Best Friends

Today I took our new dog to the Best Friends Animal Clinic. When we had Luna we somehow got suckered into buying a "health plan" for her through Banfield Pet Hospital (Petsmart). That was a terrible experience which we are still paying for even though our dog died in June. So this time when I needed shots for our dog I did my research and found this clinic. It is simular to a low income people clinics, only the service was better. And it was a great place to go for people watching. Some of the people and animals that came in were very entertaining. One lady had two pugs that sounded like they had severe asthma. Another group that came in consisted of a dad, and four little kids with very dirty faces and a 9 week old Border Collie. Then a woman and her husband showed up with two HUGE male standard poodles. I knew she would be the one to ask about a good groomer. Turns out she was a groomer and had a place not too far from Grace's new school. Funny how life flows along and gives you what you need at such odd times. Now our little dog, Sally, has all the shots she needs and is scheduled for surgery to "fix her up" in September. And gets to go get all foo foo-ed up next week. Great prices, great service, a refereal for services needed and great peole watching. Who can ask for anything more?

You Need to Adopt from China

I have a problem that probably does not afflict too many other people. It started about this time of year about 9 years ago. My problem is that when I see families that only have boys I want to go up to them and tell them to adopt a girl because they are missing out. Nine years ago tomorrow Mark and I first saw Grace's little face. She had chubby cheeks and was dressed in split pants. She hardly had any hair, but she was beautiful! I could hardly stand the wait to go to China. I wanted to jump on a plane that very moment and go bring her home. I remember the day well because it was my father's birthday too. I called him to tell him about Grace and emailed a picture to him. My dad had a joke that he liked to tell people about Grace. He used to say that one in five people were Chinese in this world so it was about time he had one in his family. Adopting from China was life changing. Not just because we added another child to our family, but because we added a girl. Girls are different from boys. I know most of you already know this, and I knew it intelectually, but not in reality. Now I understand. Grace can be a drama queen when it suits her. She has the bottom lip thing down to a science. And she can turn on the charm like nobodies business. Especially with Mark. It is amusing to me to see the kind of things she can get him to do. Adopting from China was also life changing because we went to China for two weeks. It taught me a lesson in humility and gratuitude that I remember still, and am grateful for it. We are so blessed to live where we do, have the freedoms we have and enjoy so much proserity. I think Grace will never understand what kind of life she could have had in China. And I am glad. I am glad she is here, happy and healthy with all the opportunities that she could ever want. A lot of people in China would tell us how lucky she is to be adopted by an American family. I would tell them that we were the lucky ones. Nine years later, I still think so.

Back to Blogging

I was listening to that song by The Band Perry, "If I Die Young" yesterday. Great band, with a lot of fun songs, but I really like this song especially. Not because the words are so beautiful, but the melody and movement of the song is so great. I started thinking about what I want when I die. Of course at this point it will not be young, but still there are things I would like to have happen at my funeral, just like the girl sings about in this song. I don't care about being buried in satin, or on a bed of roses, but I do want a closed casket. And I don't want one of those Mormon type funerals where everyone talks about the plan of salvation. At my funeral people can just stand up and talk about their dealings with me. They can remember me, I hope with some fondness. If they feel so inclined they can bear testimony of their beliefs. I would like people to come to celebrate my life, such as it was. I don't want people to waste money on flowers. If people want to honor me in some way, send money to US Synthetic to be used in their humanitarian efforts. Sing some hymns, some old spirituals or some secular music that people like. You could even sing, "If I Die Young". I would love the irony. I know that this is not the way Mormon funerals are run, so have it at the park, or graveside or at a mortuary. And no R.S. luncheon either. What a waste of food and service! Go out or have a picnic for heaven's sake. Most people think about their funeral when they have a terminal illness, or are getting on in years. I guess they wait because they think that it is morbid or just unpleasant to think about. I don't think it is either of these things. I think of it as proper planning to ensure that I still have some control over what goes on with me, even if it is just my dead body. So when I die, not young, hopefully old, remember my words here and give me the send off that I will truly enjoy, because I'll be watching.

No doughnuts with the Director for me!

I went to the monthly round table this morning at my children's school. I is called Doughnuts with the Director, and is basically that. The school provides some fruit, doughnuts and juice and a couple of boxes of doughnuts. I JUST ATE THE FRUIT, folks! I resisted the yummy looking doughnuts! Yeah for me!

So far today I have had 1 cup grapes and 1 pear. I is now lunch time, so I will be eating a WW dinner about 5 points.

I have not had time to weigh, measure etc. but here is what I ate yesterday and today.

Well, it won't cut and paste from my word doc, so let it suffice to say that I ate 32 points on Monday and 28 today.

I went out to dinner tonight at an Italian place with a bunch of sisters from our ward. It was good, but the company was great. I feel so much for one of our sisters who is really suffering right now. My prayers are with her.

How to live the life and lose the weight

I spent an evening searching the Internet for books, videos and blogs to inspire myself in my weight loss goals. I am fatter than ever and am just continuing to gain. Posting to a blog seemed like a common thing that people who were successful did to help them in their weight loss goals. I am setting a goal with myself to post everyday until January 1, 2009. I will continue on after than point, I hope, but I want to set bite sized goals, pun intended. Tomorrow, I will post my measurements, my weight and my body fat percentage. I will also post what I eat and how much I exercise. I will post the weight loss tip that I am working with for that day or week as well. If you want to do this with me, please let me know. I am really hoping that we can do it together, and beat this most difficult problem and keep it off!

I am using the book by Judith Beck called, "Beck Diet Solution Weight Loss Workbook: The 6-week Plan to Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person".

You can find this book on Amazon. I first found the original book at my amazing library, but later bought the workbook from Amazon. Either one is a great tool to use.

Besides the Beck Diet Solution, which in not actually a diet, I am going to follow the weight watcher's guidelines because I feel like the are basically healthy, and are flexible enough to stick to. There are two diet plans that WW uses, one is called the Flex Plan and the other is called the Core Plan. I am going to start with the Flex plan, and if I can't continue to get the weight off, I will switch over to the Core Plan.

I am not going to exercise the first two weeks, unless I really want to do so. I am going to focus on food, and then get back on my elliptical and do weight exercises. I like doing weight lifting, but finding the time to do it is really hard for me. I will have to squeeze it in when I can. In December I am going to exercise three days a week. In January the goal is four days. I will start with just 15 minutes of elliptical the first week, and move up 5 minutes each week until I am up to 45 minutes.

Can you dig it?? Can you join me?? Come on, be a friend!

I am a Budget Nerd!

I never thought I would be excited about a budget spread sheet, or seeing our budget balanced at the end of the month. I was not raised to budget, or to save money, but since our class on money management the Dave Ramsey way, I have become a budget nerd. I am really impressed with Dave and his financial Freedom classes. They are really worth taking. Since we took the classes, Mark and I have become very money management savvy. We set a budget every month, and stick to it like glue. We just make do, or do without. We have our emergency fund for things that come up that we can not do without. Some months are easier than others, but it is a learning process and we are making progress!