28 February 2011

[talk: At the Core of Who I Am.]

Yesterday, I got to be a part of something great - something that hits me so deep that I cannot explain it.  I know I say it often, but I guess my repetition just lets me know just how important it is to me ... 

Worship.

It had snowed through the night, made me a bit nervous about whether the band would all get there - but they did.  And it really, truly, rocked my world.

I've been leading worship since I was barely a teenager ... a lifetime ago :-).  And every now and then I get a really overwhelming emotion of gratefulness that someway, somehow, I was chosen for this.  Even 20 years later ... leading, watching, participating, encouraging ... in that moment, in those moments, the rest of the world falls away.

It was interesting because this past weekend I had some pretty intense conversations about my faith.  Truthfully, I don't really like debating about it - but I'm not afraid to.  And I'm not afraid to get stuck in a corner of defending absolutes and just shrugging my shoulders.

See - yesterday morning, having an intimate experience with God in worship, makes every argument and debate fly out the window for me.  Unless you've experienced God's love and His grace - there's no point.  You can argue about emotionalism, manipulation ... you can reason with science and facts.  You can think you've won ... but at the core of who I am, is my faith.  You cannot persuade me, you cannot move me.

So for me, yesterday's service was more than just a worship service.  It was more than seeing other believers encouraging others ... it was more than being a part of incredible music or me giving it my all - it was simply yet another confirmation of who I am and who God is.

I don't know where God is taking me in all of this.   Sometimes I panic about time.  Awe, who am I kidding - I panic about time all the time.  I hear the clock ticking inside my head.  I feel the urgency inside to get going, to make it happen (whatever that is).  I'm continuing to try and figure out how to walk through open doors and what that looks like - and I'm also realizing that I'm already doing that, to some extent.

I've been planting a few idea "seeds" with a friend on the East Coast of America.  I have no clue what it looks like, but I'm believing that the connection there is for a real purpose.  I'm believing that I'll visit Virginia/Washington DC sometime this year and be amazed at how God has been putting all the pieces together.

Again.   No clue what it all looks like ... big dreams don't look the same for everyone.  My big dreams doesn't have to mean big numbers.  But God's plan for me is BIG - whatever it is.  It's His plan.  It can't be small. I can't judge it with human eyes ... touching one life is BIG.

So.

That's what's on my heart and mind today ... confirmation in who I am, stronger belief in who He is, and trying to walk the path that He's leading me on.

And hey ... on a COMPLETE side note (I'm good for that ...) the scale has been surprising me.  131.4lbs.  I'm hoping to be in the 120's (even 129.9 *grin*) by the time we leave next week to our spring break destination ...   Man.  I am only 1lb away from being the LOWEST I've been since I had kiddies ... the weight I was when I finished our "biggest loser" competition.

But I'm not done ... I want to lose some more, tone it up, have the body that makes me feel strong and healthy.  The body that makes me not worry about "if" I can fit into something and where the summer swimsuit season doesn't make me hyperventilate ...

But for this week ... 1.5lbs is ALL I need :-).  Today ... I shall run.

Have a great one.

Really.

A GREAT one.

23 February 2011

[talk: Sliding Doors.]

I had a different post up ... if you were here, it was a bit of a mish-mash of whatever-ness.  And then - as Tias was sent off to school, Katia went down for her morning nap, and Josiah was playing nicely while eating his cut-up-apple ... I started thinking ...

I took the earlier post down and started writing this instead:

I've never seen the movie, "Sliding Doors".  I've heard it's good - but when I started thinking this morning, it's name came right to the front of my brain.

I don't believe in fate ... I believe in God.  Not a God who chooses for us, but a God who knows plan A from plan B and C.  I believe in hard work meeting opportunity ... I believe in making good choices and hopefully seeing the fruit in that.  I believe in asking God for guidance and seeing His protection in that ... 

The concept of the Sliding Doors movie is so interesting to me ... it shows a parallel story of a woman's life based on whether she catches a train, or not.  Part of the movie shows what her life would be like if she had, the other part, if she hadn't.

This fascinates me.

I really, really think that our daily choices have such an affect on our lives, and the lives of others.  It's a total ripple effect ... so powerful.   What you choose, what you don't - it can determine someone else's outcome.  I'm sure you've thought, "if only ... ".  Maybe if your friend hadn't been in that car that fateful night, or if you had decided to travel after highschool instead of going straight to uni, or if you had pursued your dream of whatever-it-was, or if you parents never divorced, or if you had chosen to go to Ireland instead of France ... what would life be like now?

This can be a dangerous thought process if you are not happy with where you are now.  But if you ARE, then I think it's sooooo interesting to see how you got there.  I sit here, in my warm house, with Katia safe and sleeping, with Josiah playing with his cars in the background, the whirring of the dryer on, drinking green tea ... and I think about how all the choices I made, and were made for me, led me here.  To this moment.

I am living the life I had hoped to ... so many of us are "living the dream" - whatever that looks like to you. But sometimes - I wonder ... 

Even though I got my first music degree at 17, I had wanted to be a journalist from a young age - not exactly the dream I think my parents had for me.  So, right after highschool I had decided to pursue my NZ citizenship, and look into going to uni over there ... my mom's a kiwi, and so I had really wanted to live in her culture, be with my family over there, live a bit of an adventure.  I wanted to travel the world with a pen in hand, talking to people, seeing things that few get to ... I wanted to be that person.

But - it never happened.  As I was getting my NZ papers together, I had to wait - so I ended up going to Capilano College for the fall and majoring in Music Therapy ... something I had thought might be interesting to me.  It ended up not being what I wanted to do at all, so at winter break I headed back to NZ with a friend and she and I booted about NZ for over a month ... I came back, left Capilano, and was more convinced than ever to finish up my papers and go into journalism.  I wanted a life full of new things ... 

But I guess it wasn't meant to be.

My mom was worried ... she had left NZ for Canada with my dad (he's Canadian) and the heartbreak of leaving her country and family was a difficult one.  She used to always say, "it's just as easy to fall in love with someone from home ... ".  But I wanted something different ... going to school, traveling, hanging with my kiwi friends ... that's what I wanted.  She knew, though, the ache of loneliness after the hype wore off ... 

So. I got my NZ passport, got approval to go to school there - they actually accepted me - ... and ... it never happened.  Instead, my life took a different turn and it's so wild to look back and think, "wow ... what IF??"  What if I had left?  What if I got my journalism degree?  Where would I be living?  Who would I know?  Would I be even half as happy as I am now?

Fascinating.

The people that I hold so close to me - I would probably never have even known.  My my hubby, my in-laws, our friends - the children we have - wouldn't be.  Isn't that a CRAZY thought???

It would be so interesting to see our lives as a movie, parallel with different story lines ... don't you think?  Again - not out of any regret - I'd chose the same life I have right now, over and over again ... but still ... just for a moment to see where my different choices would have led me.

I could be married to a sheep farmer with 6 kids who love to surf and have a strange Canadian/Kiwi accent ... 

WILD.

Have a great one!!

21 February 2011

[talk: Such a Girl.]

If you were quick enough ... you read the post I wrote this morning.

And then I took it off.

It was up for about 5 minutes ... a post of girly-emotion and a full-on pity party for myself.  I've had a strange few weeks - and sometimes a good cry and "man - people - I can't do it - I can't please everyone all the time" seemed necessary.  It's not possible for everyone to know what other people are doing or saying or writing to me ... and this morning, BOOM.  It came from all sides.

So.

If you read it ... it was a good post *grin*.

If you didn't ... well ... you missed out.  I'm full-on human.  For me?  It was all true ... and now, it's time to move on - buck up - snap out of it.

So.  That is what I shall do.

Hope you have a good one ... and I hope that I do too *wink*.


17 February 2011

[digiscrap: Keepin' Goin']

Tonight is hockey night ... and I love hockey night.  Once a week.  Not five times a week, like my hubby would probably want *grin* ... just once.

And so I'll put the kiddies to bed, get on my jammies, give myself a much needed facial and then ... digiscrap while catching up on American Idol and whatever else is on our PVR.

... and just to be accountable - I was going to run today.  A LONG run.  But the lovely lady that carpools with me for our kids, her son is in bed with a fever.  So - instead, I'll be doing some driving to help her out today ... that means - not enough time to run for long, so I decided to get beat up by Jillian instead.

Level 2 ... chair squats with v-lifts.  KILLS me.  I'll take an 8km over that any time ... 

ANYway ... here are some recent pages ... hoping to get a bunch more done tonight!!  Hey ... wait a sec.  Blogger says that I've exceeded my jpeg amount????  What??  It'll only let me upload 3 pages??

Oh.brother.

I'll sort that out later ... 

Have a great one!


(double click images to enlarge).




16 February 2011

[organize: Spring Cleanup - The Process.]

SO.  A couple of days ago I ranted about how clutter makes my life a mess of chaotic yuckiness.  But toooooday *grin* ...  Oh yes, my friends ... I have been BUSY.

I have kept on task - doing a few small things every day.  And now that it's Wednesday I can SEE that so much has been done.  There's a lot more to do - but hey - I'm gettin' 'er done ... 

On Monday, the bathrooms were a mix between ridiculousness and easiness.  Some drawers were empty.  Some drawers had about 200 packages of buttons (you know, the kind merchants attach to a new shirt in case you lose one?).  Yup.  Ridiculousness.

But now, they are all cleaned and tidy ... la lala la lalalala la la laaaa....

Then, yesterday, I cleaned out Katia's clothes drawers.  That only took about 15 minutes ... and it was a bit tricky taking stuff out, while she kept trying to put it back in *wink*.  But I was able to move on from her 12month old shirts - which are way too short for her now.  So - small job, but worth it.

THEN.

Last night.

The mother of all mothers.

THE BASEMENT.

I started it right after dinner, while my hubby watched the hockey game with the kiddies.  And by the time we put the kids to bed and got down there together, I was OVERWHELMED.  My hubby, thank you Jesus, was brilliant.  Not many hubbys would help out - but he's the only one who know which junk went with what.  I was afraid to toss something, only to find out later that it belonged to something else.  SO.  We sorted, and chucked, and recycled ... it was INSANE.

The boys went downstairs this morning before school and they were SO excited!!!  Crazy - but there was so much space down there, that even if they dumped out the bins, all the broken bits and pieces and things that don't work - they're all gone.  It's a cinch to clean up!

WHOO HOO!!

Now.  Today I venture into the boys closets while Katia sleeps.  That shouldn't take too long.  Then, I'm hoping to clean Tias' aquarium (there's a floating fish - good indicator that I should clean it: TODAY).    Then - Josiah and I are going through ALL of his toy cars.  Last night, we chucked everything that was broken ... today, we start making piles of what to DONATE with what's left over.  None of this give-away-the-broken-stuff.  What we donate will be stuff that is extra, stuff the boys just don't need.  And there is also going to be a pile that is "going to grandma's house".  She could use some toys there, so instead of the boys worrying they'll never see something again - it'll just be having a vacation at their grandparent's place.  Less stuff here ... that's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

And as my hubby and I de-clutter our home, there is a sense of accomplishment around here.  My hubby was in such a good mood this morning, with a big "good morning, baby," and a kiss.  Nice!  He's been taking care of himself recently and we are both continuing to declutter our bodies, as well as our home.

SO.

Today I'm doing really, really well.

Tias was really sick yesterday - but slept most of the day, and by the afternoon was much, much better.  And he's off to school today.

I have an appointment tonight with a potential wedding client for my RedHanded Photography business.  Love first appointments.

I have a family photoshoot on Saturday morning ... and the weatherman is calling for sunshine *grin*!  Heading out to a place in the country for that one ... gonna be great!

We're having long-time friends over for supper on Saturday night, and I've been racking my brain to come up with the perfect menu to make it a special night ... I love menu planning.  

AND - I am so excited to be leading worship this Sunday night at the Recovery Service ... and usually the weeks that I lead are full of really hard stuff.  Not this week ... so far ... so good ;-).

Have a GREAT one!!

15 February 2011

[redhandedphotography: James]

Last week, on what felt like the only day of sunshine in a lifetime, I headed out to Fort Langley to take some pics of a little guy, who's not so little.


Come check it out ... here.

And if you haven't been to my new RedHanded Photography website ... come take a peek.  Would love to have you!

14 February 2011

[organize: Spring Cleanup.]

Ok ... before I start ... I'm desperate for spring, thus the new header and spring-y feel for this blog.  At least I can create some "rain free" space on here - even though it's pouring rain outside.    AND - while I'm at it - let me wish you the merriest of Valentine's Day ... a day where we get to tell the people we love, that we love them can't be a bad thing *smile*.  Although, I think that holidays that segregate people and make some feel lonely are lame.  I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's day ... but I'll wish you a good one anyways *wink*.

Alright ... now.  On to what I wanted to write about ...

I hate chaos.

I mean .... HAAAAATE it.

For me, living in choas brings my brain to chaos.  I can always tell how my mind and insides are doing when I look at what my space around me.  Craziness inside = craziness outside.

Like, my van.  Oh I hate my van.  I do.  I want a jeep.  I've always wanted a jeep.  And now I'm too old to drive one without people going, "hey - that lady thinks she can drive a jeep.  Someone should tell her that she's not 18. Or 25.  Or 30."  *grin*

But that's another post all together.

Here's the thing ... my van gets messy.  MEH-SEE.  Kid's papers and toys and wrappers and coats and snacks and coins and and and ... makes me CRAZY.  So - every week, I clean it out.  Seriously.  And when it's clean, I am happy.  For those two minutes.

Same with my house ... I just finished cleaning out my mudroom/laundryroom and it's like I lost 10lbs.  I then cleaned out the coat closet and I felt like I lost another 10lbs.  So ... chaos and things not in their right place ... they have to go.

And - as  bonus - I find that when my house gets cluttered with junk, by body gets cluttered with junk.  When I deal with the crap and toss away/give away/ donate ... my house and body both lose weight.  At least that's what I've found ... 

So.  Bring ON the spring cleaning - even though I realistically know that things only stay clean and tidy for a short time *boo*.  Here's my list for this week.  It's not everything - but it's a start.

Monday:   all bathroom drawers and cupboards (bandaid wrappers, half-used-travel-sized containers, bobbypins ... you name it:  wiped out and gone.)
Tuesday:  Katia's clothes (it's time again ... bring out the next size, and donate the old one ...)
Wednesday:  tupperware cabinets, baking drawers (so.much.stuff.)
Thursday:  Mattias and Josiah's closets (it's amazing what decides to live in there ...)
Friday: the grand finale ... downstairs.  Toys.  Toys.  Toys.  We are making 3 piles:  home, grandparents and donate.  I am hoping to downsize what's down there by 50%.  It's CHAOS down there.  One million toy cars and three million race track pieces and five million building blocks and twenty-five million bits and pieces of broken junk.  GONE.

That's this week ... And I think I'll go around with a garbage bag or box and just randomly put things in it too to donate.  We have collected over the fall and winter ... and I'm going crazy.

Anyone else feel the same???   Hmmm ... maybe I'm the only one.   And I think that if my house loses 25lb, I could physically lose the last 7lbs that I need to.  Here's to hoping.

Have a great one!

09 February 2011

[make: Toy Story Birthday Cake with Woody, Buzz & Rex]

So.  Josiah's birthday is January 1st ... yup.  He was the New Years baby for our city ... born at 12:14am.  Trust me ... if I could've, he would've been out earlier *grin*.  I tried.

It's so hard to believe that was  four years ago ... and here he is, my little man, full of spunk and light.  He's the witty one in the family ... he's super intelligent and knows he has the charm to knock someone's socks right off ... 

And here it is, February, and we're finally getting around to his kiddie birthday party.  I've had to remind him that he's not turning five *grin* ... he thinks he's having another birthday, rather than just a late party.

Every birthday, for every child, I try and create a special cake.  Now - this is just something that I just decided was important to me ... I am far from a cake decorator.  I've made an aquarium cake, a broken road Cars cake, a Cars racetrack cake, a Mack the Truck cake, a ladybug cake ... and they are all special to me - despite their obvious imperfections.

I should preface this, with fondant and I are not friends.  I know moms who create the most spectacular cakes with fondant.  Me - I prefer buttercream frosting and props.  I find it so much easier ... because it is *grin*.

Josiah's party theme is "Toy Story" ... I had to persuade him to change his mind from Cars for the third year in a row.  But coming up with a cake made my brain hurt.  Because my skills are limited, I like to create "scenes", rather than making a single character ... 

So ... I started with two 10x2 round cakes.  One vanilla, one chocolate.  

Then ... I stared at them for about 10 minutes.  No joke.

I decided to try and create Andy's bed ... and cut the edges of the vanilla cake, to make a square and use the leftover pieces to make a pillow.  Then I cut the chocolate cake in half to make the head and foot board.


... as soon as I did that, Josiah was crazy excited.  He loves watching things being created out of nothing.



I made some simple buttercream frosting and tinted it blue for the bed cover.



I made another batch of buttercream frosting and melted chocolate wafers to turn it into yummy, brown chocolate frosting ... and then I grabbed the bag of coloured star candies that I bought at Scoop and Save (and had no clue what I'd do with them at the time ... ) and began a pattern for the bed cover.






Then out came the props ... the Woody, Buzz and Rex are Siah's and the star badges and Bullseye were borrowed from a friend ... 





I added the candles, looked at the clock and realized that it was late as I was finishing up the last details. But Josiah and Mattias were desperate to see what it looked like ... so I let them out of bed *grin*.  It's not like they were going to sleep any time soon ... 




I had some black liquorice strings ... and I thought it would look good to outline the edges (totally a quirk of mine).  The liquorice wasn't soft, though ... and a bit twisted - it didn't really want to do what I wanted it to ... and the lines it made weren't perfect.

But hey.  It's a FOUR year old's bday cake, not a wedding cake, right??





... then I added some writing, "Happy 4th Birthday Josiah" in red gel.




I say this every time, but I think this one's my favourite.

Happy birthday, Josiah - again *grin*.  Now, Mattias is saying he wants a Bayblades birthday cake ... oh dear.  At least I have until August to figure that one out *grin* ...

Have a great one!

08 February 2011

[make: Yummy Baked Chicken]

Ok.  So I named this recipe ... and Yummy Baked Chicken is all I could come up with *grin*.

I'm always looking for new recipes, especially BAKED chicken recipes.  I love preparing the recipe hours in advance, and setting the oven timer.  It means that dinner can be prepared in the morning, and clean up is  a cinch if I foil the pan.

But there actually aren't too many "baked" chicken recipes.  Well, there ARE, but they're all so close to each other that I get bored.  I make a dill chicken, with sour cream; a sticky baked chicken with preserves; a mushroom chicken with onion soup ... so I decided to mix them.

I had my folks over for dinner last week and served it to them - I figured we could all be guinea pigs *wink*.  And MAN.  It was goooooood.  And fall-off-a-log simple.

Here's the recipe. 

Tawn's Yummy Baked Chicken - serves 4

4 large chicken breasts, halved (I like smaller portions ..)
2 cups lite sour cream
1 cup preserves (I used orange marmalade - but had thought it was peach jam *grin*)
1 package of onion soup mix

Directions:

- foil a baking dish (9x9 or 9x13  (whatever works for you)
- place cut up chicken in the pan (see ... this is triiiiicky)
- in a bowl, mix the sour cream, preserves and soup mix
- spoon over the chicken
- cover with foil
- bake at 300F for an hour ... 

If you try it, let me know what you think. 

Enjoy!!

07 February 2011

[talk: Me.]

This past weekend, I had the privilege of helping out with the worship at a Women's Retreat outside at Harrison Hot Springs.  I say privilege, because it always is ... although the first night was stress.full.  I have only one word:  theworstsoundsystemever.  Ok.  So I made that into one word.

I learned a lot of things this weekend ... one being, I MUST get my own sound system.  Praise God that my friend, LHF, was there.  Her sound system saved the day (after a long drive and gracious people going to pick it up).   I guess the problem is, is that I've been completely spoiled at our church and other places - all the boys love to help with sound *grin*.  So, us girls just sit back and let them do it.  Even when I was with a worship band that did a little bit of traveling here and there, the boys did the sound ... and now I wish they would've taught me instead of blessing me with their work!

Ah well.

It was a great weekend ... I did a photography workshop - basically "Photography 101" ... I did a 6km run ... I lead worship ... I took photos of different happenings that were going on ... and have come home pretty tired.  OH! ... and I was able to finally get some updated pics done for my new RHP website.  It's hard to find pics of just me - that aren't me in my running gear, or wearing a ski mask, or carrying one of our kids.  I pretty much only needed one pic - so it's such a gift to have a few to choose from!!  So - thanks NWR for taking time in your afternoon off to help me ... I so appreciate it.  

SO, where am I at today?  Well, I still need to "debrief" from this weekend ... I received lots of encouragement and am trying to process some of the dreams I have and figure out how to let Him open the doors without me kicking the door down.  Not sure how that works ... so I'll just keep waiting and asking.

Anyway - I'm off and running.  Literally.  Bundled up and off to do however many km I can ... and here are a couple of the pics that NWR took for me ... it was fun to "re-do" my "all about me" page of my RHP website ... I'm a little addicted to tweaking that site *grin*.

Hmmm.  I'm kinda all over the place this morning, aren't I ... 





So, be encouraged today, take another step towards your dreams, don't be afraid to push yourself or ask for help and most of all - know that His mercies are new every morning.  Man.  Am I glad for that.

And have a great one too *smile*

04 February 2011

[talk: Fester Schmester]

This has been such a strange week for me.  My brain has been full of ideas and thoughts - and blogposts - and then ... nothing.

Writing, for me, is so so needed.  I've written dozens and dozens of journals - in really great times, and really, really hard ones.  It was a way for me to process things, to remember things.  I love reading them now and seeing how I felt about things and how I feel now about them.  But now - I don't journal so much.  I blog.  But even then - I don't spill my innards out into the blogging world ... and I don't spill them out onto paper either.  My mom used to say to me, "Be careful what you write ... you don't want to get hit by a car and have someone find what you've written and you aren't there to explain it."  Morbid, but wise *grin*.

I don't like things festering in my mind or soul ... and writing is one way that I can put it out there, re-read it and get some perspective.

My hubby's been gone all week ... and although I am a pretty independent person, it has actually been quite lonely.  I'm kinda craving a hug ... I haven't been "held" all week.  And I'm actually kinda surprised by that, because I know many wives who have husbands who leave for weeks on business, or are on shift work and they are like ships in the night passing by.  I don't know how they do it.  My hubby is more of a 9-5 guy - so his absence in our home is so noticeable.  Not having someone to "debrief" with at the end of the day ... it's been a bit sad.  And no hugs ...  gee - I think I'm really a huggy person *grin*.

My hubby comes home on Sunday ... and these next two days might have been the hardest and loneliest, but instead I'm heading to a Woman's Retreat.  I'm one of the worship leaders for it - so I should've known this would be a hard week, just because of that *smile*.

I say that, not to give credit to the Enemy - or to speak defeat over myself - but looking over these last few days I can see how time has been spent elsewhere instead of where it could've been.  I had plans for the "free" nights that I had with my hubby gone - songwriting, digiscrapping, watching a movie or two.  But instead, I was drained by the end of the day.  So thank goodness for His mercies that are new every morning ... I am looking so forward to some balance in my mind and being vulnerable with the Holy Spirit this weekend.  This time away is perfect timing for me ... 

I think 2011 is going to be a big year for me ... January has been full of so many crazy emotions, new ideas and possibilities, big dreams and big defeats ...  that it actually makes me excited for what God has planned for me.  I have a few questions I want to set time aside for this weekend to have Him to answer.  "Why did such-and-such happen?", "When will this and that happen?", "Where were You when I needed You for this?" ...  "Thank you for helping me with this ...".  You know what I mean?

And can I just debrief about this weather for a moment??  It just sucks the life out of me ... grey, grey, grey.  I actually think it triggers something in me ... I'm a very sentimental person.  I hear a song, and I get thrown right back into the moment.  I'll be walking by the perfume counter in a mall, and smell something that puts me at a different place immediately.  Or I'll drive by a house that I once knew well and feel like I'm 15 again.  I truly cannot control it.  It just happens.  And I think that's what the greyness, raininess of January does to me.  Shalom's funeral was a grey, January day.  It's when I miss her the most.


*sigh*.  Ok.  Let's change this up a bit ... 

On a COMPLETELY different note - I am down 4.5lbs this week.  I took sweets/dessert out of my diet and I cannot believe what the scale is telling me.  Ok.  So I did run one 5km and did the Shred workout twice ... but still.  It just proves that sugar is my enemy.  Now - that's not to say I'm at my goal ... I was up after New Years, so I'm now point5lbs from my lowest since having Katia.  But.  That's still  7lbs until wedding weight.  I have to be in a bathingsuit this weekend at the Women's Retreat ... all pastey and stuff - but I guess we all will be *wink*.

This summer - I want to be in the best shape of my life (I kinda already am, which really isn't saying much *laughing*).  Ok. This summer - I want to run a half marathon.  

Oh.boy.  Sounds like an impossibility ... 

* * * *

My hubby just Skyped me ... that.felt.lovely.

Have a great one!