Walked on Christmas Eve Eve

Walked almost 2 miles, 40 minutes. Nice leisurely stroll.

Here are some recent pictures of what's happening around here.

Mom came and helped make some curtains for our family room. Here we are finished cutting out the panels for the two dining room windows. Mom got one of her panels almost done.



Here's our setup in the living room. It's nice to have a room that doesn't have any furniture in it yet so it can be used in a project like this.



We got a new set of french doors! They are so cool because they have mini blinds inside the window pane. Now we can control the light coming in those doors.





This is the rhodedendron that fell over in the last wind storm. It's evident from looking at the trunk that it was pretty much dead. I told John, "oh darn, it fell over." I never liked it because it looked so scraggily. We were only keeping it because it blocked the view to the neighbors. Now we'll put something else in there.

Thursday 12/21

Walked almost 2 miles
30 minutes

It was nice and sunny this morning. I remembered to take my sunglasses!

I took it a little easier today because I've been sore since Monday. Last night I was very sore. This morning when I got up it was a little better.

Wednesday, 12/20

Walked 3 miles
50 minutes

Tuesday 12/19

Walked 4.5 miles.
One hour, 15 minutes.

I found a bridge to cross the river so it makes a loop to walk. Very fun.

New habit

Again, I'm starting an exercise habit. I'm going to walk or exercise every day. Yesterday I walked 3 miles down the river. This is day 2.

My goals are to walk or exercise from between 30 to 60 minutes. After exercising, I want to come home and stretch for 5 to 10 minutes.

I'm still trying to figure out how to fit in breakfast. Yesterday I ate a bowl of cereal then waited about an hour. Today I'm trying just one piece of toast with peanut butter and jam, and cup of hot tea, and I'm waiting just 20 minutes.

When I reach the goal of exercising every day (90% at least) for 21 days, then I will go buy nice comfy headphones for music. I'm listeneing to mp3's on my phone for now. Maybe when (not if) I keep this up for 3 months, then I could get a small mp3 player. At some point I would like to have dedicated exercise clothes, and maybe 2 or 3 sets.

Another goal is to keep a regular sleeping schedule. I would like to be in bed by 10 or 10:15, and get up at 7:00, maybe 6:00 eventually.

I'm starting this habit before the new year so I have a head start on the resolutions. It's not a New Year's resolution, it's just a plain old decision to do something better with my life.

Another Macy picture

Macy doesn't let curtains stand in her way to a good viewing window.

First snow

We got a little bit of snow this week. It didn't stay around very long which was fine for me.

Family picture

I am so thankful to be close to both of our families, both in miles and in relationships. When we get together, it's always a time we look forward to. And it doesn't matter what we do, just as long as we're together.

Here's my husband's family with both of our nephews.

Buns of Fire

A funny Thanksgiving story... We took rolls and buns for Thanksgiving dinner at my uncle and aunt's house. I usually put the rolls in a paper grocery bag, sprinkle it with water, roll down the top of the bag, and stick it in the oven.

There were two casseroles in the oven already heating up. I put the bag on the top shelf and it just fit. After a few minutes I thought I smelled something so I opened up the oven. Everything looked fine. This happened a couple more times. The next time I checked on it, I opened the doors (the oven's in the wall and has two side-by-side doors), and saw the corner of the bag in embers and smoking. I pulled out the rack, and, poof, it burst into six to eight inches of flame. I yelled "help, help, help!", each time a little louder, and the kitchen got very quiet as everyone noticed the fire. My uncle stepped in and put a kitchen towel over the bag. He waited a few seconds and lifted the towel to see the situation, and the bag started more flames. So he stuck it in the sink to soak it with water. My dad got a good picture of the bag on fire.



Because the bag was rolled down and the fire was in the middle of the rolled down part, every time my uncle thought it was out and unrolled the bag, it would start again. He finally soaked the whole bag. Then we took it outside because it was making a lot of smoke and their kitchen doesn't have a fan. The fire was out, and my husband and I were able to rescue most of the rolls from the bag. We put the burnt bag in a small metal BBQ with a lid they have for such situations.

I learned a couple of things from the ordeal. One, soak the outside of the paper bag, then put the rolls inside. This worked great for the second bag of rolls we had - no smoke or fire for that bag. Two, stay calm during a fire and use lots of water. It was my first kitchen fire and a good learning experience.