Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

After long thought (seriously long, like more than a year long), I finally decided to step away from Facebook. I almost did so in June, but Funny Delightful Son suggested I stay on for a bit longer. I did, but I keep coming back to wanting to simplify my life even further, with social media being the area I want to work on most. I had closed my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts earlier this year, so the last big step is Facebook. After talking briefly with a friend yesterday about him deactivating his FB account and being all the happier because of it, I was inspired to take the leap and deactivate mine. I posted a note letting friends and family know of my intentions, and in a day or so I'll go in to hit the Deactivate button to complete the process. For many years I've wanted to simplify my life. I thought, though, this meant finding that dream farm and having the milking cow, chickens, and a large garden. Then, my husband and I separated. I moved into a rental with no garden t...

Me around 11 years old aboard Copper. Here I am, Saturday morning, a mere three days beyond my birthday, thinking about how I've done getting back on the healthy eating horse. So far, the horse has been a comfortable ride though at times I've thought about jumping off and stuffing a donut into my mouth. One thing I've begun doing when I feel the urge to pat my horse's neck and say, "Thanks for the ride but I'm bailing now," is sit down and write about why I'm wanting to eat when I'm really not hungry. This has helped me sort through the emotional aspect of eating and stay on track. Taking the time to think things through has shown me I'm inclined to eat because others are eating and because yummy, full-of-sugar processed foods are right under my nose. I don't have to follow the herd. I'm on the healthy horse. With my beautiful black steed, we tell the herd which way to go. I am now four days into not consuming refined sugar, and thi...

Due to a major head cold, the training has been put on hold for the last two days. I finally broke down and took a cold med this evening when I couldn't take the pounding headache any longer. I try to avoid taking anything when I'm not feeling well, but when the aching causes my stomach to become upset, that's when I cave. I've never been diagnosed as having migraines, but sometimes I get these headaches that make me feel like I've been in a smack-down. I can tell when they're coming on, so I head them off by taking an over-the-counter as I loathe the upset stomach. The last three days it's mostly been the scratchy throat, the sneezing, and a bit of a cough, so I was just riding it out, but today the headache took over. Ughhhhh. To help pass the time this weekend, I searched for a training schedule for a sprint tri. I found several. I hadn't given strength training much thought, but most of the schedules have weight workouts built into them. Looking at t...