I Stole This From My Sister's Blog... Happy Halloween!!!

Just Wanted to Share

A lovely story.

I Should Have Known!

My first clue was when I started my car and turned on my radio. While waiting for things to warm up (i.e. waiting for the rear defroster to kick in, which, thankfully, doesn't take too long) I flipped on the radio to hear that great song from the Bangles, "Manic Monday," playing. ...

Six oclock already
I was just in the middle of a dream
I was kissin valentino
By a crystal blue italian stream

But I cant be late
cause then I guess I just wont get paid
These are the days
When you wish your bed was already made

...

You know the one - the difference was I didn't have a "valentino" or a "crystal blue italian stream." I could appreciate a song about Monday when it actually was a Monday, but little did I know that "Manic Monday" could accurately describe the way work was going to go. Not too long after 8 things started getting crazy. We had a request for specific information from the President's office, a list of "honor code offenders" that had been emailed to us that we needed to go through, a phone call from a Stake Presidency member regarding the status of three students in his stake, and some other fun little projects that popped up.

It was 10:21 and I was ready to go home. For the week.

However, the good news is that I got a lot of sleep this weekend! Maybe I shouldn't be bragging about being able to do this, but my light was turned off before 9:30 on Friday, around 10 on Saturday, and at 7:40 last night. Last night was because I could feel a migraine coming on (I'm so sad that I know what those feel like) and wanted to avoid it if at all possible. I didn't actually fall asleep until a bit after 9, but it was good to have the dark and quiet for a while.

Because I had such a good weekend as far as sleep was concerned, I was better prepared to deal with the demands of the day. I was able to just take things and deal with them calmly and rationally rather than get irritated or snippy with people. I was grateful for it and I'm sure, had my coworkers known the possible risk, they would have been grateful for it too!

Now the question - if I can manage to get to bed that early on the weekend, what's to keep me from doing it during the week? Tonight will be the test...

Eat to Live... don't live to eat...

It has come to my attention that some of my friends have health issues that have befuddled, bamboozled, and otherwise confused the doctors that they have gone to see. To quote one of them, "If they don't have a test for it, you're fine." Now that's just sad, especially at our age!

I've mentioned this to some of you, but now I'd like to mention it to anyone who reads this. Eat to Live, by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. The basic idea is that by making our diet consist almost entirely of fruits and vegetables, our bodies will get all the nutrients and fuel to take care of themselves better. They'll be able to function properly, and clean themselves out of all the unnecessary junk we put in them.

I can't say that I've followed this perfectly, but overall, I've been eating better than I had before. Just last week I got results back for some blood work that BYU pays for me to get done. Thankfully, they include my previous results with the new ones so I can compare. Here they are:

Sorry it's a little fuzzy...

Okay, so, not perfect still, but much better. In fact, by my Sept. Triglycerides and HDL they had typed "verified." My best guess is that because they were so much better than last time's, they ran it again to check the numbers.

The couple of weeks before my blood was drawn, I wasn't even following the eating plan as well as I had been when I first started reading the book. So, I can imagine how much better the numbers would have been if I had stuck to it better. Anyway, the proof is there, that changing your eating can drastically improve your health - if you change it in the right way, of course.

In the book, he gives examples of people who changed their diet and got rid of all symptoms of health problems they had been diagnosed with previously. He talks of people who were on multiple blood pressure and cholesterol medications who no longer use any medications. It's pretty amazing stuff!

I really hope that anyone who reads this that is struggling with some kind of health issue(s) will at least give the book a chance. I haven't read it all, but what I have read is very compelling. Let me know if you have any questions, and if/when you give it a shot!

Same-Sex "Marriage" in Massachusettes

Okay, here's another article that my sister linked to her blog. As she does, I'll give a warning that some of it should be considered "adult material."

It is just really scary and disturbing how in-your-face people have become about accepting same-sex behavior. This is not about being equal, it's about imposing your lifestyle on the vast majority that doesn't agree with it. It's the "tyranny of tolerance" as Elder Bednar (and very possibly others) has said.

More on Prop 8

As left in a comment on yesterday's post about Prop 8, here's another website that has some really good thoughts on it. Thanks Kathy!

And this, because I think it's a good idea to be familiar with what our church leaders are saying.

If anyone has anymore information on finding things in favor of Prop 8, please let me know and I'll be happy to add it!

Voting Yes on Proposition 8

My sister Bethany has been really involved with all of the Proposition 8 business going on in CA. She's posted a lot of information about it on her blog, and I think there a lot of things she's linked to that are worth reading or watching. I'm going to give a brief list here:

This website is a good way to become familiar with the proposition and it's effects on the entire nation if it doesn't pass. You can also make a donation to help the fight in favor of Prop 8. (just fyi, because sometimes it's confusing, those in favor of marriage being defined as a union between man and woman will be voting Yes on Proposition 8)

Here is an article about things that have happened in Massachusetts since they legalized homosexual marriage.

An interesting thought...

A family's fight against gay marriage propaganda in their children's schools.

A 1st grade field trip to meet their teacher after she married her partner. Here's an article, and here's a video.

Because a lot of words have been flying back and forth between the groups for and against Prop 8, here's an article about "who's really lying."

Feel free to check out my sister's blog. She has some more videos on hers.

When I think about the damage that can be done (and has already been done in Massachusetts) it really scares me to think about this spreading through the country.

Church leaders have also spoken about how important it is for us to maintain the sacred bond of marriage and keep it between a man and woman. My friend Christine has a couple of videos with church leaders on her blog as well. You may want to look into those too.

Marine Mud Running

Okay, first of all, it was on a Marine Base (Camp Pendleton), but I'm sure what they have the marines do for training is much harder. So, really, it just makes me feel better to call it a Marine Mud Run. There were marines there... that counts for something, right?

Second (and maybe more importantly) of all, the above picture is not of me totally biffing it. I just wanted to make sure that that was absolutely clear.

So, around 5:50 this morning, Bethany, Dominic, Jen, and I climbed into the car and headed south for Pendleton where we met a long-time family friend, Matthew, and Beth's brother-in-law Jeremy and a friend of his. We got there and quickly checked in, then we were not so quick about getting to the starting gate. After we checked our bags in, and Jen was pinning on Dominic's number, Matthew said he thought he heard the cannon go off. We quickly headed over to the starting line, and after wading our way through tons of people (waiting for the team run to start) we finally were on our way.

They didn't wait too long to get us wet. They had a couple of trucks early on spraying water at us, and a fire hose going off to soak everyone. If you tried to avoid it, they'd take aim and nail you, often following you as you ran. I never tried to fight it, so I just opened my arms and embraced the water - I had seen that it was not worth trying to run.

About a mile and a half into the run people were backed up taking turns forming a single-file line to cross a narrow part in the stream. While moving up for my turn, I passed by a marine who was standing by watching over things. As I was walking past I said, "So is this where we tag team it, I give you my number, and you finish the race?" He looked like he had just realized something and said, "Oh, you were the one I'm supposed to put on my back and then run the rest of the race." I told him I liked his idea even better.

Here and there throughout the race there would be marines "barking" at us as we ran past. Telling us to run faster, push harder, etc. It was always followed by a smile and words of encouragement. I think my favorite thing of what I heard was, "If you're not first, you're last!" Well, I was definitely not first, but I still enjoyed it!

Now, perhaps I should have prefaced this by saying that I have gone running once in the last two or three months, and that was just under a mile last week. I've run 10ks before, and haven't had a hard time. And, actually, this one went much better than I could have anticipated.

What may have already been a long story, short - It was a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again, and, in fact, we're talking about doing it next year. I say - bring it on.

Now to finish - here's a picture of the last mud swim we had to do. Yay for this!

Correction

In an earlier post about Les Mis and how amazing Anthony Warlow is, I mentioned that there was a different guy singing the "Hyde" part, while Warlow sang for Jekyll. I had read that somewhere a few months ago. Trying to figure it out tonight, however, I found out that that was incorrect. Warlow sings both parts. That's what I had originally thought, so it lost some of it's umph for me when I read that it was two different people. It really is quite amazing that it's the same man singing the very different-sounding parts. Now that it's been confirmed that it's always Warlow, the umph is back where it belongs.

While you may not care, I felt like I had cheated Warlow out of proper recognition of his amazing talent. Now, I feel as if I've made amends.

note: I just added a youtube sidebar. Right now I have it switching between Philip Quast as Javert, Anthony Warlow as Enjolras, Anthony Warlow as Jekyll and Hyde, and Philip Quast and Anthony Warlow singing Lily's Eyes from Secret Garden. If you have a minute (or a few of them) to listen, let me know what you think - but keep in mind that if you don't think they both have incredible voices, our friendship may be on the line...

Funny...

Paul Newman

Only women of a certain era will fully appreciate this.... True story.

A Michigan woman and her family were vacationing in a small New Englandtown where Paul Newman and his family often visited.

One Sunday morning, the woman got up early to take a long walk. After a brisk five-mile hike, she decided to treat herself to a double-dip chocolate ice cream cone.

She hopped in the car, drove to the center of the village and went straight to the combination bakery/ice cream parlor.

There was only one other patron in the store: Paul Newman, sitting at the counter having a doughnut and coffee.

The woman's heart skipped a beat as her eyes made contact with those famous baby-blue eyes.

The actor nodded graciously and the star struck woman smiled demurely.

Pull yourself together! She chides herself. You're a happily married woman with three children, you're forty-five years old, not a teenager!

The clerk filled her order and she took the double-dip chocolate ice cream cone in one hand and her change in the other. Then she went out the door, avoiding even a glance in Paul Newman's direction.

When she reached her car, she realized that she had a handful of change but her other hand was empty. Where's my ice cream cone? Did I leave it in the store? Back into the shop she went, expecting to see the cone still in the clerk's hand or in a holder on the counter or something! No ice cream cone was in sight..

With that, she happened to look over at Paul Newman. His face broke into his familiar, warm, friendly grin and he said to the woman, 'You put it in your purse.'

My co-worker emailed this to me. I checked it out on snopes.com and turns out it's not true, but I like it anyway - besides, it's a great picture, isn't it? Although it'd be funnier if it was true, it's history on snopes is kind of funny too.

My Sister Rocks!

I went to St. George this past weekend to watch my sister Bethany participate in the St. George Marathon. Originally, I was going to run it with her, but the Dr. nixed that plan about a month or so ago. I stayed with her and her family at their friend's home, then drove over with the kids and her husband to watch her cross the finish line. It was awesome seeing her finish her 26.2 miles in 4:59:10!!! She was hoping to come in around (or under) 5 hours, and she did! I am so glad I was able to be there to see that. It completely inspired me, and motivated me to follow-through with my plan to run a marathon myself. Maybe the Salt Lake one in April? Maybe. For now, I'm working towards a 10k in a couple of weeks. Bring on the 6.2! But, back to where I began, go Bessie Mae!

**Updated** As she left in a comment, Bethany corrected the time as 4:59:50. But still, totally awesome!