Blisters, Sod, and Random Acts of Kindness

When we bought our house, it had been sitting vacant for about a year. As a result, the yard was overgrown with goat head sticker weeds, and all grass had been erradicated. We've picked at it all summer, but I decided we've got to do something about the weeds and grow some grass in the front before the cold weather hits. This way, we'll have nice grass when spring comes again.

So Wednesday afternoon, I came home from work and got out the shovel, and started hacking away at the strip of weeds between the sidewalk and the driveway. It was hot, and the work was hard. I don't know why, but I forgot to put on gloves. Soon, after clearing only a 2'x3' square, I got tired and got a monster blister. I threw down my shovel and went inside to rest a while. Eventually, I started reading a book and fell asleep on the couch.

Well, as I was working earlier, there was a guy with a backhoe across the street delivering some rock to the neighbor's house. We talked a little, he asked if I was putting in grass, and if he wanted me to have him scrape the yard for me. I told him no, but thanks. When I woke up from my nap, I looked out the window, and the entire side yard of my house was swept clean of weeds, with three piles of dirt and tortuous stickers. I couldn't believe it. Out of the kindness of his heart, he scraped my yard once he'd finished his rock delivery.

It was just such a wonderful thing. Luke and I have experienced a lot of roadblocks and hardships in the past few weeks with his layoff notice, and all the crap going on at my work, and barely scraping by to pay the bills. It was just so nice to look out and see I don't have to work my tail off for once. All I can say is God is good, and does help you out from time to time.

Luke and I spent the rest of the night moving the remaining dirt to under the pine tree out front, where it will progressively get dumped into the trash. But it's done! It would have taken me a lot of time and hard labor to get those weeds gone. So this weekend, Luke and I are finally going to put down grass seed in the front and our house won't look like the scum of the neighborhood. The dogs will now be OK with jumping out of the car on the driver's side, with no fear of landing on stickers!

Tonight, I'll finish prepping the back yard for sod. We decided that the dogs would tear up seed, so we're biting the bullet and putting in sod in the back. It'll be nice to actually have a nice yard where the dogs can lay down in cool grass, and I can sit on the deck and look out on a nice green turf, rather than a dirt pit dotted with dog poo. It's going to be a tough, laborious weekend, but it's going to be such a great workout, and the finished product will be so worth it!

Time for some steadiness

Yet another weekend interrupted. We went to Wendover for some fun time before Luke went back to school. It started great! We got a comped room at Montego (which has been nicely remodeled) and gambled till 3am. Then, about 9am, I get a call. It's work, and one of the producers has called in. *sigh* So we get all packed up and drive right back to Salt Lake, where I end up working one of the most action packed nights of my life thus far at KUTV. An officer-involved shooting, a police chase of 4 wanted escapees from Wyoming, and then, 30 minutes before the 10pm show, some guy knocks on the door of this house and blows away the father and wounds the mother in front of their kids.

I've just been super stressed out the last week or so, and it's showing in my attitude. I desperately need some steadiness, especially at work. I think everyone does. All the producers are up and down and here and there. Practically no one is working their own show while we wait for a decision on who the 5pm producer will be. Everyone is super stressed, and the newsroom doesn't feel like it used to. I think everyone's a little jaded at the changes that have happened over the last year, and it's showing. It's high time things got settled, and we could get back into the regular routine of work. I think it will make things a lot better.

In the meantime, some good news: John is coming to visit! He's flying out for a week in October, and we're taking him to Yellowstone. Luke and I had booked a room at the Old Faithful Inn, kind of as just a nice, cheap getaway for the two of us a couple months ago. Then Mom hinted to John that we were going, and he asked if he could come visit and go with us. Of course we said yes, and so now he's coming and we're going to have a great time. Lots of pressure with this visit, because he's also checking out SLC as a potential new home. He's kind of tired of TN, and has considered coming out here for a change, since Luke and I are here as a support system. Now I've got to find lots of things for him to do to show that he'd have a good time living here. Any ideas, let me know!

I guess with John's impending visit, and Luke at school a few nights a week, I have a lot of time to myself to get the house all fixed up. I had a dream last night that I was prepping the front yard for seed. I guess I should work on that tonight after work, so that I can start getting the seed in soon and it can grow before it gets too cold. I can't believe it's almost September! I may cheat and see if I have the money to go get sod. Perhaps I'll call for some quotes today. I'll still have to hack away at the weeds before I can lay sod, but then I won't have to wait for the stuff to grow. I suppose it's good exercise.

The Wanderer

Sometimes, life is blissfully dull. The routine of daily life becomes a welcome change from chaos and stress. I’m not one of those who usually welcome the boring, repetitive life (with the exception of my last year of college), but I find that sometimes I wish I could be content to live simply.

It’s really frustrating to want so much out of life, and to have to continually work hard to get what you want, and you don’t always succeed. Sometimes it takes a REALLY long time to get where you want to go. Sometimes, you give up for a while, because the wanting of the thing isn’t enough to override the stress and heartache of not having it. But you always pick it back up later, because it’s worth it. I have such wanderlust in me, that staying in one place seems impossible.

Restlessness of spirit seems to be one of my very core characteristics, that isn’t ever going to go away. And so, while I struggle to get where I want, get the job I need so I can afford to go the places I want, I settle. I find the joys in the routine, and try to relax.

It’s time for another trip already.

Race with your Dog!

I've found the perfect race for me to start out training for! A few times now I've told myself to start training for a marathon, because it'll help me lose weight and be a great accomplishment. I'm seeing now I need to start out with something a little easier, and build my way up. I'm in no way a great runner, nor have I ever been, but someday I'd like to be. So, I found a 5K race that happens the first Saturday in October (perfect weather!), AND...they let you run with your dog! How awesome is that!

Check it out and let's run this one together! http://www.dogrundog.com/race-locations/DogRunDogSaltLakeCity.htm

Not so in "Love"

There’s a new show on Fox I’m going to take issue with for a minute here. Now, being a loyal Bachelor/Bachelorette follower, I’m addicted to watching the process of one person pick from a plethora of people to try and find love. However, I have to say I will not be tuning in to More to Love this season. There’s a couple reasons. First, the guy they picked, from what I’ve seen, is a total schmuck. He’s already making out with girls, has these super cheesy lines, and overall leaves me feeling a bit slimy and wanting to run away from my TV.

Second, I really take issue with the “real women” they portray on this show. I understand the average size in women is 12 in this country. I’m all for showing people that are “average.” But I would not qualify these women as average. 230 pounds is not the average woman. Not only that, but they degrade these women and make it all about the weight issue by showing their eye-popping weight every time they flash their name. We get it, they’re fat. You don’t need to humiliate them more. Plus, they’re all really needy and desperate. So many of the women are crying in interviews because they can’t get dates, they just want to find love, etc. WAKE UP! This is not just because you’re fat! It’s because you have no self-esteem! Even the skinniest, hottest of women are going to have trouble finding or holding on to a man if they’re not confident in who they are. This show is not giving women good role models to look up to.

Thirdly, and I think most important, as a nation becoming shockingly more obese, I very much disagree with glorifying being overweight. It is NOT ok to be obese, not for the image issue, but in terms of health. I’m sure the doctors of these women have told them multiple times they need to lose weight, or they risk preventable illnesses like diabetes, shortened life span, and heart disease, which is the number one killer of women. We should NOT be saying it’s OK to be this heavy. We NEED to turn around America’s lazy habits and get back out and active again. If you’re going to do a show featuring obese people, the only ones I would watch are ones that inspire me to change my lifestyle, such as the Biggest Loser. I think that’s why I like the Bachelor/Bachelorette. Yes these women are really skinny, but they are also healthy and not sweating their makeup off at cocktail parties. They make me want to be like them. It inspires me to change my lifestyle and try to be healthier, go to the gym regularly, and make sure I put my best foot forward to the world. The laziness in America has got to stop. Shows like More to Love are not going to affect change. The only positive I could see coming from this is seeing that women can be heavy and date, thereby giving heavier women more confidence, or else they see these women, and can relate to their weight, and it inspires them to start being healthier, because they see the story of their lives on the screen.

I’ll be interested to see what ratings come in on this show.