Present Participles for January 2015

Easing back into having just three of us here, again. Much needed phone conversations and texts, now that our oldest daughter is back at school. They have a short winter term at her school that most students don't attend so she has been home from mid-December till this past weekend. It was nice having her here-but I know she is glad to be in her own routine again. That doesn't stop me from wishing we were all in the same house again. 

Watching as our goldendoodle pup, Morgan swirves between being an ornery "teenager" puppy and that sweet, calm dog I can see her growing into. She laid at my feet for a long time today, as I worked, just quietly watching out the door.

Making funeral plans. It is my second/part time job, working for our church as funeral coordinator. We had one on Monday and another tomorrow. It has been so sad-the service yesterday was for a 21 year old and tomorrow is for someone who was 57. What is unusual is that she will be my oldest. Before her, my charges have been for people 56 and under. Tomorrow will be my 8th service. It has been just a little over a year. So blessed to be able to serve people hurting, aching, hollow and in need. But I take them into my heart and love them, pray for them and hurt alongside them. It can be an exhausting process.

Reading-still-Shadow in the Wind. It was good at keeping my attention for a while. The story seems rather good, but with my work for my husband's company, my first business trip and learning as much as I can about marketing, plus funeral coordinator job, the compartments in my brain are full at the moment. And this book required thinking. How do you break down time to read for work/nonfiction and play/fiction?

Loving my new nephew-he was born on the 24th. He is the only baby on either side of the family, now. Most nieces, nephews and our kids are between 3 and 20. My oldest daughter turned 20 on the 23rd. Hardly seems possible...

Posing-Headed back to yoga and loved it! Although, this week's class starts in a few minutes and I'm not going... I am getting there more frequently. And until this latest round of 6 inches of snow + some ice, I was running well. 

Listening-to the dog barking... She has decided to take after our beagle and bark. Ugh. We are working on it. Most people in our neighborhood do not-they let their dogs out into their fenced yards and do not control the barking. I find it frustrating and then I remind myself that I'm moving... But my current neighbors are great people and if the barking is worst problem, I'm lucky!

 Learning- Trying to gather, read and digest so much new information with this marketing job. Feel like I'm learning a lot, but not learning as fast as I used to! :)

Playing- Stupid Trivia Crack game on my phone. Love trivia but hate the constant interaction with it... Which is how I feel about most social media right now, I guess.

Enjoying-where I am in this life right here, right now. Sure, bumps along the way and I dread the big bump/waves coming, but I feel blessed and lucky right here, right now.

What are you doing this month?

Changing Traditions

This year was full of changed traditions, with a sophomore in college  and a sophomore in high school, family members ill, changing jobs... But I felt the changes most acutely during the Christmas season. All my blog friends with adult children can sympathize, I'm sure. Some traditions remained the same, as well.

1. First, I didn't do our thankful feathers this year-I just was too busy to write up the letter, cut up the feathers, address the envelopes and send them out. My oldest daughter was sad.
2. We cut our Christmas tree with all my husband's family, which is our tradition, but we went to a completely different tree farm. We've been to the old one for many years. At least 15, anyway.
3. We put up our Christmas village, but it was my youngest daughter and I who put everything up and took everything down. Was another mix of kept and changed traditions.
4. We did go up to visit my family, but we changed things up by just visiting for the day to fit it into our schedules.
5. Our New Year's will be different as our oldest will be visiting her boyfriend and his family. Strange to have her not here, but not off at school. A whole different set of worries.
6. I didn't watch either of my two favorite movies-It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas-normally I watch them at least once. We did watch several Hallmark Channel Christmas movies which was nice and romantic. ;) 
7. Our oldest daughter had to work, so our Christmas Eve meal was different-it was just three of us and my in laws. Usually the 6 of us eat and then attend church. This year our oldest wasn't out of work until after my in laws had headed home. So, just the four of us headed to church much later than normal.
8. My mother in law continued her themed Christmas dinner, this year was Sesame Street Christmas, and we continued a new tradition we started last year of the adults drawing names, excluding my in laws.
9. Since I was working at the office a lot, I wasn't home to bake (too many) cookies with my girls. They worked together and baked a few kinds without me. 
10. I don't think I'm doing a one little word this year. I have done it at least the last 6 years. I am just not feeling it right now... Never say never, I still have a little time, right? ;)

I think there were a few more, but this was what I remembered. How about you? Changes or keepers in traditions this year? Kids growing older makes things different, for better and worse, doesn't it? Growth and change...

2015 Goals and "Resolutions"

I know "they" say don't make resolutions for the new year. You're bound to fail and be depressed-I did look at last year's list with a bit of disdain this weekend. :) But I like a goal for the future. Even if they aren't always reached. I also like to look upon the new year as a fresh, clean slate open for me to write upon. :) I normally pick a "One Little Word", as well, but I haven't done so this year... Not sure whether I will or not.

So, without further ado, my goals for 2015:

1. Reach my weight goal by my birthday, 4/24-my 40th-and sustain it through 12/31.
2. Run a half marathon under 1:45:00.
3. Run a full marathon under 4 hours, if I can work through injuries and losing weight helps them.
4. Run 900-1000 miles this year-to reach the yet unattainable 900 mile mark.
5. Read the entire Bible. I've only tried to do this once and had a lot on my plate at the time.
6. Complete a Bible study-either on my own, with my husband who said he would like to try to do so, or with a class at church.
7. Read 24 books-I read 19 this year and am looking forward to reaching this goal-I enjoy reading and I'm happy to be working towards a goal to give myself permission to read for fun.
8. Take our puppy to another obedience class-this time a "Canine Good Citizen Class" which is a step up from her last puppy obedience class.
9. Purge our home and prepare for our move.
10. Learn/try 3 new things. Possibly: skiing, a new language, a spinning class...

*Extras:

Get house ready for move

Moving

Working on my marketing job full bore to be successful

Continue using MyFitnessPal, which I have started again this week to keep track of calories

Continue working on funeral for church when they come up.

Resolutions Revisited

2014 Resolutions Revisited:

1. Run 900 miles-this was my goal-and I have 26 miles and 2 days left to run this year... I won't make it, but again I will be close.
2. Fall half marathon under 1:45:00-I ran a good half for how I felt, averaging 8:30 per mile, but not under my goal. 
3. No new running injuries-I didn't have new ones, but I didn't fully heal the old, either...
4. Read 24 books-I finished 19 and am in the midst of 20.
5. Reach my goal weight-I continued the tradition of getting down to a better weight over the summer and then rising again. My goal is to be at said goal weight by April since I will be 40 then. 
6. Make 1 craft from Pinterest per month-Not even close.
7. Finish my 2013 Project Life-I did accomplish this and got about 6 months into 2014 before I took another break again.
8. Mini albums-I made one of a fun trip in the summer... 
9. Finish a rag quilt-I did finish the one I had started with my mother, although it isn't pretty-looks more like a bar graph than a tidy lined quilt.
10. Send 1 card or note-I did send several, but I did them in spurts, and did about 110 Christmas cards... ;)
11. Daily Devotionals-Again, spurts...
12. Clean/organize one room or full item of furniture per month-I did make wonderful progress on and off this year! Donated 6 tubs of books to the library this week to cap off a nice purge. Also, cleaned out a tub of Christmas decorations and organized a few pieces of furniture.
13. "This is an open goal. It is something I want to leave unknown and revisit later. It might be writing a book, entering a new profession, taking a sewing or knitting class, taking a college class, mentoring or volunteering, skiing... I don't know. I learned in 2013 that a year is a long time and anything can happen. I never thought I'd change my goals and dreams away from teaching but I did. I never thought I'd be content just... waiting... but I am. I am praying on it and I hope God will guide me." *This was interesting... I am in the midst of building a new home (well, a company is building it for us) and we will be moving in the next year. I completely gave up teaching and am a marketing/sales person in my husband's company... These are very big endeavors I would never have guessed I'd be headed towards at the end of 2013. 

A year is really a long time and many things can change... How did your plans/resolutions go?

Concord Grapes and Veteran's Day

I saw this post on the Food Network's Healthy Eats blog about Concord Grape Smoothies and it made me think of my grandpa. I've spoken about my small, spunky Grandma Polly. Her deceased husband, my Grandpa Red (yes, Red and Polly, adorable, hm? :)) once grew concord grapes in their backyard. They had a nice, big wooden arbor and grew the dark purple grapes in the summers. They would turn them into delicious, fresh juice. My brother and I stayed with them in the summers for many years while my parents were at work and we were out of school. I remember walking into their home and smelling coffee, hearing news radio and I still find those smells and sounds comforting. If I close my eyes, I can picture their home and feel that same feeling. They haven't lived in that house for 20+ years, but I can still picture it like I was there yesterday. I am not overly fond of grape juice, but sometimes, in the summer, it sounds so good, refreshing. I'm sure it is because of those summer days I had fresh juice at Grandpa's.

I've talked about Grandma before, but not as much about Grandpa. He's been gone since our youngest daughter was a baby. His name was Kenneth, but he was called "Red" because of his hair. He had the typical "red-head temper". Firey-was road rage before it had a name. I remember slumping down in the back seat as he gestured for drivers to pull over a time or two! He was a carpenter by trade, an excellent one. Could make things just by looking at them. I have a hope chest and a bread box he made. Both wonderful works of wood. He made toys, wall cabinets in lawyers' offices, tray tables-he had quite a gift. He had just finished a baby doll cradle for my youngest daughter the day before he died. He would challenge me to debates and switch sides halfway through... say things like, "just think." He liked to get me going on emotion and then cause me to think halfway through. I take pride in that he didn't do that with very many of his grandkids.

He was in WWII. He was in the Navy, the SeaBees. They were a construction battalion that would go in and get things set for the navy to come in behind them.  His stories were amazing and frightening. He went into the military before he was of legal age to, lying about his age. He told us stories of hiding under tankers as Japanese fighter planes flew over, shooting at them. I think of him even more acutely on Veteran's day.

He, like Gram Polly, had such a spunk, a fight in them. He wasn't a saint, he was ornery, thought boys could do things better than girls and wow, was his temper short, but he loved us and we knew it. He loved to play cards and the marble game aggravation. He and Gram were quite the pair.

Did you know your grandparents, Readers? I know many people who didn't get to. I was lucky enough to know all four of mine very well.