Category Archives: Opinions

It’s Back to Work Today

Posted on May 22, 2014 | 2 comments

Well, today will be my first full day back at the office. After thinking about yesterday, I decided to go in for a few hours and see the damage that was in my e-mails and on top of my desk. I wanted to prepare myself so my blood pressure would not go through the roof. I only worked for about 3 hours. This is what I learned…..my chair is as hard as a rock and my bum was killing my after only three hours.

So…..here is my new “best friend”….that is – if an inanimate object can be your best friend. 😜

I have written before how my favorite time of the day is early morning when I read the paper and drink lots of coffee. Of course to do this, I get up early, early….well, the Houston Chronicle had been letting me down for the last several months. The paper was being delivered late….I could not read it before having to get ready for work so I was reading the online edition. While I have been recuperating, it was not a problem because I was not going anywhere. I was paying a lot of money to actually get a real paper that I could turn real pages, spill my coffee on, and tear out articles, and most importantly work the Suduko puzzle. (I always think I will have a mentally sharp day if I can complete the puzzle rather quickly….) So, yesterday I took the step of canceling the real paper and getting the online edition only. I will be saving a lot of money…the online edition is only $2.50 per week, while the subscription I had cost $7.55 per week. Don’t know what I will do about the puzzle.

Since I’m trying to get back to my “regular” routine, I decided to finally step on the scale. I was afraid of what the numbers would be because I think I look about 4-5 months pregnant. Surprise, surprise….I was down 5 pounds. After giving it some thought….that is probably how much my uterus weighed since the doctor said it was the size of a watermelon. 😜

Thanks for listening to my lamenting.

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Posted in Diet/Exercise, Interesting Tidbits, Opinions

Tagged paper, routine, weight, work

One More Day….And I’m Complaining

Posted on May 20, 2014 | 1 comment

Two weeks off….for my minimal invasive hysterectomy. Okay, I said it – I had a hysterectomy and even though it was minimal invasive the doctors still say I had a major surgery and need to take it easy. I have one more day after today to recoup. I don’t know what I was expecting but it sure was not that I would have to take one of those serious pain pills the doctor gave me with only one day left of my time off.

Well, truth be told, I most likely overdid it yesterday. I took a slow walk around the block, I folded some clothes, cleaned the kitchen and swept some of the floors. I made sure I took breaks between each activity. I meet me friend for lunch and then we sat outside in the gazebo enjoying the breeze and some mint juleps….no I mean water. I felt like we were ladies of luxury without a care in the world. Later, after our visit, I took my daughter to DSW to look at shoes. I know, I know I am not suppose to be buying things because I am trying to simplify my belongings. I caved in…

New Summer Dress Sandals

These are the shoes that Emily wanted….I hope she does not get blisters on the back of her calves at work today. She thinks I think of the stupidest things.

Emily’s New Gladiator Sandals

We then walked around the new grocery store called Fresh Market. I bought some homemade seed bread. I was impressed with the bakery. They had homemade Ezekiel bread but I did not buy any this time because I already had some in the freezer.

I did not realize how much energy all that activity took. When I got home I slept for 2 hours….and paying for it today with the pain pill and lots of rest.

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Posted in Family, Opinions, Pictures

Tagged complaining, shoes, shopping

Another Birthday….

Posted on February 6, 2014 | 1 comment

Tomorrow I will be 53 years old. I have lived 19358 days, or 464,592 hours or 27,875,520 minutes or 1,672,531,200 seconds. Where did all this time go? It reminds me of the song lyrics “Time keeps on slipping, slipping into the future.”

Anyway, since I’m half a century old maybe I should come up with a bucket list. One of the things I’m thinking about putting on this list is a mud run. The one I’m considering is one just for women. I hoping the obstacles might be a little easier – yea right! I suppose I’m most afraid that I would find it too difficult for me. I did a google search on mud run training. I came across a really cool website that had a five week training plan with videos. However, the website said that you needed to be able to “run” (not jog) for 3 miles that then the training schedule was not for you and you needed to get out and practice running. Potential problem – I have a running pace – that is if you could call it running – of about a 11-12 minute mile. I pretty sure that would be considered jogging. If I did do this it would be a really good feeling to conquer my fears.

On another note, I ordered two bracelets. Each bracelet has one of my 2014 words on them. I really like them.
Every time I look at these words it brings to me my goal of learning gratitude and pursuing love.

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Posted in From Blogs I read, Holidays, Opinions, Reflections

Tagged birthday, mud run, time

The Year of the Horse

Posted on January 30, 2014 | Leave a comment

Today is the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year – the year of the Horse. People born in the year of the Horse are helpful, chatty, humble, energetic and obstinate. My daughter was born in the year of the Horse. Now I was born in the year of the Ox. People born in the year of the Ox are dependable, polite, detail-oriented, patient and stubborn.

I think I am a dependable person. As an accountant I must be detailed-oriented. How else would I be able to keep all those accounting transactions straight. I hope I’m polite and I think my friends would describe me as stubborn. Patient….I don’t know.

I like to read blogs and one blog I read suggested that Ground Hog’s Day be another time when you check in on those New Years resolutions that were made last month. I’m thinking that is a good idea since it is the start if the Chinese New Year. Who doesn’t like a do-over. I certainly do.

I was looking over my January 1 post and I noticed I mentioned resolutions but never put any into words. I noticed the new “in” thing is to have a word of the year. I was torn between two words – love and gratitude. So instead of one word I am going to have two words. Both of these words are to help me grow closer to G-d.

I read a blog about the most courageous resolution for 2014 is taken from 1 Corinthians 14:1 ….Pursue love. Pursue means to “seek after eagerly.” So here the Scriptures that I plan on concentrate on in 2014 .

1 Corinthians 13
John 13-15
I John
Matthew 22
Mark 12
Luke 10
Hebrews 13:1-7

I started reading the book “One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are” by Ann Voskamp. I began to realize that I am not a very thankful person. That I take much of life for granted. I have started my on list of gifts to be more mindful of my blessings.

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Posted in From Blogs I read, General, Holidays, Opinions

Tagged gifts, ground hogs day, love, resolutions

Packing Light Challenge – Day 3

Posted on September 26, 2013 | Leave a comment

Day 3 – What is holding me back? Why have I not done these things? What is stopping me?

These are very good questions. I’m to answer the questions with regard to the physical things, emotional things and the reason for the disconnect….between words and action.

I think it is hard for me to have work/leisure balance because the nature of my profession has these very heavy deadlines. The first deadline starts around February 15 through April 15 with the next heavy deadline between August 15 – October 15. During these time periods the only thing I focus on is getting tax returns out…..

The fact of the matter is I need to work. Most people do need to work to pay bills and save for retirement. I could change jobs. However, if I did change jobs in the same profession I do not think I would get away from these deadlines. The answer could be to do something entirely different. Now to me that is scary….I have been doing tax returns for about 30 years.and in reality I like some of the clients I work on and during the slow time I enjoy this type of work. During these busy times, chores at home pile up causing stress. Because I am trying to get more done in a day, I shortchange sleep. I stay up later and still get up early. After time I am so tired that all I want to do is watch TV and lay around. Also, because of lack of time, my eating habits are poor….

Money worries….I do have some debt that I could pay off. I do tax returns for other people and get their books in order. You would think that I could do it for myself….Well, that answer is no. The last thing I want to do at the end of the day is look at more paperwork..I think most of my worry is because of the future and not having enough saved up. Sometimes, I think I put it off because I do not want to discover I will have to work until I am over 100 years old to be able to retire.

Organization…I have this big problem. I see books or articles that I want to read and I set them out so I can remember I want to read them. I thought that if I tore out articles or recipes from magazines that I would make those recipes. I have a hard time putting them away because I do not want to forget about them….the truth of the matter…I have so many that I would not ever have time to make the recipes or read all the books that I want to read. I must secretly think it is some sort of character flaw to say I am going to read such and such book or make such and such recipe and then never do it. Again this can also impact my worry about money. I spend money on projects that are never finished….

Time….I know that there are only 24 hours in a day. How come the day rushes by and the things I want to do are not accomplished. I will admit that I am not a big fan of lists. The reason being is that my lists become so long that it is impossible to ever complete the list. I have argued with myself that if I had a list that then I could put things away and not have to leave them out to remember them. But I also know that if I can not cross something off my list I become angry….and I will potentially take it out on others. Such a catch twenty two…

I have considered that if I have less possessions (and desired less things) that then I would have less to organize and less things to take care of that then I would have more time….could this be the answer…Less things – more money – more time!!!

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Posted in From Blogs I read, Opinions

Tagged balance, disconnect, emotional, organization, Physical, time, worries

Packing Light Challenge – Day 2

Posted on September 25, 2013 | Leave a comment

The challenge for day 2 it to make a list of things that would need to happen in order to accomplish my dreams.

Okay…here goes my list.

1. Balance between work and leisure is hard….being an accountant and having tax deadlines where I need to work long hours and weekends make it hard to have a balance. This is the nature of my profession. During this time, all housework and any project is quickly abandoned. Then during the slow period I spend all my time catching up that then it seems I’m just cleaning house all the time.

– I could get a maid to clean house for me.
– I could talk to my boss about my hours again.
– I could change jobs…..get one not in the public accounting area. I do struggle with this. I wonder will the grass really be greener on the other side of the fence….or should I just figure out how to make my present job work for me.

2. No worries about money…having enough to pay bills, to save some and then to have a little left over to travel. I really should spend some on this since I am of the age that we are thinking about when to retire…..

– paying down debt.
– control spending by looking at a budget.
– plan a trip….we have talked about pulling our travel trailer through Canada to Alaska.

3. Organization….I feel that if I am organized that then I would have to spend less time looking for things and then I would have time for family, friends and projects….

– going through each room in my house and clearing out those items I no longer need. I have tried this in the past and seemed to run out of steam.
– finding a place for everything and putting it away.
– come up with daily routines to stay on top of daily cleaning chores.
– carve out time on the calendar to work on special projects…keep the appointment.
– figure out what to do with all those projects I have started and never finished…that may be a very long list by itself.

I probably have not been as specific in my list as I should be….I will say that just writing these things down does motivate me to think seriously about starting a plan to make something become a reality. It is sort of like a goal that is not reached because it is never verbalized so never any steps are put into place to reach the goal….

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Posted in From Blogs I read, Opinions

Tagged accomplish, dreams, List

Packing Light Challenge Day 1

Posted on September 24, 2013 | Leave a comment

Today I’m starting Allison Vesterfelt’s challenge. Of course I’m a day late…..

The challenge for day 1 is it dream about what I want. It does not need to be realistic.

Okay, this is what I want.

1. I want balance between work and leisure. Some how through the years my part time job has become full time with more stress. It does not help that I am in the middle of another tax deadline.

2. I want no worries about money. I want just enough to meet my bills, save some, and have a little bit to use to travel.

3. I want organization. I’m tired of never being able to find something because it is not in its proper place. This drives my crazy at work and home. You would think I could get a handle on this because it is so frustrating to me…

4. I want more time…time for family, friends, craft projects, yard work, time for writing on my blog, time to learn about photography, reading time, housework. The list could go on and on.

As I am writing this all I can hear in my head is the Steve Miller Band singing…”Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future.”

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Posted in From Blogs I read, Opinions

Tagged dreams, time, Wants

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Review: Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness

Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness by Scott Jurek
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book. I have recently taken up running and I just randomly picked this book at the library to maybe inspire me work on my running technique. I never really thought about the hard training that an extreme athlete does to accomplish the goals they have set for themselves.

Scott Jurek shared his beginning love for running. He shared how over time (aging) he lost this joy and his search to find the joy in running again.

At the end of each chapter, Scott Jurek shares a vegan recipe. Here is a picture of the rice balls I made using his recipe.

View all my reviews

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Posted on August 10, 2013 in General, Opinions

Tagged running, Scott Jurek, ultra-marathon, vegan

My Fitness App Dilemma

Posted on January 4, 2013 | 2 comments

Today while I was exercising I was thinking about “toss, restore, organize”, the diet apps on my electronic devices and my Fitbit that I’m using to track my 10,000 steps per day. January 1 it was easy to get on the steps because we went to the new outlet mall in Texas City. It has been harder since I am back at the office all day sitting on my buttocks.

Now for my quandary…I have the Sparkpeople app; the Fitbit app, and the MyFitness Pal app on my electronic devices. They are taking up space and they are also redundant.

I have been using Sparkpeople for a long time. When I first started using Sparkpeople, I thought it was comparable to Weight Watchers online but for free. I was excited when the mobile phone app became available and I could then record my food choices right away. I have many of my meals listed as favorites so it is even easier to record what I eat. I really liked Sparkpeople when I discovered that I could sync my Fitbit. I was disappointed that the food did not sync between the apps.

Many of my family members started using MyFitness Pal. I downloaded the app because I thought it would be nice to get and send encouragement on our fitness goals. I used the app for a few days but I went back to using Sparkpeople, mainly because of the personal food database I had created over the years. The big advantage to using MyFitnessPall is that it does sync both the food and the activity.

These should seem like a “no brainier”. MyFitness Pal does the things that I want to happen with regard to syncing.

So in the effort to “toss, restore, organize” I’m going to remove the Sparkpeople app from my phone and IPad. Somehow, it feels like I’m removing a friend….

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Posted in Diet/Exercise, Opinions, Reflections

Tagged Fitbit, MyFitness Pal, organize, restore, Sparkpeople, toss

Book Club – December 2012

Posted on December 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

The book for December is “The Christmas Sweater” by Glenn Beck.

The book has 273 pages and was published by Thresholds Editions.

This is a story about a 12 year old boy named Eddie who desperately wants a new bike for Christmas. Times are hard in his family. His father has passed away. The family bakery had to be sold. Money was tight. Eddie was positive that if he was “good” that his mom would find a way to buy the bike for Christmas. However, when Christmas arrived the only thing under the Christmas tree was a sweater that his mom lovingly made for him. Eddie was extremely disappointed and this story tells how Eddie dealt with the disappointment and finally, how his heart changes to understand that gifts are not what Christmas is about–but that Christmas is about love and a second chance.

This is a quote from the book that touched my heart.

“I know that things have been hard since Dad died. But it’s been hard for both of us. At some point you have to realize that everything happens for a reason. It is up to you to decide the reason, learn from it, and let it take you to the place you’re suppose to be–not just where you have ended up.” Mom spoke slowly. “You can either complain about how hard your life is, or you can realize that only you are responsible for it. You get to choose. Am I going to be happy or miserable? And nothing–not a sweater, and certainly not a bike–will ever change that.”

This book club meeting was also our annual Christmas luncheon and gift exchange. The gift was to be a handmade gift. All I can say is – “Thank God for Pinterest!” I decided to put together a holiday spa basket. The basket contained a homemade sugar scrub, homemade bath fizz balls, a homemade CD with holiday songs. I did purchase the basket and some small votive candles. Here some pictures of my gift.