Well, it's Christmas again. This year has gone by so fast. Obviously I am terrible at keeping up with this, even though I think it is awesome and a great idea.

This year has brought a lot of cool things my way.
In June, a trip to New Mexico to see my friend Lisa that I haven't seen since before Chandler was born...now he is 16. It was truly amazing to get to see her and meet her husband Tom and spend time with them in their wonderful and beautiful home. I admit that I could probably live there if it has any large bodies of water close. We saw things that I never expected to see in my life. Carlsbad Caverns (after a small panic attack when I realized I was 750 feet underground, it was all good), White Sands (that I have to admit I wasn't excited about...I live in sand...until I got there. this sand is amazing. It feels like flour or cornstarch on your feet), wicked cool mountain ranges (I thought the Southwestern US was flat), Petroglyphs, seven states in four days (Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona), Cloudcroft, which is a beautiful mountain town like Sunriver (In New Mexico!!!), it was truly an amazing visit. On the way home we got to see the Grand Canyon.

In July of course, was the 2nd Annual Gilchrist Class Reunion, which was so much fun. It was really interesting and wonderful to see all the old crowd again. Funny how the same people still seem to flock together this many years later. They even played our graduation song on the radio. My comment was, this is how we party now? With our tunes pumping out the back of a MINIVAN!!!!! It was such fun and we are gearing up for next year already.

We had some other fun side trips and camping excursions with our kids and various friends, too.

Although this year has had its rough edges, it has been one of the best of my life.

Losing Me

Well, it has been a very long time since I had any writing to do. Actually, I forgot about this, so I will try to do better.
Since January, I have been struggling to lose as much weight as possible. The doctor gave me 6 months to get my cholesterol down on my own, or I have to take meds, which I don't want to do because they make me feel horrible.
I have lost in the neighborhood of 30 pounds so far and am looking much better and feeling much better too. But I seem to have hit a wall. I can't get motivated to go work out--its been a week. I struggle because I hate to do things alone, but I have to come to some kind of arrangement with myself. I have to get there because I can't let all my hard work go to waste, and I cannot gain back this weight.
Food has been talking to me lately too. I have slipped and I admit it. I am trying so hard, but I just don't seem to have the will to walk away. I have done great for six months now, and all of a sudden, I just crashed. I am not sure why, but I have to stop it. Back to portion control and back to good foods....RIGHT NOW!!!!!
My family and Facebook friends have been so supportive, but at this point it is hard to get anyone to come to the gym with me. I get nervous there by myself and don't do a full workout. Somehow, some way I need to get past that, and get my butt back in the saddle.
I will continue Losing Me and maybe will Find ME in the process.

Random and Sweet

A very random, but sweet thing happened tonight. My stepson Lance has a girlfriend. His girlfriend's mom lives here in Newport. We know her, but not well. Tonight, my phone rings and it is the mom, telling me that she has made Chandler (my 15 year old) a lemon pie, and can she stop by and drop it off? Well, of course and how sweet is that?

Evidently the last time the kids were down, we all went to dinner and Chandler had lemon chicken....he took a bite of a slice of lemon, and she commented that she should make him a lemon pie.

So she did!!!

That right there folks, is what they mean by committing random acts of kindness. That made Chandler's night that someone would do that for him who barely knows him. May God bless that sweet lady.

Working on Christmas

So, here I am...trying to get Christmas shopping done, on a limited budget. I have run into a couple of pitfalls of course, tis the season. Steve had Thanksgiving and the day after off from work and they don't have paid holidays, and he was sick one day, so his upcoming paycheck is going to be short three days...guess who will have to make up for that one????? Me of course. Then I had a terrible showing at the Christmas Bazaar last weekend. Only cleared about $12...which of course...in the spirit of counting my blessings...is $12 more than I had when I went there. And I was able to trade for a few gifts. I do love trading my handmade things for those of others. And then of course, no Christmas bonus at either workplace...we are just very very fortunate to have jobs this year.

Anyway, I am pretty much done with Steve, cuz I started early. And face it, he is so easy to shop for. If it is for hunting, or the truck, or the garage, he is happy. He wants to start getting into some wood working I believe, so that is for another time...can't start a new hobby when I am already done shopping for you, you silly man. I love him so much and it makes it very easy to shop for him because I want to give him everything I can.

Chandler is more challenging just because he wants all this electronic gaming stuff, and frankly I am not willing to spend money on it. I tell him that he can spend HIS money on that stuff. I love to buy him books, and music related gifts, he loves knives and dragons and swords and all that, so that is easy. I am almost done with him, but still need those few special gifts. Of course, he is having surgery a week before Christmas too, so he needs things to do while he is incapacitated.

Lance and Nate have asked for gift cards, although, Lance changed his story when his girlfriend asked for actual gifts, but he is getting a gift card. Frankly, I don't like giving gift cards because they just aren't personal enough...doesn't take any thought at all to go down and buy a couple of gift cards. I love making and buying gifts for people. Problem is, there is nothing I make now that they are the least bit interested in, except maybe my jams. It is hard with them because they rarely come see us anymore...don't really call unless they want something. I feel like they have forgotten all about us, that we are their parents too, and it makes it difficult to feel like giving them anything except a swift kick in the butts. But that's another story for another day.

Anyway, then I have the extended family, parents, siblings, neices and nephews...Again, don't really have the money to do much shopping. I can think of a million things that I could make for them, but again people rarely want or appreciate homemade, especially little kids.

So, there I am, with my lists, and my ideas, and I will get it all figured out, I will. And of course after a 15 minute frenzy on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, it will all be over until next year...and I'll wonder once again, why I was so worried about it in the first place.

Ok, here is goes.....

Ok, here it goes.....my good friend Trish told me about her blog, and even though I have never done it before, I thought I would give it a try. I have always been a doodler, you know, one of those people who write on literally everything. There cannot be an empty piece of paper around me if there is a pen handy.

This picture is of a path to a campsite at Suttle Lake in Oregon. It is a beautiful and peaceful place. Paths.....everything is a path. Every step leads to something...sometimes something wonderful, sometimes not, sometimes you just keep on walking and lots of stuff happens. I love paths. I love to take pictures of paths and make people wonder where it leads...what's around the corner. I love roads in the forest, railroad tracks, freeways at night--watching trucks just driving on. Paths have the ability to make a person fill with anticipation, or fear, or even wistfulness. What comes next? What is around the bend (besides my brain)? So, I guess, this blog will be a pathway to me. Or a pathway for me...a place to help me figure out what I feel or where I am going.

So, here it goes.....