Dreaming of Better Days

Last night, I dreamed about Disney World. For years I've wanted to stay at the Beach Club resort, but it is so, so expensive. Walker and I have made several trips to Orlando over the years but we always choose a budget motel. We can stay a week for the price of one night at the Beach Club. Seriously.

In my dream, I was walking the perfectly landscaped grounds of the Beach Club, admiring the pools and smelling the flowers. Everyone was so friendly. Then I realized, all the employees were people I had known through my life. Old friends who have slipped away, all dressed in Hawaiian shirts and working at the resort. I can't stop thinking about it. I'm not sure what the dream means, but I do think the time has come to plan a visit to the Beach Club. Who cares if we can only afford to stay two nights, LOL. I just want to go.

Waiting for Tomorrow

Today I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Then Walker and I went to Mc Donald's. Then I walked Lily over to my mom's house, so I could tell her. Then I went to work.

I really just want this day to be over.

Motivation in my Pocket

Back in late March, I decided to upgrade my pedometer. The old one I had tracked steps, converted them to miles, and had a clock. It had a cover over the face, to minimize the chance of resetting it accidentally. The problem was the cover was loose, and if it didn't snap shut all the way it didn't record my steps. So I did a little research and decided on a new Omron pedometer. It does everything my old pedometer does, but it also has a seven day memory and automatic reset. I can input my weight and it calculates the number of calories burned each day. I ordered it online, waited anxiously for it to arrive, and.....nothing. It came, I looked at it, and it sat on my desk. For months. Until last weekend.

I came across it while I was cleaning and decided to jump into a new walking program. I probably picked the hottest week of the year, but I felt like if I didn't get started NOW, who knows when I would? The new pedometer was really easy to set up - I didn't even need the directions - and it clips into my pocket. Off I went.

Automatic reset is a great feature but it's going to take some getting used to. The daily stats save to the memory each day at midnight. With my schedule, midnight would probably equate to 6pm for "regular" people. When I got to work last night I was only at about 4500 steps, with a daily goal of 10,000. I knew the only way I would hit my target was to walk - quickly - as far as I could on my dinner break.

At 10pm last night the heat index here was still nearly 90*. The humidity was over 80%. I walked anyway. In the 30 minutes I take for dinner, I was able to hit my goal of 10,000 steps. Unfortunately for my coworkers, I was pretty much a puddle of sweat by the time I got back to the office. Clearly, my routine will take some tweaking. I think I'm going to start walking after work. It will be weird to start my day with a couple thousand steps, but maybe that will motivate me to plan ahead.

In the end, though, I'm pretty excited to have this new goal to focus on. Fall is right around the corner and the colors here are spectacular. I look forward to spending some quality time getting fit on the hiking trails around the area with my new pedometer tracking my every step. And I plan to bring my camera, so I can share the sights with you.

Darwin Would be So Proud

Diva was spending some time at our house this week, and while I was at an appointment Walker had some work to finish on the outside of the house, so he gave her some sidewalk chalk and asked her to draw in the driveway, where he could keep an eye on her. I came home to see this:




Diva said she turned a stencil of a monkey into a drawing of herself. I just love it, especially the pink shoes.

After the Storm

We had yet another thunderstorm overnight. My overnight co-conspirator at the office job had his weather radio on and we pretty much had continuous chirping all night. Finally, as the sun was coming up, the rain stopped and we were left with this:




Pretty, huh? Now all we need is some blue sky....


Check out other Watery Wednesday photos here

Wild Encounters

Not even 5 am and it's already been a busy morning! I was sitting at my desk logging some hours on my work at home job when I heard the most God-awful noise coming from the patio. Of course I had to check it out, and I was horrified to see a neighbor's cat holding a tiny baby bunny in his mouth. I yelled at the cat to "Put him down!" and for some reason, he did. The little bunny was only about four inches long and he hunkered down in the grass while I slipped onto the patio and chased the cat away. I slowly approached the bunny but didn't touch him. I was hoping he wasn't seriously hurt. He didn't appear to be bleeding or anything, and after a couple minutes he hopped off, hopefully back to the safety of his momma and his nest.

When I went back into the house my own kitty was acting agitated, which at first I thought was because of all the noise on the patio, but then I watched her pacing by the front door and went to that side of the house to take a look. Out on the lawn in the very first light of the day was a gorgeous doe. She saw me watching her and began to approach the house. I slowly backed away from the door and grabbed my camera, but just that quick she disappeared. One of these day's I'll learn to take the dang camera with me.

ETA: Not five minutes after I published this post the dang cat was back on my patio. I think the bunny is hiding under the steps, cause the cat was going nuts trying to get at something under there. I chased him away again, and the dopey thing ran straight across the street into a yard with four dogs. The racket was crazy. I have a feeling I'll be hearing from some neighbors today.

When Did We Move to Forks?!

It's been raining EVERY DAY. Walker finally got my bike out of it's winter home behind the shovels and roof rakes in the garage. He took it to the gas station to refill the tires and cleaned it all up for me. But I haven't ridden it yet. Have I mentioned the rain?

The lawn squishes when we walk across it. The inside of my car has taken on a musty smell. My tomato plants are happy, and the rhubarb is going totally nuts, but Diva is stir crazy and the dogs aren't doing much better. We consider it a lucky day when we can actually finish getting the grass cut between storms.

The pool opened on Saturday but we didn't go. Rain. Diva wanted to go on Tuesday but it was only 67* and shortly after it opened for the day - more rain. Tomorrow, we're supposed to have clear skies until evening. If that isn't just a cruel joke, Diva and I will be zipping down a waterslide all afternoon.

Somehow, even without much exercise, I have managed to tally up "twenty pounds" in the weight loss column on the spreadsheet of my life. I have about twenty or more so to go. Maybe a little more; I'm not sure. When I was thin, I didn't own a scale. I try not to think about how I'd be doing if I actually had been able to go biking. I'm just enjoying the journey, such as it is.