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

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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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Organization and Lists

Posted on January 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

  I’m still working on the things I would like to improve for 2014.  I have been removing clutter consistently for the past week, which makes me feel good.  I just hope that I will be able to keep up the momentum once the dreaded “tax season” begins. This is the work schedule I have come up with after “researching” Pinterest. I decided to model mine from the time-warp-wife blog.  I have modified it for what I think will work for me. After discussing my expectations with my husband and adult daughter, I am sure that this can be done. By the way, I am not a big list maker because in the past I would get very mad if my list never seemed to get done.  I am hoping that I have matured since then and the lists will help in organizing our home.

Daily: 

  1. Dishes
  2. Laundry – hopefully at least 2 loads a day.
  3. Make bed
  4. Tidy 10 minutes – 3X per day
  5. Shed junk for 10 minutes 1X per day

Monday: Clean Bathrooms/Dust

Tuesday: Clean Bedroom

Wednesday: Clean Kitchen

Thursday: Floors

Friday:Grocery shop/errands

Saturday: Work Outside 

Sunday: Day of Rest

Since I have been making lists, I also came up with an exercise list.  I do try to make exercising a priority since my job is very sedentary.

Monday: Weights (Abs, Back, Biceps, Chest) – 30 min/Cardio (run) – 30 minutes

Tuesday: Spin – I have made up a couple of routines for the times (which is most of the time) that I will not be able to go the pm spin class at the gym

Wednesday: Weights (Hams, Glutes, Quads, Shoulders, Triceps)  – 30 min/Cardio (run) – 30 minutes

Thursday: Spin at the gym

Friday: Weights – 30 minutes/Cardio (run) – 30 minutes

Saturday – Spin/yoga.

Sunday – Relaxed exercise

Talking about exercise, I did read an article today in the Parade section of the newspaper about a 94 year old woman who still runs. One of her secret has to do with staying on her feet.  She rarely sits down.

Simply standing up more is the best thing sedentary people can do to start becoming healthier, maintains Joan Vernikos Ph.D., the former director of Life Sciences for NASA and the author of the book “Sitting Kills”.  The painless act of rising from your chair pumps blood from the feet to the head, and tunes the vestibular system, which helps maintain blood pressure and keeps you steady on your feet.  Even a regular morning jog can’t compensate for being inert the other 23 hours of the day, research show.

Wow!!! I am going to have to make a effort to get up and move more when I am at the office.

One of the things I attempted to organize this weekend was pictures. They are all over the place in my computer. I have quite a long way to go in getting them all organized.  I did come across this picture I wanted to share.  It is a picture I took last year when I went camping at Lake Livingston in January 2013. I went ahead and processed it a little using Adobe Photoshop Essential 11. I really liked the end result.

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The Start of 2014

Posted on January 1, 2014 | 1 comment

I love the feeling I get every new year. The feeling of newness. That feeling that I can start over. That is why I love to make New Year’s Resolutions. Do I keep them? No. But every year I feel the need to make them. This year I have some floating in my head that I might share a little later.

What I did want to write about was the start of this day – January 1, 2014. I felt like staying in bed. I even tried to tell myself it is a holiday and I should take it easy. After arguing with myself, I did get up and lifted weights in my upstairs exercise room for about 40 minutes and then when for a 20 minute run/walk. I call it a run/walk because I ran for 15 minutes and cooled down for 5 minutes. I have also been thinking about an exercise schedule for 2014. I am mad at LA Fitness. They discontinued the 5:45 am spinning class, which was my favorite time to go to the gym. It is not as much fun by myself without an instructor telling me what to do.

This morning I decided to have a green smoothie for breakfast. The only problem my smoothie is not very green.

Green Smoothie????

Green Smoothie????

This is what is in my smoothie:

1 cup water
1 small apple
1/2 cup cucumber
1/2 frozen banana
1 cup mixed fruit – blackberries, blueberries and strawberries
2 cups packed tightly of baby spinach
1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Mixed together with my vitamix blender.

I did think it was very yummy!!!

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year today.

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2013 in review

Posted on December 31, 2013 | Leave a comment

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,300 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 22 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Catching Up…

Posted on November 4, 2013 | 1 comment

Tax season was over on October 15. We survived….barely. Three weekends have happened since then. The first weekend was spent relaxing at Garner State Park. I took pictures and hope to one day get them out of my camera. The second weekend was spent cleaning house. Normally cleaning is not my favorite thing but after 8 weeks of doing the chores just to get by…it felt good to clean. Mi just need to get back on track with cleaning, organizing, downsizing the junk in my at home work space. I do feel that all that stuff is stifling my creativity….

This weekend I went to the Pearland Fire Department wet down. A wet down is like a boat christening. In a wet down the fire trucks spray water on the new fire trucks and fire station. I did take pictures but they are still stuck in my camera…..

The last couple of weeks I have slacked off exercising….especially running. This morning I put on the running shoes…or should I say jogging shoes and did an easy thirty minute run/jog. I need to get in shape for the annual Holiday Run the first week in December. I’m practicing on my mental talk to myself when I run. My mind always wants me to slow down and walk. I did it….I ran the entire 30 minutes. I’m proud of myself.

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Posted in Diet/Exercise, Reflections

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

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.

Rice Balls

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Posted on August 10, 2013 in General, Opinions

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