A Ladybug's Journey

Spent the weekend in Disney after a long work week.  We drove up Friday night with Mom. Saturday started at Hollywood Studios with Starbucks in the park waiting for rope drop. After the mad dash was over we calmly made our way over to Toy Story Land, decided the insane line for Slinky Dog Dash was not worth it and rode Alien Flying Saucers - which was much more fun than I anticipated.  I thought the saucers just swung around their own circle but the actually move from one disk to another so you end up moving around the entire platform.  It was a blast and I would totally ride it again. We had a Fastpass+ for Star Tours, but since the standby line was so short, and our Fastpass+ time had not arrived, we rode it as standby and essentially just walked on.  It was neat to see a different scenario play out in front of us from the last time we rode - supposedly there are over 300 different combinations of scenes. After Star Tours we saw a showing of the Jedi Training Acad

A lot has changed in the past year. We moved from Oregon back to Florida.  I feel like a person split between two homes.  I love being back near my family, and I enjoy working in the location I'm in now, but, I miss the life I had, and the people who were in my life back in Oregon.  We haven't found our niche here. We did something we've always wanted to do - we became Disney Annual Passholders.  I love it.  We've already used our passes several times in the few months since we've gotten them and have two more trips planned in the next two months or so.  It feels great to be in a place in our lives that we can do something like this, when it seemed so far out of our reach a few years ago. Recently, this weekend actually, I also have learned that another family member has had bariatric surgery (several years ago)..  I'm going to be contacting his office this week to schedule an appointment as soon as they can see me, and my schedule permits, which will prob

I thought about deleting all the old posts I have on here,  and "starting fresh"... but that's not really a fresh start is it?  Sure, the past wouldn't be here, for anyone to see if they are looking, but it's still with me, still haunting me, so best to make peace with it and let it lay in the past. So here I am, 3.5 years after my last post and approx 30 lbs heavier. I made a decision last week, to have bariatric surgery.  I've decided to do it in the past, 15 years ago, but I switched insurance companies and it was no longer covered.  I thought that was the end of the bariatric road.  Someone recently suggested that I do it - I told them the insurance thing - and they suggested something that no one had mentioned before, and it never occurred to me.  Pay for it myself. So I am.  I'm going to do it. I have an appointment in a month.  It was the earliest available.  Hoping to be able to schedule it for late May/early June.  I'll still have my H

Have you ever known, intellectually, what you needed to do, but struggled to find the faith to do it?  That's where I am, right now, as I sit here.  Today, I have eaten 12 thin Oreo's (not joking, thin Oreo's are a thing), not sure how many Doritos's, same with the hot pork rinds, 12 Ritz crackers, 6 slices of salami and 3 slices of  smoked Gouda. #1 - I have a thing for multiples of 3 #2 - I need to stop joking about the above. #3 - I need to figure out how to find it within myself to turn my destructive food behaviors over to a power greater than myself.  I know this is something that I must so, but, how do I go about it?  Knowing something in your brain, and knowing it in your heart, are not the same thing.  If your brain could tell your heart what to believe, how to feel, what to do, the world would be a better place. Food is my illness.  I can go into brief periods of remission, but the illness is still there, waiting to rear it's ugly head. I know one o

Why have I not discovered these before?  Oh the amount of kale that has gone to waste this summer that I did not use in my morning smoothies in time and it went bad. I've heard of homemade kale chips for a long time, probably a couple of years, but I didn't know how easy they were to make until a few months ago.  I'm not sure why I didn't try to make them before, maybe because it was too hot to turn on the oven, maybe I'm forgetful and would just forget, or maybe it was some other reason. But today everything changed.  I got a bunch of kale in my CSA box today and I immediately came home, looked up some recipes for inspiration on Pintrest, then did a little of each that sounded best... and made two batches (the bunch of kale was pretty big). As the second batch baked I tentatively tried a piece from the first batch - ranch kale chips.  I was shocked.  I didn't hate it!  I took another bite.  I was shocked again, I didn't even dislike it.  Another bite

Sunday was the 2nd week of TrackTown Fitness.  It was once again an amazing morning (not too sure how many more we will get) in an inspirational location.  I love getting out there on the beautiful track at Hayward Field and walking in the company of 200 other people, some walking, some running and some with a combo of both.  There are Olympians and the 2016 USA Track & Field Coach is the one leading our program.  I am truly lucky for this opportunity. TrackTown USA Thursday starts the Walktober challenge at work, where we will be challenged to walk 10,000 steps each day, with a prize at 100,000, 200,000, and 300,000 steps (10, 20 and 30 days).  I'm looking forward to the challenge.  I've already been trying to hit my 10,000 steps, but some days I let myself slack.  I'm hoping working towards this challenge will help me hit my goals on days I feel like slacking. Yesterday was the Super Harvest Moon.  Babe and I went out in search of it, since the tre