Back in the Proverbial Saddle

I went swimming for the first time today since last summer, and man, was I surprised at how HARD it was to keep my endurance! Now I'll be the first to say that I'm not the most athletic person - swimming is about the only form of exercise that comes naturally to me. I've never really struggled with swimming. I love being in the water and it's just so easy for me! So I was a little surprised this morning when I went to the gym pool and lasted about 15 minutes before I was plum worn out! It made me wonder how I ever passed my lifeguarding certification so many years ago. Just goes to show how out of shape I've let myself become. Very disappointing, to say the least, but I'm planning on beefing up my workouts to help counteract this. I

I really do enjoy working out, my problem is that I get to the gym and I feel overwhelmed by all of the different workouts and exercises that are available to me. There's just so many to choose from! But I still don't know, after all of the years of working out, which exercises work the best for me. I know what I don't like (not a big fan of the elliptical - doesn't seem to be effective), but I'm not sure what's best for me. All I know is that I like to run, and I like to swim. But what I really need to do is incorporate more weight, resistance and balance training into my workout, and switch up my routines. I like routine because it helps keep me scheduled, but I dislike routine because my body adjusts and I end up plateauing, which make me not want to work out anymore.

I've been thinking about putting together a binder full of fitness magazine tear-outs, so that I have a compilation of different workouts and exercises to choose from. However, I can't seem to remember to actually start putting one together. Guess I'll have to add that to my to-do list.

Speaking of to-do lists, I've been utilizing writing down my to-dos lately, since I am so forgetful, and it seems to be helping me accomplish more of my smaller goals and stay on-task. I definitely struggle a little bit with following through on tasks that I've started, and I really want to get better at this. I'm hoping I'll get into the habit of writing things down, and I'll be able to accomplish much more and not feel so overwhelmed by all of the mundane, every-day tasks that I have to do.

Family History

So I'm currently browsing through the 1940 US Census data that was released last week, and came upon some interesting information! I looked up my paternal grandfather, who lived in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and was able to find his family's information. Now, as I understood it, he was raised with 2 brothers and his mom and dad. However, when I looked up the information, his father and mother had 8 kids listed, and my grandfather's two brothers were not listed as children! Now I can't remember, if my grandfather was the youngest of his brothers or not. He's listed as being 17 years old on the census form (which is slightly inaccurate - he was born in 1921, which would've made him 18 or 19), and if his brothers were both older, they would've probably left the house by then. I'm really curious who these other 8 people are listed under my great-grandfather's name! I'm definitely going to ask my dad tomorrow and see if he knows anything about this!

New Roomie!

I am very excited that one of my good friends, Michelle, is going to be living with us! It's only temporary, literally like a month, but I think it will be fun:)

We gave away our dog Maverick this weekend. It was really sad, actually, to see him go, but we know it was for the best. Things just weren't working out with him. But his new owners are building a house on an acre of land in Fort Worth, so he will have plenty of room to run around, and he'll also have another dog to play with. Plus, his new owner has had Weimaraners before, so she's experienced with the breed. I feel a little guilty giving him away, like maybe I didn't give him enough of a chance. But sometimes, things just don't work out the way you wanted them too, even when you have the best intentions in mind. So here's to hoping you have a happy life, Maverick!

Things have just been so busy lately! Sam's grandmother was in town this weekend, and it was also his dad's birthday, so we spent much of the weekend with them. We also went to Cavendar's to get Sam a new pair of cowboy boots. He's been wanting some for awhile, so I decided to treat him to a new pair.

This week is looking to be another busy one. I will try to update soon!

Six Years and Counting

I've been thinking about my mom a lot lately, though I couldn't tell you why. Sometimes, all it takes is a song to spark a reminder of her in me. Her memory is always in the back of my mind, biding it's time, waiting patiently for me to pay it more attention. It's easy to let the day-to-day tribulations of life get in the way of remembering her and who she was and who she'll never be, but sometimes, it sneaks through.

It's the weirdest thing when someone important in your life dies. Especially when they die before their time. As if we have any say over when it's our time or not, but it's nice to think that we, as humans, have the ability to make those decisions.

April 7 will be six years since she died, and I still can't believe she's gone. I often wonder what she would think of me if she were alive today, wonder if she'd be proud of me and the decisions I've made in my life. I always worked so hard for approval. It meant everything to me. Even at 27, I still find myself wishing she were here to give me advice on things I just don't have answers to. I find that very frustrating. And though I still have so many memories of her, I'd be lying if I said I didn't occasionally forget what it was like to have her in my life. And that makes me so incredibly sad. I know that I will never forget her, but it's the little things about her that I worry about forgetting. I guess I should start writing things down as I remember them. Maybe not so much for myself, but for the future children I hope to have one day. They will never know her like I did, but I hope they can at least have some appreciation for her and who she was. I guess only time will tell.

A Quick Update

So it's late and I don't want to get too into what I've been up to lately, but I did want to say that I returned from my business trip to Chicago last night, and I will be posting about it soon! First, I have to get the pictures I took off of my phone.

The house hunt is still stagnant and I'm praying that things turn around soon.

Tomorrow is Go Texas Day at work and I am so excited because I'll get to wear my cowboy boots to work!!! Yeehaw! Lol!

Will write more soon!

Love,

K

Feeling Stuck

This past week was a tough one for me.

My car started acting up on Monday, and I'm still not entirely sure what the problem is. The battery died, and to make a long story short, I ended up walking home from its final resting place, the CVS Pharmacy about a half mile from my house. I called Sam a couple of times to ask him to come get me, but he wasn't getting my calls. I figured by the time I actually got a hold of someone, and that someone finally made their way to CVS to pick me up, I could've just walked home. We live in a residential, high-traffic neighborhood, so I wasn't too worried about walking home in the dark. It was more of an inconvenience, than anything else.

Sam took the day off work Tuesday to stay home and fix my car, and so that I could take his truck to work since I don't currently have the luxury of taking time off. He replaced the battery, which was still under warranty amazingly enough. I still remember the first time he replaced it, way back in December of 2005 when we first started dating. So we were able to get a new battery at a discounted price, which was cool.

The next day, my car ran fine with no problems. Thursday, however, was a different story. I got in my car Thursday morning to go to work, and it wouldn't start. I mean the CD player stopped working, the windows wouldn't roll down, nothing! I was pretty upset, only because we can't buy a new car for me right now since we're looking for a house. Otherwise, I would've gotten rid of that car by now. The odometer read exactly 195,500, and I kept wondering if that was some kind of magic number that programmed the car to stop running.

So my brother had to pick me up and take me to my in-laws house to pick up the work truck, and from there I had to go to a paper store to pick up something for a work-related project, and then go to work. I guess the good news is I was only 45 minutes late to work, and that's not bad considering I had to go to the paper store before I got to work. But I hate being late to work, so it still sucked!

Not to mention I had an extremely busy and stressful week at work! I had a hard time staying on top of all of my projects, and made a few mistakes along the way. That is to be expected, considering how new I am, but I hate making mistakes and I take it really personally when I feel like I haven't lived up to my expectations.

To make matters worse, the house hunt really isn't going all that well. There's just nothing that's worth the money out there, and it's so frustrating. We've only been back on the hunt for about two weeks, but considering we started looking initially last year and we still haven't found anything, it's just so frustrating and I want to bang my head against a wall. If I wasn't in such dire need of a new vehicle I wouldn't mind as much, but I can't buy a new car until we buy a house, so I feel an added sense of urgency and pressure to find something fast.

All of this has really stressed me out this week, and I haven't been in the best mood this weekend. I've just felt really hopeless, and I hate feeling that way. I'm not going to give up, I know things will turn around, I just feel bummed out today. It gets hard trying to keep the faith. I'm very impatient, and it's hard for me to be patient and wait for things to fall into place. Hopefully next week will be a better week.

Happy Hour

Tonight was soooooo much fun!!! I met up with a few co-workers after work for happy hour at a bar called Oceanaire. I had a great time! Cheap drinks, and great conversation, especially after a stressful weak.

And kudos to me for waking up early this morning and going to the gym!! Now if I could just get around to buying those new running shoes...

I'm going to keep this short tonight since I've got some bad cramps, but I will write more soon!