March goal update

March was pretty much in like a lion and out like a lamb. Time to look at those goals again.

Goals:

1. Do a pull-up or handstand without help - I'm super-excited that I found dailymile.com. It's like Facebook for people who work out. I've recorded 10 acts of fitness (playing racquetball, walking, biking), and I've gotten some encouragement from another photographer, which is pretty cool. Plus, I know I'd made it to the gym at least 4 times before I started logging my activity. That being said, my eating has been horrendous! Jason came home from class one night, and I'd had beer, nachos and ice cream. Another night it was pizza and wine. Yikes! I bought healthy snacks tonight: various fruits and chips alternatives. C'mon, Willpower!

2. Clean out the garage - Some progress...see #5.

3. Challenge my creativity and imagination - I'm working on a huge project. It's a crocheted afghan for my friend Henry's wedding in July. I don't want to post photos because I want it to be a surprise, but it's coming along well!

4. Maintain a conscious spending plan - We've decided we're going to start paying a little bit closer attention to where the money is going in April. We're doing pretty good on spending, but there seem to be expenses creeping up, like eating out, that we could probably avoid. And thank goodness we started putting a little aside each month for car expenses. We were able to dip into our fund instead of wrecking our monthly budget to fix the car.

5. Be aware of our environmental impact - This month we kept paring down. We gave John one of our vacuum cleaners and an air compressor that we don't use much anymore. On the trash angle, we were able to fit two weeks worth of trash in one bag! I want to start another worm bin for composting, but I'm not sure how well it will work in this little house. Oh! And I turned off the heat this month; I'm really enjoying the fresh air and sunshine coming in through our windows. Yay, Spring!

Have you made any progress on your goals or New Year's resolutions?

Hopefully April showers bring May flowers...

Yay! Dr. Choice!

We don't usually keep soda in the house, but Jason picked up a leftover 3-liter from drill for me. FREE soda! Isn't he thoughtful?!

Snow on the first day of spring

Car Shenanigans

Wow! So I was taking a trip in northern Kansas City, and I thought I heard what sounded like a rock hit the undercarriage of the car. Weird, because I really hadn't seen anything in the road, but shortly after that, the check battery charge light came on and I lost power steering. I thought I would pull over when I reached my destination because I was only 10 or so miles away. Then the engine started to get too hot, and I had to pull over quickly. I stopped the car just before an exit ramp. I couldn't get in touch with Jason because he was at drill, so I called Dad. By that time a police officer had pulled up behind me to check on me. The officer and I checked under the hood with Dad on the phone. The officer, Chip Huth, was pretty impressed with Dad making the correct diagnosis over the phone: it was the serpentine belt.

We went back to Huth's car to call a tow truck and find a place to get the car towed to. While we were waiting for the tow truck, I learned Huth was familiar with the Eldon area. Talk about a small world! He ended up calling for someone else to come sit with me because he had already clocked out. I don't remember the other officer's name, but he made sure that I got to my meeting safely.

While we were driving I was frantically calling family living in the area to see if they could either drive me home or let me stay at their place long enough to get the car fixed so I could drive myself home. I was saved by Lori and Don who picked me up in the crazy snow, had an extra bed for me to sleep in and gave me extra clothes for the next day. Yay!

At 8:17 a.m., the repair shop called to give me an estimate, and I lied when they asked if they had woken me up. $500. That sounded like a lot all together, but when the expenses were itemized it looked ok. Dad confirmed it was an ok price, and I gave them the go-ahead.

They had it done by 3:30 p.m. for significantly less than the quote. I was very pleased. Thank you to everyone who fielded my crazy phone calls and especially Lori and Don!

I believe a future MoDOT employee lives next door

Two of the three little boys who live next door like to ride their tricycles around on the front drive. Many days there's a version of a road like this one, complete with signs to slow down, stop or showing a dead end. I'm pretty sure one of them will end up a racecar driver or working for MoDOT.

Family dinners are here again

Uncle Dorsey and Aunt Lucille recently came up from Texas to visit the family. I enjoyed taking some photos while we all chatted around the table. There weren't many people on the first night of dinners, but that was the only time I could make it. For more photos, click here.

Thoughts on eating at Panda Express or I miss China Chef

The plate featured above is obviously Jason's as it has vegetables on it; I clearly am not that adventurous. Every time I deviate from my orange chicken and white rice, I regret it. It's actually very effective negative reinforcement: Don't change! Change is bad! Almost as bad as vegetables!

Alice and Cheyrl

Jason and I trekked to Columbia this weekend to meet our friend Cheyrl, who is heading back to Taiwan very soon. Since we were going so far, we decided to make a day of it and stopped in at Hollywood Theaters to experience the much-anticipated Alice in Wonderland...in 3D! We really should be considered adventurous because we went to see it on opening weekend. Gasp! Practically unheard of in our household these days. We got to the theater a little early, but not soon enough as the que had already reached the street in front of the theater. They opened up another window, and the manager informed everyone that they could skip the wait and order their tickets with the machine at the side. Sounded good to us! We're pretty savvy with these do-it-yourself types at the Wal-Mart, the grocery store, the airport. No problem. And so, Jason set about pushing buttons on the touchscreen. Yes, we would like to purchase tickets. For Alice in Wonderland in 3D. For this matinee showing. We got all the way to the card processing part before we had problems. By this time, the people next to us had gotten their tickets and left.

"Try it again," I offered. And so he did. We got to the end again, swiped the card and the hourglass came up to say the machine was deciding between giving us our tickets and making us late for our movie. I got the manager as Jason started working through it again (third time's a charm, right?), and we showed her the issue. She said she was pretty sure it wasn't charging us all those times, and she would let us in. So, either the movie cost us $60 or it was free. We grabbed our 3D glasses (that unfortunately looked semi-normal, no red and blue lenses) and found some seats. After the show, Jason talked about what he thought of the film.




Later, we met Cheyrl at her going-away party at Heidelberg. Cheyrl was mostly the center of attention, that is until Sam's baby, Max, started mugging for the crowd. (Hey, we all know that babies are little rockstars.) Anyway, we're going to miss you Cheyrl! Have a safe trip and stay in touch!

Our house is a snow hoarder...

We had a little bit of snow and ice this winter. It was really pretty, but we're ready for spring. However, our house is having a hard time letting go. Days of sunshine and warm-ish temperatures have passed and almost every other house in the neighborhood is snow-free. Our house is a snow hoarder.

Flat Jason hits the blogosphere again!

Just the other day I was approached by journalist Christine Hofmann-Bourque, an Army wife herself, who was interested in doing a story about Flat Daddies and my experience with Flat Jason. Check out the story at The Strength Behind the Strong.

Interested in Temple Grandin

I recently heard Temple Grandin in an interview on NPR while I was driving in the car. It was really interesting to hear her answering questions about her experiences with autism and the work she did to revolutionize slaughterhouses and working with livestock. She's pretty much a legend! I remember Dad talking about her research while I was growing up. We even implemented some of her suggestioned handling techniques on the farm, and they really helped keep the cattle calmer and reduced the injury rate of the workers.

She's been in the spotlight recently because of a new HBO movie in which Claire Danes plays Temple. Her story is inspiring, and I can't wait to see it! You can find out more about this in a NY Times article. And if you can't get enough of Temple, check out her lecture at the TED Conference.