February, 2010

February was another stressful month, but with a great ending.  I turned fifty-four on the 4th.  Yikes.  I still feel thirty.  Fifty is the new thirty, right?  No exercising at all which I really need to change.  I'm sure it would help me cope with the stress much better.  I've been doing a lot of praying just so I can hold on until things start looking better.  I'm a firm believer that eventually things will get better.  I did go out to dinner one night with some colleagues from Salt Lake City who were out for a couple of days.  I laughed so hard.  I need to laugh more often, it felt great.  I am still enjoying my Family History class.  The people taking the class are so fun to visit with and we all share some great things.  I am learning more all the time.  Annie's Spanish-speaking branch held a dinner for her on the 20th.  I went with Mom.  The food was good.  It is easy to see that Annie is failing and it is so sad.  But she is determined to be cheerful and brave.  What an inspiration she is.  And Eric is being so strong for her.  Annie's parents, brothers, sister, sister-in-law and niece all came to see her which I know is a huge comfort to her.  On the 25th, I drove out to Salt Lake and spent the night with Cassie.  She's as stressed as I am.  What a pair.  We went to dinner at Hoppers.  Really good hamburger.  Then back to her place to watch the Olympics.  I forgot to mention how much I love watching the Olympics.  Such drama and inspiration.  And it's always nice to see Apollo Ono.  Cassie had to go to work on Friday.  She looked so cute and professional in her skirt.  I got up early also on my way to Cedar City.  First stop was Jiffy Lube for an overdue oil change.  I was very impressed with their service.  It was a gorgeous day for driving and I made really good time.  It was so fun to see Stacey and Lincoln again in their new home.  It is sooooo beautiful.  Stacey has decorated it wonderfully.  You can see some of her ideas on her Chic It Yourself blog.  Jordan got home from school soon after and we had a good visit.  That night we met Susan, Audrey and Porter at Applebee's for dinner and had a great time.  The next day, we drove to St. George in the rain.  Lincoln and I slept all the way down.  I slept so much on this entire trip which is wonderful because I have not been sleeping well.  We did a little shopping and ate at the Red Robin, then home again.  Lincoln played with his balloon from Red Robin until he worked the ribbon loose.  Jordan didn't know that so when he opened the back door, the balloon flew away.  Poor Lincoln's heart was broken.  It was broken again the next day when his parents decided he was still too sick to go to the nursery at church.  It's refreshing to see a toddler who really loves the nursery.  Of course, Lincoln is pretty amazing.  He turns off his toys when he's done playing with them and is fantastic at cleaning up.  For the most part, he is exceptionally well-behaved.  For the other part, not so much.  All in all, quite a normal little boy.  I love him so much.  I hope Jordan and Stacey weren't too bored with me.  Mostly I slept a lot, ate a lot, and watched TV and Lincoln.  It was just the rest I needed and it was so good to see them all again. 
Books Read  I read or listened to nine books this month, eight were on my Catching Up Challenge and one was an audiobook read on my drive.  It's good to get some books read that have been sitting on my shelves for so long.  My favorite book this month was And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.  Great mystery. 
TV  I'm still watchng the Batchelor but only half-heartedly.  I do enjoy American Idol, Castle and Gray's Anatomy but missing them occasionally didn't seem to upset me too much.
Movies   I watched four movies at Jordan's House.  He had rented "Couples Retreat" which was pretty lame.  Then I watched "Pelican Brief" after waking from a nap.  We quit watching right after the chase scene in the parking garage because 1.  We had all seen the movie before and 2.  Lincoln was insisting on watching Toy Stoy with Ba and Wooey.  How can you resist that?  So we watched Toy Story and it is funner to watch with a 2 1/2 year old.  After Lincoln went to bed, we watched Jurassic Park.  I don't love scary movies but, as always, I enjoyed Jeff Goldblum.
Weight Loss I lost another six pounds, because I'm not eating as much.  I didn't exercise at all.  After this past weekend, I'm afraid I will have gained everything back.  I really did eat a lot.
Overall Impression  Professionally, February was worse than January.  Otherwise, I think things are looking up.  It's getting warmer.  The days are longer.  And I am enjoying my callings at church.  The temple was closed for two weeks for maintenance and I really missed my weekly assignment there.  But it's only two weeks.  It was great to have some days off from work as well.  I really needed the break.