NOT Daily Post #8

Wow, it has been two weeks since I have written on my blog! I need to be more diligent about writing. Time to try to recap what has been going on with books, health, and good old summer fun.
It is going to take me a minute to think of all the books I have read so far this summer.

1. Freewill
2. You Don't Know Me But You Don't Like Me
3. 34 Pieces of You
4. Bad Girls Don't Die
5. I Will Save You
6. Dirty Little Secret
7. After
8. Uses for Boys

I was reading I Will Save You last time I wrote, and I really liked it. I can't really say much about it without giving away the plot, but it was well written, interesting, and most importantly, I cared about the characters.

Dirty Little Secrets was about a teenager whose mother is a hoarder. The book really goes into details about this mental illness and it peaked my interest enough that I researched the illness myself which was kind of a bad idea because it made me all paranoid that Graham exhibits hoarding behavior. Of course, much of what I read talked about understanding the difference between normal kid hoarding and the actual mental illness. I think those of us that have mental illnesses see mental illness in everyone else. We are always diagnosing others. Having said that, I think most terms for varying mental illnesses are just words to describe a set of behaviors. Everyone has abnormal behaviors which actually makes it normal. What I am saying is that in a way everyone displays some characteristics of mental illness; some just exhibit it in more extreme ways and/or have multiple characteristics so they (we) are diagnosed with an actual term to describe it. OK, enough on my tangent about mental illness. The book was alright, but the whole middle section was just pages and pages describing the disgusting, mess of a house. I get that the author wanted the reader to really get how bad it was, but at a certain point I got it and would have preferred the story just move along. The ending was satisfying though.

After was a pretty intense book, but I liked it. It was about a girl who had everything going for her. She was an excellent student and a star soccer player. Her dad was gone and her mom wasn't as responsible as she was. The, the girl breaks her own rule and has sex, just once, and gets pregnant. However, she doesn't really realize she is pregnant, or subconsciously she does but is in a sort of denial. When she actually has the baby, alone, in her mom's apartment, she puts the baby in the dumpster behind the apartments. She ends up getting caught and going to a juvenile detention center. The book focuses on her slow progress coming out of the denial. If I had tackled this story, I probably would have gone about it a little differently, but I still liked the book a lot.

I am currently reading Uses for Boys. It is about the classic scenario of the girl who has no father figure, and in the book's case a distant mother as well, and tries to find value and comfort in boys and sex. I can tell you as a middle school teacher that this kind of girl exists. This scenario happens too often. However I also don't love the way the author is tackling the subject. It is hard to explain what I mean. It is written in short, choppy chapters with a lot of snippets of the main character's thoughts with a lot to be inferred. But because those snippets of thoughts are the same ones repeated over and over I as a reader am not getting the depth of the character I could if it was written differently.

So, that's where I am on the book front. It will be cool to keep track of just how many books I read this summer and what they are. People always ask me what I've been reading and I always blank out and don't have an answer, but by writing this all down I think I will be able to answer that question much more accurately.

Health: I'm sure I gained some weight the week my friend was here because there was a lot of eating and drinking going on. However, there was some decent activity as well. As a result I chose not to weigh myself for awhile, even after "getting back on the (health) wagon". I know a lot of people that disagree with the idea of not weighing yourself when you know it will be bad, that you are trying to fool yourself and therefore won't be as successful in your weight loss. That may very well be true for certain people.

Like most people, I respond better to positive reinforcement than negative, but I think I respond worse to negative reinforcement than a lot of people. Seeing a significant weight gain on the scale can make me feel very dejected. I know I probably gained weight, so I really don't need to see the actual number and am motivated to get back to a good weight before I weigh myself so I can have a nice surprise.

After a week of the old eating right/exercise routine I weighed myself and I was pleased. I am back to the weight I was before I gained the three pounds. I'm feeling pretty good about that. I also realized something. Before I started really trying to lose weight again because of my knee I had a natural resting spot for my weight possibly fluctuated a few pounds here and there. Then I lost those ten pounds back in March. I fell off the wagon for awhile and assumed I had gained it all back, but never checked. Now, I am back on the wagon. I actually think I have maintained that ten pound loss. I wasn't actively losing any weight for awhile, but I think I've been healthy enough to adjust my resting weight, which does happen after you maintain a certain weight for awhile. Having an average weight of ten pounds less than it has been for years is pretty awesome and I think I deserve to feel good about that.

Completely switching gears, my good high school friend came to visit for almost a week. Kyle and the kids headed to the coast that Tuesday afternoon and I picked up my friend at the airport at 10:30 at night. We went back to my place and talked and talked and talked, until like 3:30 in the morning. I can't remember the last time I stayed up until 3:30. It was awesome.

We got up the next day and after a nice breakfast out headed to the coast to meet up with the family. It was really fun to watch my friend's reaction to the northwest coast which is very different from the coast she is used to in Florida. I think the northwest is amazingly beautiful and the coast and quaint little coastal towns are no exception. She obviously saw the same thing I did and it was just really awesome to get to share it with someone that has never seen it or been exposed to it.

We did some walking on the beach, some Apples to Apples at the beach house, a small town 4th of July parade, a BBQ, and watched a pretty amazing professional fireworks show on the beach. The last day we took a beautiful hike down to Indian beach and stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory on the way home.

The last day she was here was nearly a perfect day. She and I biked for a while up the beautiful Springwater trail and then get over to this place called Edgefield. It is hard to explain Edgefield to someone that has never been there or to any of the other McMenamin's "resorts". Edgefield is a huge plot of land with lodging, different restaurants and bars and a winery, and a golf course. It is covered in gardens, including vegetable gardens and has a huge field where they hold concerts. MecMenamin's also brews their own beer. It is a beautiful place and we spent the day there eating, drinking, and wandering around the gardens. Then, we rode our bikes home. Seriously, biking, drinking, and gardens...three of my very, very favorite things. Doesn't get much better.

After she left it was back to our busy routines. Swim, Dance, Camps...In a lot of ways we are just as busy this summer as we are during the school year. There is a lot of rushing around to get to camps or classes on time and there are many days I don't shower, which is kind of gross since I workout most days, often in the morning. But the truth is when I know I am just going to sweat going hiking or biking later or get dirty swimming in the river at the beach it seems stupid to shower first.

Mimi is still in swimming and hip-hop dance class. Graham was involved in a camp last week that was custom made for him. It was a film making class and over the course of the week they made a zombie movie. Graham ended up being on the acting side of the camera a lot which is no surprise since he is a talented actor. For those of you that don't know Graham was to direct movies, specifically dark movies, horror movies, and comedy/horror movies. So as a said, this camp was custom made for him. They are going to send us a copy of the movie and I can't wait to see it.

Graham also hit a major milestone in growing up this week, he left his family for multiple days. Graham has never been away from me for more than a night except when he went to Las Vegas with my parents to see The Lion King musical and that was only two nights.

On Saturday he went with his friend's family to Long Beach, WA to stay on the beach for two nights. He was very nervous and pre-homesick and asked to take a picture of me with him. While he was gone he called me many times a day. I'm going to tell you right now, I cried when I was driving away from dropping him off at their house.

He came back Monday, stayed with us Monday and last night, and I just dropped him off at their house again this morning for a THREE night camping trip where there will not be cell phone reception. Though it is nice to be a little less busy with only one child, it will be strange and I will miss him dearly. However, I do feel a little better this time despite it being a longer trip in the woods because now that he already did it once and had a good time I am a little more at ease and he was definitely less nervous this time now that he is used to being with them and away from me. Also, his mom said they will drive into town a few times so he can call me. Obviously I trust this family and am very fond of them or I wouldn't have let him go.

Mimi and I have been doing this like hiking at Oaks Bottom and going to the river beach and going to the park. Sometimes we just like to put on our bathing suits and get out the kiddie pool and hang in the backyard. By the way, I love my yard. Both of us are outdoors lovers so that is where we spend most of our time. However, I have accomplished some cleaning and laundry between activities which is nice because if I keep things clean then I have more time to enjoy summer.

So, that pretty much brings us up to date. I am going to try to write more often from now on and then the posts won't have to be so long.

Also, if you are reading these, I never proof-read so please don't judge me; I have more important things to do (hiking, biking, playing) than proof-read.   : )