A New Beginning in 2021

The last four months brought new callings; Prospective Elders Advisor for Brian and Girls Activity Days Leader for Trudy, the opportunity for a move for Brian within Google, a family Christmas at Lincoln City on the Oregon coast and some good news from the doctor for Trudy.

On the Monday before Christmas, Brian signed an offer to transfer to a mini cluster in West Jordan Utah.  While we were in Oregon I rented an apartment in Sandy.  Upon our return to Texas, we packed and loaded our stuff into a U-Box.

Trudy finished 2020 with a 25 pound weight loss and blood pressure holding good at 118/74.

We had planned to start driving on Monday, Jan 11.  But an ongoing issue with the check engine light in my Kia Soul delayed us by a day.  When we did head out, the light was on again.  We ended up stopping in Wichita City Texas and buying a new to us car.

 Our arrival in Utah was married by an eviction notice on our door and a dirty apartment.  So we stayed one night in a hotel and spent the next day cleaning and the next day working with the maintenance crew.

We are looking forward to new adventures!

Another Year . . .

Apparently, I am not a good blogger.  As yet another year has gone by!

We visited Eli on his birthday, spent Thanksgiving in Nashville, I was called to be the Young Women's president in our new ward, Eli joined us for Christmas in Oregon, I visited my friend in Oklahoma, started driving for VanGo (think Uber, but for students), went to Oregon to help prepare for my grandparents estate sale, was supposed to go to a Cher concert on my birthday, a new coronavirus hit, Cher and everything else got cancelled, went to Oregon again anyway at Easter, wrote a love note in the dirt to my Grandma Jo (no visitors allowed), we bought my grandparents house, off to Oregon again for a family get-together and do a final clean up of the house, Brian had to self-quarantine for 14 days, we hosted two preteens for a week, VanGo went out of business, decided not to renew our lease and got hired as a US Census worker.

It's been nice to have a quiet year, but I am bored and watching too much tv.  I just finished Census training.  I'm not sure when the door to door visits will start.

This weekend I am going to visit Eli, 8 months is too long.  Then we move to our new apartment and I am off to Oregon again.

Along the way, I've began taking blood pressure medication.  Reality health wake up call.  Which has lead to a 22 pound weight loss.

Mornings

I really need to figure out how to be a morning person. 

I am attracted to Mel Robbins and the 5 Second Rule.  Now to apply it.

Today is date night; the temple and then dinner.

And it's Monday . . . again . . . and a year has gone by!

And  what a year it was! 

A brief run down includes an awesome vacation to London and Portugal,  I adopted a kitten, my mom's heart started acting up and she received a pacemaker, Brian and I became foster parents,  Eli went to Job Corps in Moses Lake, Easter at Grandma Jo's, my mom passed away, Eli graduated from Job Corp, Brian interviewed and accepted a job transfer with Google to Dallas Texas, the AFS students all went home, I was an AFS flight chaperone to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia , Eli accepted a 6 month contract to work at a Google data center in Clarksville Tennessee, Brian moved us to Texas, I moved Eli to Tennessee, Brian and I settled into our apartment and sold our house in The Dalles.

Whew!

In the midst of all the traveling, I lost 10 pounds.  I was conscious of my eating, but I think it was mostly all the walking and running around.

As I notice the pounds start to creep back on, I begin again to exercise.  I CAN do this!

COOL

I am loving this cooler weather and the breeze!  I didn't my walk in yesterday, but did ride my bike.  =]  We washed all the dog beds (we have 4; beds not dogs), washed the dog and left the windows open over night.  The fresh smells this morning were awesome!!

I enjoyed not sweating profusely during my walk this morning.  7 more days to my goal!!  I haven't been perfect, but there are an abundance of stickers on Ms. R's calendar.  This last week I have been lucky to cross paths with Ms. R and her mom as they drive to a morning appointment.  Total bonus!!

FYI . . . 48 days to VACATION!!  😀

And, it's Monday again!!

August is half way over and it's been a busy one.  The AFS exchange students have arrived, Brian traveled to South Carolina, Parker graduated from Job Corps and I am still walking.

I still feel tired.  Always tired.  I know it is my food choices.  Most days are good, some days are still bad . . . really bad . . . Sigh

My goal is to get through this month, continuing to visit Ms. R's house each day.  I am getting bored with the route.  Yes I try to change it up; 14th St, 13th St, going up and down different side streets.

Three days off; Two days on

Oh no!  Three days no go!  Sigh . . . 

I don't even have a good excuse, except to say it was a week of long training days that started at 8am.  That's not even really a good excuse, because I still had time to get my walk and a shower in.  =[

So I was humbled to write Ms. R an apology note for no reward this week, along with a commitment to be more dedicated.

She surprised me with a note and artwork this morning.  Oh, the innocence and joy of youth!