Getting Life in Order.....

Okay...I have mentioned it before on this blog.... my sincere desire and need to lose weight and get into better shape. I started a weight loss blog (which I never update), I started running...even ran my first race. Entered an even bigger race which I was forced to back out of due to back problems. Right. Well, here I am a few months later, back where I started. Isn't it funny (not really) how easily we fall back into bad habits? I guess that is part of being human....falling down, getting back up, and pressing forward. So, now I am pressing forward again. I have gotten up and brushed myself off and am ready to tackle the problem.....again. Denver and I have started a training program today. It is to get us prepared for a half marathon on November 15. I know, sounds crazy right? Seriously, I don't understand my need to do this....I just know that I need to. I had been toying with this race for a few months. It is in beautiful Monterey, California...you know how much I LOVE that place! Can you just imagine running around that town right along the ocean! Who needs an ipod with that atmosphere! Anyway...like I said I was just toying with it. Unfortunately I mentioned it to an old friend of mine who lives back east. Well, she wrote me and "challenged" me to run it with her. There are a lot of reasons why I didn't want to do it at first but in the end, I think that it will not only be good for my body but also good for my soul to reconnect with this particular person....(long story and personal)....so I'm gonna do it. Denver may do it too but he is definitely going to train with me even if he doesn't race. So there it is. I'm excited about it....scared too. You can see from the map that it runs right along the coast....gorgeous! The big pink spot in the middle of the map represents the Presidio of Monterey where I spent a year and a half studying Korean in the Air Force. And, in the upper left, just to the side of big "N" for north, you will see a little jut of land that sticks out....that is Lovers Point where Denver and I got married 11 years ago! This place is very sentimental to me and I would love to run this race for that reason alone! Next item of business that I need to tackle is to get my food storage going. It is really sad how little I have in my food storage pantry. With the economy as bad as it is and the likelihood that it will get a lot worse, I feel that I really need to step this up. Problem being....how do you afford to do it? We live on a pretty tight budget as it is and I just don't see where we will have extra money to do it. When I lived in Arizona, I participated in a thing called "Coupon Sense"...some of you may know about it. My cousin introduced me to it. It was a lot of fun and I saved SO much money it was ridiculous sometimes. However, we moved to Kentucky and then back to Utah and frankly I just haven't given it another thought until now. The other day I had a girl from my church color my hair...she happened to mention "Grocery Smarts".....almost the same thing as Coupon Sense only a lot cheaper. The only cost is the subscription to the newspaper to get the coupons! I looked it up and am VERY excited about it. So, now I am going to be an expert shopper and by the end of the year I should have a very sufficient food storage for my family! In a few months I will update with how well this program works...or not.

Finally, I am getting my photos organized. How many of you have all of your pictures just sitting in a box...or multiple boxes? I've always had good intentions of making wonderful scrapbooks.....I even tried scrapbooking once. Who am I kidding! Scrapbooking is definitely not my cup of tea. Some women are wonderful at it. Not this woman! So, my pictures are still just sitting in boxes and now with digital cameras I have hundreds and hundreds of pictures sitting in "virtual boxes"..... all in files and taking up valuable GB's of computer space. The other day I bought one of these removable flash drives that you stick into a USB port so you can easily transfer files from one computer to another. Its a great thing because I put all of my picture files onto it and deleted them from the computer which has really sped up my computer. Only problem now is that I am super paranoid about something happening to this little device. If it gets damaged somehow, I would lose years of priceless photographs of my family. It would be devastating. So what is the solution? Any great ideas out there on how to preserve your pictures without the risk of loss? CD's can be broken....computers can crash.....actual printed pictures can burn or be ruined in others ways.... the whole thing is really stressing me out. I think I still would like to print out all of the pictures and at the very least put them into photo albums...then maybe I will make a CD too as well as keep the pictures on the removable flash drive. Geez....it sounds like overkill. Anyway, this is my next project....getting all of this in order. Wish me luck and please, send suggestions or opinions!