardest to implement in this family. (Shocking, I know.) I keep putting them on the table, but it's oh so helpful when I put something new on the table, and before anyone has even sat down to try it, Jerry walks up and says something to the effect of, "Broccoli with cheese sauce! Nasty!!!!" while making accompanying gagging noises. I have sworn to him that the next time he does this, he will be stabbed with whatever utensil I can lay my hands on first.

The second goal is what has me in a funk at the moment. I've been trying to be good. I actually dusted off the old Post-Partum Buns, Abs and Thighs video and worked my complaining muscles. Monday I went walking, even though Oklahoma's signature 30 MPH wind was blowing. Of course, I stiffened up afterwards, but I didn't realize how much until yesterday, on my way into the mall, when I managed to catch my lagging foot on some uneven pavement, and down I went. Oh, and not gracefully either. I tried to catch myself, but ended up going down on my knees, ripping a big hole in my pants, and then my forward momentum took me all the way down - I had my right hand wrapped around my cell phone, so I scraped all the skin off both the palm and knuckles of that hand. Luckily for me, I did not hit my head or break a bone - just suffered a wounded ego.

As if the hole in my pants weren't evidence enough of my clumsiness, as I was telling Jerry about the whole incident that evening, I accidentally flung a Tupperware lid across the kitchen as I was putting up dishes, landing it ever so precisely in the chicken stir-fry I was cooking. Now that's talent! Anyway, Jerry supposed that I might have a genetic pre-disposition to clumsiness, and you only have to read this blog to consider that it might be true. But, in true Jerry fashion, he said that he thought it would be better to be fat and happy than to continue to be thin with the awful discomfort I had in Farmington. I'm glad he thinks, that, but I am still going to strive to be 10 pounds lighter in Oklahoma. . . for now.

Zoom, zoom!

Wow - what happened to January? I guess this year isn't going to slow down for me either!

Let's see what's happening with us. . .

The beginning of the year is always a goal-setting time for me. I usually make ten New Year's Resolutions - some of them are serious, like getting 90 minutes of exercise a week, and some of them are fun, like making sure I get at least one manicure a quarter. I have found though, that moving tends to derail my accomplishments as far as my goals are concerned, whether they are serious or fun. As usual I put in a goal to complete 365 scrapbook pages this year. I think this is the fourth year I've made that goal, but I've only hit it once. This past year I finished 280 even though it was a moving year. I still think that's pretty good. I think that I might do my 2007 album as a digital album. If so, I will probably be able to use some of my layouts on my blog - that will be cool!

Jerry and I also made some "us" goals this year. He usually isn't into making New Year's Resolutions, but he made some for himself and with me this year. Alot of them are about getting us settled - finding a house, finding a church home, and so forth.

The big event for us in January is Jerry's birthday. The last three years that has entailed a trip to Red Lobster and doing our best to do absolutely nothing - because that's what Jerry usually likes to do best on his birthday. He always takes the day off though, and since the girls were in school this year we went and saw an early showing of "The Bucket List". That evening he shocked us all when he chose to forgo his usual crab fest and instead chose an Italian place that we had not yet tried. When we got home the girls had a surprise for him - they had baked a birthday cake for him in the easy-bake oven that they got for Christmas. It was their first effort, and it took some doing, but they cooperated and did it all by themselves with very minimal help from mom.

I did finally get in the swing of things now that our insurance has changed for the beginning of the year and Maggie's birthday is around the corner. I spent one whole day on the phone making appointments and catching up on things. The girls went to the dentist for their checkup - no cavities! And Gracie went to an ENT checkup to make sure all her tonsils/adenoids/ear tubes were looking good - they were. Next up is Maggie's well-child visit. When I called to make it, I was expecting to have to schedule pretty far out because we usually do, and also because her pediatrician is working part-time now after the birth of her baby, but they could see us in a couple of weeks - not months. That was a nice change.

It's also that time of year again - seems like we just go from fundraiser to fundraiser, but the girls have been hitting the pavement to sell Girl Scout Cookies. We had one nice week during the selling season, but it's been pretty cold and windy, and this year we have two girls selling, so we haven't exactly been as productive this year. Still, I think we did okay. Thanks to all who supported us!

The girls got their report cards this month - marking the official halfway point of school. Both girls did pretty well on their report cards. Gracie seems to be making some good progress on her reading skills, but at this point we are still leaning towards holding her back at the end of the year. She's just so much littler than everyone else. We went to a birthday party for one of her classmates a couple of weekends ago - he was turning 8! When we go to the classroom, she just looks so much littler than the other kids. I was re-reading the book, Dare to Discipline, by James Dobson, and he goes into why some kids don't succeed in school. Gracie falls into the "Late Bloomer" category for sure, and he said that eventually that type of child will physically mature and be able to keep up, but if their self-esteem is too wounded from being the smallest and slowest, it'll be too late. The thing about Gracie is that I don't know if I would call her a true "Late Bloomer" - Gracie is academically now right about where Maggie was at the end of Kindergarten - but she's the same age as Maggie was at the end of Kindergarten just because of where their birthdays fall during the school year. I just think holding her back is the right thing to do because we don't want her to struggle for the first half of each year. She'll end up hating school, and that's stress none of us needs.

Well, we've already made our first trip to Texas this year. Jerry's folks got a new computer, so we headed down and helped them set it up. Mary Jo, the girls and I went to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame on Saturday. They have a bucking bronc exhibit that the girls and I took a whirl on:

Gracie's Ride:

Maggie's Ride:

Suzy's Ride:

As you can see, we had a good time.

While we were in Fort Worth I took the opportunity to go see my Grandmother, Amy Sr., who fell last week and fractured her pelvis. I went to the hospital and took her some Fun Size snickers - her favorite. Amy Sr. has had some minor dementia, but I'm never really sure how bad it is, since I don't see her very often. This was one of the few times I've seen her lately one-on-one, so we got to chat a bit. She asked me where we were living now, what the girls names were when I gave her some pictures, what Jerry did and the usual questions, but she threw me for a loop when she asked me where Jane was - since Aunt Jane died three years ago. I wasn't sure exactly how to answer, since I thought she was aware enough to know that Jane was gone. If she wasn't, how would you like to have that told to you and have it be the first time again and again? That just seems cruel. Still, I thought she was more aware than that, so I said, "Well, Amy Sr., Aunt Jane passed away about 3 years ago." She looked at me and said, "No, I mean your sister, Jane, Jamie?" and looked like she was trying to come up with a new name, so I just said, "Oh, Amy! She's in Houston!" And continued on with the conversation. After about 45 minutes and lunch she was drifting off, so I left, but my visit certainly gave me plenty to think about.

Well, I guess that catches me up! Although I didn't put blogging regularly in my goals, I'll try to be more punctual. I told Amy that I need to reserve blogging time after my BSF lecture. They tend to make me very philosophical. When I wait so long between blogs, it tends to be more informational and less introspective than I want them to be. Until next time!

Who me, Anxious?

Currently I'm reading a book called Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. Tonight while we were relaxing with our nightly DVD sitcom wind-down, I mentioned to Jerry that I'm going to need to purchase a copy of this book (currently I have a copy checked out from the library) so that I can mark it up, dog-ear the pages and have it handy to re-read. Jerry asked, "So what do you have to be anxious about?"


"Well, according to this book, nothing!" was my cheeky reply.


Jerry didn't give up though, and as we were laying down for bed he asked me what types of things I was anxious about. We started talking, and eventually, around 11:45 we ended our discussion and he fell asleep in a matter of minutes. Now, of course, I'm up and can't get to sleep, having brought to the forefront of my mind all the worries that I try not to worry about. Most of the time I don't dwell on them, but right now I sure am.


I guess my main concern is that we still feel so unsettled, even though Jerry has now been at his job over seven months. We still haven't found a church home, still haven't found a house to buy and I still haven't made one single friend I would feel comfortable calling up just to chat. I worry about how the kids, especially Gracie, are doing in school. I just worry about starting to settle in to find out that we will be uprooted again, and it paralyzes me. Right now it's just one day at a time - and perhaps that is the lesson I am supposed to be learning - to live one day at a time. Perhaps someday I will conquer the urge to pick up my worries after I hand them to the Lord, but for now I think I will go re-read Matthew 6:25-34 and Philippians 4:6-8.

Back to Business

I've been trying to find time to post to the blog, and, as usual, it keeps falling to the bottom of the priority list (kinda like cleaning the house!)

We had a great holiday, with a bit much traveling. One of the great things about being closer to family is that we can see them all during the holidays. One of the lousy things about being closer to family is that we can see them all during the holidays. Sometimes the traveling can get to me, but the kids had a great time seeing all the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. . .

Our first stop was two nights at Grandma and Papaw's house, a welcome refuge from the wintry weather we had to drive through to get there. The first night Dustin, Crystal and Gabriel were there as well as Amy, Brad and Will. The kids all quickly jumped into a game of "Dogpile on Uncle Dusty!"

The next night we got to visit will all my Mom's family. The girls were especially pleased that Cousin Korbin was there. Originally he was not going to get to come because he was going to be in Houston with the other side of the family. That plan fell through though, and although I'm sure his other side of the family was sad, the girls (and grownups too) were thrilled that we got to visit.

Then it was on the road again to Granddaddy and Nana's house. When we woke up in the morning and went downstairs, SANTA had been there! The girls were amazed that somehow he knew what things they had seen as Disney World that they really wanted. Maggie exclaimed, "Santa does watch us, even in NOVEMBER!" Gracie was so enamored of Tinkerbell's house that Santa brought, we could hardly get her to even look at anything else. We had to put away the toys pretty quickly though, because we had to be over at Bub and Sally's for lunch at 12:00. When we got there at 12:30, there was no food - a mix up with the caterer. The food was supposed to be served at 1:00, but for some reason the caterer thought Sally said 3:00. That meant several hours of watching kids among numerous fragile collectibles until the food got there. It wasn't so bad for us - the girls are older now, and not as rambunctious, but Will just turned two - rambunctious is his middle name! We all took turns chasing after and distracting him - but he's such a sweet boy, we didn't mind. Now there is certainly lots more I could say about this gathering, seeing as I come from an eccentric (read: insane) family, but I won't. We'll just move on to our next gathering, which was just a few blocks down the road at Jerry's parent's. We pulled up and found that all of Jerry's uncles were also there - a nice surprise. The girls were thrilled to see Uncle Aaron again, and wasted no time getting him to play with them. After a non-traditional Christmas dinner of Chicken and Dumplings, we headed back to warm beds at Dad and Terri's.

The next day was a fairly slow day. The kids played, and we relaxed until evening, when the Culps and Amy Sr. arrived for a prime rib dinner. It was a good visit, and everyone was cheerful, although I know we were all missing Suzanne and Jane. Since we hadn't come home for Christmas last year, this was my first family gathering without them, and it was poignant gathering for us all, I think.

The next morning we headed back to the Foster's Sr. household to spend a full day with Aaron before he headed back to California. He's pretty much game for anything with the girls. He even made a perler bead creation with them in the afternoon!

I got a message that evening that my mom had taken a tumble in a parking lot resulting in a twisted ankle and a good bump on the head that required some time in the ER that afternoon, so the next morning the girls and I took her some get-well soon flowers before we headed into town to get their hair cut.

The next day I got my hair cut and then we headed back to Dad and Terri's. Amy and Brad had left, but it was still a full house since Terri's family - her nieces, nephews and her brother Terri (no - I'm not making that up!) had all come for a visit. We brought our stuff in, sorted it, and then carried a great deal of it back out to Jerry's car, since he left to go back to Oklahoma and work the next day. The girls and I stayed on to visit some friends - we got to see the Moudy's, Whites, and stopped to say bye to GGma before we packed it in and headed home.

You know, I am always amazed at how good it feels to be home - you know, sleep in your own bed and all, but I left the house a bit messy trying to beat the snowstorm getting out of town, and coming back to piles of boxes and presents that all need to be put away is no fun, especially when you feel crammed into your accommodations already. We tried to remedy that by getting the Christmas stuff put back into the storage shed, but the urge to find a house is growning steadily. I hope some new stuff comes on the market soon!

Well, I had better go and get along to the next thing on the list - you guessed it - clean the house!