Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Long sleep.

Today was such a weird day! I felt too tired to get up and go to class, so I sent Paul to school without me and I was just going to sleep a little longer... Hahaha! I woke up and looked at my phone and it was 2:22 in the afternoon! I could not believe that I was sleeping for so long.

I felt like I wasted the entire day, but after I got up I did do some reading for one of my classes and then I went to a relief society activity. I really love my ward! The activity was a dessert night and I didn't see any girl without her plate filled with as many desserts as possible. It was great.

Anyway, I have no clue why I slept that long. It was so odd! I'm not even sick as far as I can tell....

Sunday, January 20, 2008

All about working out!

Paul and I have finally started our exercise program! We've talked about this forever, but now we're finally doing it! We got racquetball equipment and now we're using the college's racquetball courts and weightroom to get in shape. We also went on a hike in Provo Canyon, trudging through miles of a snowy trail.

Consequently, I am really sore in the calves today. As I was walking around church, I was trying not to cringe with every step. It's odd because that's usually the place that never gets sore while everything else is aching. I think it has something to do with trying to step lightly on the snow to not break through (it was knee-deep in places that I DID break through). Normally, I can barely walk across smooth obstacle-free surfaces without tripping and hurting myself. Stepping carefully and especially lightly are not part of my genetic makeup! I think all my concentration to not fall down yesterday took its toll on my muscles.

But in this weird twisted way, I kind of enjoy soreness. When I wake up in the morning and simply moving makes me groan because of all my sore places, it satisfies me. It's proof that I actually worked out, proof that I'm being healthy and taking care of myself. In the semester before I met Paul, I worked out like a maniac and was in a perpetual state of pain and stiffness. But it was awesome because all my muscles hardened and toned and I lost about forty-five pounds.

I wasn't very kind to myself then. I completely threw aside how I felt and pushed myself constantly to run longer and faster and to lift heavier weights. If I wasn't in agony, I figured I wasn't working hard enough. I was so determined to be thin.

After I got married, I gained most of the weight back. Not of all of it, though... I want to be thin now and I'm willing to work for it. But not like I did then. I now think I was ludicrous and I don't plan to work out quite like that again.

This time, I will take it more slowly and gently, which I think will make it easier to KEEP off. If you lose weight too fast, your body can gain it again just as quickly.

But, hey. I don't kid myself about ever being a size 2. I'll be quite happy and content if I get down to a 12. That's the size I was in seventh grade. If I take it slowly, I still probably won't be able to get to that size for at least a year. (And that's without relapses.) Bring on the next year! I am SO ready for it!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Ah, technology.

I want to add more people to my Links list, but I haven't figured out how yet. I'm kind of technology retarded, so I'm sure it will take me all year to figure out how to do all the simple things regular people figure out in a few minutes....

We can't ALL have the same strengths or the world would be boring. I would like to see anyone rival my Tetris ability! Paul can't even come close to my high score!

Girl power!

My friend Katy was just over and she showed me how to get a new background, so I did. Now it's all pink flowers. But it's good to change, especially to put different pictures up.

It was fun to spend time with Katy-- you know women just need other women. It is a fact. Guys like being together, certainly, but I don't think they need each other the way we women do. I wonder why that is? Does estrogen just like the company of other estrogen or is it something more?

Even though I never dated anyone before Paul, I spent a lot of my growing up time with boys. In middle school, I had a friend named Brett and in high school Daniel. I loved them a lot, but it was so nice my freshmen year of college to have two friends who were girls. Melanie, Eryn, and I were always together, and it was just the funnest thing. Guys just don't appreciate driving around for hours and singing-- or eating unnatural amounts of chocolate. And guys don't have the ability to analize feelings the way that girls do.

Anyway, it was fun.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Hopes of Reconnecting.

I've decided that it's time for me to reconnect to all the cousins I used to enjoy so much and to perhaps connect with some that I never got to know very well in the past. (That's mostly because of age differences.)

When I really stop to think about it, I'm quite sad that I don't do things with relatives. I don't call them or visit or write. I'm not sure how it came to be like that. When I was little, half my life was consumed with cousins. I played a lot with Andrea and Beau and Caleb. Once we all tried to sleep on the same bed-- and this when we were grown teenagers!

I really miss the past when there was nothing better to do than have an adventure in the gulch or go wandering off in the woods at a family reunion campout. I don't kid myself that things were perfect, but I do have sweet memories.

Now I want to build more! I want to get to know everyone now that we're all grown up! I'm sure we were all born into the same family for a reason. And I want to show off my cute sweet Paul too.

Friday, January 4, 2008

The ever fascinating novel-writing process. . . .

By the way, I got stuck on my Chapter 4. It's so ridiculous because I have planned EXACTLY what is going to happen and I'm still puttering around trying to figure out how to write it.

See, I had this plan to spend a few paragraphs talking about mundane things and then launch into something truly interesting-- my characters visiting an opening in a rock set high on a cliff where dozens of eagles roost. But I found, when I began writing, that the mundane things at the beginning were rather important and required attention. So, here I am on my sixth page of the mundane things and counting.

A chapter has to be a miniture story all by itself, beginning somewhere, leading somewhere else, and ending at a point that makes it worth it to the reader to go on to the next chapter. Chapters that don't do these things are boring, frustrating, and off-putting to a reader. And without readers, novelists shrivel up and die. They must have readers or they have no food. :)

So anyway, someday soon, this book will be finished and I'll have a real editor to help me make my story better. I need all the help I can get.

Home from the holidays.

Greetings. I am so happy that some of my cousins are posting comments on my blogs, but I don't know how to respond-- or what their blogspots are. Okay, I'm kind of technology illiterate or I know I would already know how to do this stuff. If anyone wants to give me a call and tell me how I can go to their blogspots, feel free. I would like to see pictures of everyone.

So we were in Vernal for two weeks, and that was a COLD experience. I don't think the temperature ever got above zero the entire trip. There was a lot of snow and ice and danger... But on the bright side, we got to go ice fishing!

That was a first for Paul, who has only fished twice in his life (once illegally on his mission). We went twice, all bundled up in Dad's extra warm clothes. The first time, I caught so many fish, and they were all big! It was so exciting to pull them out one after the other. The next time, it was Paul's turn. He picked a really good fishing hole. He was cute and excited and laughed a lot.

Mom took some really fun pictures of us, but I can't find my jump drive to put them on the computer... But I will display them soon, I promise. We got a lot of cool presents and it was a good time.

Thanks, Mom.

So it was back to school today. I might be switching my schedule around some, but I'm excited. And Paul is REALLY excited because he's graduating next December. Hopefully I can take enough classes to graduate with him. Cross your fingers.