Hope and progress

I feel like I haven't been doing a whole lot lately, but somehow I'm always exhausted.  I've been working on going to bed earlier, and the last couple of days I have gotten to bed earlier than the day before, so that's good.  Wednesdays are hard because I want to watch the American Idol kids perform and the show isn't over until 10:00pm.  What, you say, you're going to bed at 10:00pm???  Yes, I'm turning into my Mom.  My goal is to get up between 5:30am and 6:00am so I can work out or do intervals or whatever my workout plan for the day is before getting ready for work, but when I don't get to bed until after 11:00pm that doesn't happen.  I've been so exhausted that my Sunday naps have been 3-4 hours long.  One day it was 6 hours.  As one of my friends put it, I'm running on a deficit.

There is good news, though.  I had my training session this morning (delayed from Tuesday), so we went ahead and did measurements (I always need to do measurements on Saturdays and my PT helps me with that).  This week we also needed to do photos (they're required once a month), so we just did it this morning.  I am measurably smaller.  I keep thinking of one time when I went to visit my sister and her kids were all concerned they wouldn't see me at the airport because I would be so small.  No worries, kids, I haven't lost THAT much yet, and you'll see me in a month, but I will be smaller.  Given that my brother-in-law has workout equipment in his basement, I'm thinking I shouldn't have any trouble doing my workouts there either.  I may still bring my bands, though.

There has been some sadness too.  My friend S's mother passed away last week.  The funeral was on Tuesday, and I went (thus the rescheduling of my PT session).  It was held at the funeral home, and S's uncle, a Baptist minister, presided.  He gave a good eulogy/sermon/talk thing, I definitely felt the Spirit.  There seemed to be a lot of emphasis on death, and the suffering of Job, but he did bring in Christ and the Resurrection at the end, which is always my favorite part.  Without that part, there is no hope.  Without hope, there is nothing, so why bother?  I've been thinking a lot about my Mom this week as a consequence.  There is quite a contrast between my Mom and S's Mom.  S's Mom had been sick for many years with Parkinson's and corresponding health issues.  She lived with S, and S was taking care of her, and she'd gotten so bad that S could barely go to work without something happening.  Her attitude was very dark, and due to her own choices her quality of life wasn't that good.  My mom was only sick that last year, but her attitude was good, and she was surrounded by the people she loved.  Her funeral was packed.  S's mom's funeral was mostly family (and not a big family like mine, about 1/3 the size of mine) and several of S's friends who showed up to support her (including me and C).  Such a contrast, but you know, in Christ, it really doesn't matter.  Both are now in a much better place and no longer in any pain.  And also surrounded by loved ones.

So between my exhaustion and recurring headaches I haven't really done a whole lot lately.  I'm not even caught up on my tv shows, although one is ending in a couple weeks and a couple more are finished until the summer, so that will help.  Haven't even hardly been to the movies, but I did go see Veronica Mars.  I helped back that movie, through Kickstarter, and so took the opportunity to go see it first :D  It was great.  I rewatched the entire series before going to see it too (another reason for being behind on my other tv shows).  I love it so much.

Ok, I think I'm caught up now, and I'm grateful that it's finally spring (6 inches of snow three days ago, but it's mostly all melted now).  Today is the first day of Spring.  Another reason for hope.

March Madness

OK, so, it's been a while. 
I went to Oregon to see this cutie blessed:

AJAndersen

Of course the day before I left this happened:

I agree, it does look pretty.  A little annoying when you know you have to leave at 4 in the morning, though.

But we made it.  I met up with my brother D and his wife J and one of their daughters D. Yes, I"m trying to be discreet with names.  All these D's might be confusing, though, huh?  Ok, so brother is D and niece is D3.  Nephew is D1.  Anyway, the aunties were very happy to have a chance to hold the little sweetie:

Auntie Julia and AJ

Auntie D3 and AJ

Grandma J got to hold her most of the time, and rightfully so.

The weather was quite rainy, but it was still beautiful.  It was a good trip.

Can you see the rainbow?

Since then things have been pretty normal.  I work, I work out, and I crash in front of the tv, sometimes with Kitty:

She was being a sweetheart - the starry fabric is my pajamas.  She was putting her paw on my arm!  So cute!

So now that it's March you might think that it would be springtime.

Nope.  This is yesterday (March 3).  So bummed.  So tired of all the snow and cold. Maybe especially the cold.  Not fond of the layer of ice that was under this particular snow either (it rained quite heavily before it got cold enough to actually snow instead).  And joy, there's been more snow predicted for next week too.  Is it spring yet?