February Thoughts

It's been a crazy couple of weeks around the house. Julia and I have been very busy with church callings, work and keeping up with the kids.

Last Thursday I went to the doctors for my second fill. I was up another 1.5 pounds. I was very frustrated but with all the stresses in my life at this point, it wasn't too surprising. The doctor said is normal for this stage in the game. I received another fill and I have to tell you, I get full very quickly now. I think this one will do it for me.

I started walking 3 days a week for 30-40 minutes. It turns out to be about two miles. I go in the early morning hours. The solitude is nice and there isn't that much traffic. So my chances of getting hit by a car or truck go down a bit. My first day out and got these HUGE blisters on the inside corner of my heels. Not such a big deal, but it made me walk with a little bit of a limp for a while. I made the grave mistake of going out and walking again with the blisters. I had covered them up well so they didn't hurt, but because I was favoring the heel area a bit, my feet started cramping. It just got worse and worse as I went on, to the point where I was hurting badly.

I decided to give the walking a break until my feet healed a bit and also get a new pair of trainers (those are tennis shoes or sneakers). I went to The Portland Running Company . They did a nice job of fitting the trainers specifically for me. The way I walk, run, and stand. Very comfy and the prices were about the same as most places. It was well worth the effort to go there as I felt that I had set myself up for success in terms of my exercise program.

The doctor asked if I could walk 2 hours a week. I didn't see a problem with adding another 30 minutes, but of course I wanted to wait until my feet healed from my last adventure. I will probably take this week as 3 times a week, and next week I will add another day in. That will give me just a little more than 2 hours a week of walking.

On another note, I have received my first Temple recommend from the church. I'm very excited and a little scared all at the same time. I know there are blessing for going to the temple for myself and my family and feel the time is right. I still need to call the temple and set a date.

Julia and I also looked how things were going in the paying the bills department. We are paying the medical bills down much quicker than we originally anticipated. After we did our taxes for 2009, we realized that we are only living on $5000 per year. I never thought that six people could eat, clothe and do all the things we do on such little money, at least in this day and age. This is after we have paid all of the obligations and medical bills. Thanks to my wonderful in-laws for helping us out on the living arrangements department, we have been able to get these bills down. Some people don't understand how grateful Julia and I are for her parents sacrifice. From what I have been taught, this is what families do for each other.