Pat's Run

Tried something new this past weekend. Don't you just love stepping out of your comfort zone?! I signed up to participate in the Pat Tillman Run. Pat Tillman played football for Arizona State University. After graduation, he signed on with the Arizona Cardinals. Wanting to serve our country, he put his career on hold, joined the army, & was deployed to Afghanistan. In 2004, he was killed by friendly fire & the government tried to cover it up. A conspiracy theory. Anyway, his family started a foundation for veterans & military families, http://www.pattillmanfoundation.org/. This was the 7th annual run. My office offered to pay for it if we signed up so I thought I might as well. What else do I have going on? A friend was supposed to go with me but couldn't at the last minute.Pat's number was 40 for ASU then 42 for the Cardinals. That's why it's a 4.2 mile course. My 4.2 mile journey begins. I didn't actually run. It was more of a walk with a smidgen of jogging. I really hate to run. Asthma attacks never did appeal to me.
I finished in 1 hour & 3 minutes. Not too bad really.
They had a record number of participants this year, over 30,000 people. Crazy!Next year I'm going to make sure someone goes with me. After the run, they have awards for the fastest runners, of course, & booths, food, & music. It would be fun to stick around for that. I had a good time anyway! Lovin' the "goggles"! Proud of myself for doing something new & different on my own.

Christmas in Paradise

Does it get much better?! Hmmmm....let me think.... After months of planning & anticipation, Dad & Lynnea took all of us to Kaua'i for Christmas. Not a traditional year for sure & one that we'll never forget. We had such a great time, even in that humidity. It wreaked havoc on my hair!

Days at the beach playing in the sand & surf...collecting shells, playing football & frisbee, flying kites, burying Uncle Tyler in the sand, snorkeling, napping, reading, catching a few rays. I decided to spare you the bathing suit pics :)

Sightseeing by land...
Sightseeing by air...We ate a LOT! I was lucky enough to only gain a couple of pounds & take it right back off. Shaved ice, ice cream, fruit smoothies, tons of treats, prime rib, Puka Dog, a fun night of traditional food & dancing at a luau, & lots more! It could have been really bad for my waistline...
On Christmas Eve, we all dressed up to celebrate Scott & Angel's wedding last summer in Taiwan. It was super fancy & we ate like kings!I'm so grateful for all Dad & Lynnea did to give us the experience of a lifetime!

It's about time...

I've been meaning to post for over a year but just couldn't bring myself to do it. Since there's now SO much to tell, I think I'll have to stick with the highlights.

• Dirk & I split up in Aug 2009 & were divorced in January of this year. We tried really hard, for almost 15 years, to keep it together. Unfortunately, it was time for us to move forward but in different directions. It has been such a sad & difficult time.
• I moved into a sweet little apartment "home" in Dec 2009. It's the cutest little place behind a wonderful couple's house. They are so good to me & watch over me & my pets. Love them!
• I lost 45 pounds! At first, it was just the stress of the divorce. Otherwise known as the divorce diet. Then I just kept working on it. How, you ask? Good old fashioned exercise & making better choices in my diet. I was hiking every weekend until the Arizona summer hit. I've had a hard time starting up again. Luckily, I've only gained back a couple of pounds since then, but my pants are feeling a little tight. It's time to get moving again!
• I started dating in August. First, I signed up on eHarmony then was talked into LDS Singles & LDS Planet. It was so scary but exciting at the same time. I haven't really been single since high school so it's a whole new world that I've entered into. It is fun, but I get worn out trying to keep up with it all. I've met some good guys. There's one in particular that I've become really good friends with, but we're not in a serious relationship. It's not time for anything like that, for either of us. I'm talking to & meeting new guys all the time. In the process, I'm really finding out what I want & don't want. It's been interesting, to say the least.
• Dirk & I finally sold our house last month...short sale. It took over a year, 3 offers, & a lot of stress. I felt like it would never come to an end.

Major stuff, but I'm doing well & finally feel like I'm coming into my own as I'm rediscovering myself. It is tough at times, as I face things I've put off for too long, but it has been the most amazing time of my life. It is awesome to find out who I am, what I want, what I don't want, & to find the confidence to be myself. I'm getting healthy inside & out. I have a ways to go, but I am definitely well on my way. The best of my life is yet to come! I truly believe that.

Here's the most recent picture of me. It's not the best picture, but it is the most recent. We had an Anderson family reunion in southern Utah last month at Zion's National Park.

8 Things

Rules of this tag: Mention the person who tagged you. Complete the list of eight things. Tag 8 of your bloggity friends. Easy peasy!! So here goes...

I was tagged by my cousin, Bethany.

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO:
Bedtime
Extra time with family & friends
Snuggling with the dogs
Wintertime in Arizona
Reading
Dates with Dirk
Phone calls from my family
Getting help with the housework (-;

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY:
Got gas...in the car!
Worked
Went grocery shopping
Got a prescription filled
Started dinner (then Dirk helped)
Watched "So You Think You Can Dance"
Walked the dogs
Talked to my brother, Kyle, on the phone

8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO:
Get pregnant
Spend more time with my famiy
Take vacations that involve traveling to places besides "back home" (not that I don't enjoy that!)
Lose weight....but it would help if I tried harder!!
Sing & dance
Work part time
Speak another language
Remodel our house

8 SHOWS I WATCH:
Biggest Loser - my favorite!
American Idol
So You Think You Can Dance
....I seem to be watching what I wish I could do...lose weight, sing, dance...hmmmm
House
Bones
CSI
Medium
Good Morning America

8 PEOPLE I TAG:
Shalise
Mom
Jana
Katharine
Jessica
Heather
Jen
Kelsey

Tyler's Engaged!

I'm a few days late, but my brother, Tyler, & his girlfriend, Heidi, are engaged! They are so excited & we're excited for them. Congratulations you two!

These pictures are from Tyler's birthday on May 28th. I was able to get 4 tickets from my old boss to the Diamondbacks game. It was so much fun. They were fantastic seats, as you can see, in the corporate section. It was all you can eat...and they served us at our seats! It was awesome!

Viewer Discretion is Advised

Yo-ho. Yo-ho. It's a pirate's life for me! So our latest adventure was my health/medical stuff this last week. Anybody have a bedazzler I can borrow? I need to bedazzle my eye patch!

So here's what happened....my arthritis causes iritis on occasion, which is inflammation of the iris. When my eye gets inflamed & then shrinks back down as it gets better, it can cause little tears in the film that is in front of the retina. The little tears create "debris", or floaters, in my eye. I had so many in my right eye that it was causing vision problems. So I had surgery on Thursday. They made incisions in the white part of my eye then removed the vitreous gel in my eye & replaced it with saline solution. I thought they were just going to strain it out, but instead they just got rid of all the gunk. Gross huh? Don't worry, the gel recreates itself in a few days. The human body is amazing!

So I've just been taking it easy & trying to heal. I have to keep my eye dilated, which keeps the muscles in my eye from contracting which can be painful after this surgery. So far it's just been headaches or my eye will ache. I have pain pills, but Tylenol seems to be doing the trick & I have eye drops. For the next week I have to patch it at night, can't get it wet, & can't wear make-up. I'm supposed to go back to work on Tuesday, but I can guarantee I'll scare a few people. You should see this! I am either going to go to work as an alien or a pirate. I think most people will choose pirate.

It will take at least 2 weeks for this to heal. The doctor said that it looks bad on the outside but inside it looks good. The surgery went well. I have another follow up appointment in a week to see how it's healing. Hopefully, I'll never have to do this to my left eye.

Yo-ho. Yo-ho. It's a pirate's life for me!

Gettin' Old Ain't For Sissies!

Here's the first update on what we've been doing...

In September, Dirk saw our family doctor. He got 5 referrals for 5 different doctors for 5 different issues to be looked into. The most pressing is what we started with & are still working on...the chronic diarrhea! Poor guy couldn't keep anything in longer than 10 minutes. As if he needed to, he lost about 15 more pounds...without trying! I'd be all over that, if it weren't for the diarrhea part!

Colonoscopy - They checked for prostate problems, diverticulosis, polyps. Everything came back normal.

Upper GI - They checked his pancreas, stomach, & other stuff. The only thing they found was a small hiatal hernia, which finally explains his heartburn & acid reflux, but that's it.

Ultrasound - They found a small cyst on one of his kidneys but nothing to worry about right now.

CT Scan - They found another small cyst on the same kidney. Again, nothing to worry about. They'll check them both again in a year.

Blood Work - They did so many tests I can't remember them all. They checked for hepatitis, stomach cancer, parasites, copper disorders, thyroid disorders, colitis, ulcers, pancreatic cancer, blood disorders, Crohn's Disease, & a bunch of other stuff. All normal!

Dirk now takes an over-the-counter fiber pill that seems to be helping quite a bit. Strange that a fiber pill doesn't make it worse, huh? The doctor ordered another parasite test & a lactose-intolerance test, but he hasn't gone in for those yet. The doctor told him that if these come back normal, there's nothing more but to put him in a general category of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. That's what they do when they can't figure out what's wrong with you. So I can't seem to motivate Dirk to just finish it up & get these last 2 tests done. He's convinced they won't find anything.

Gettin' old ain't for sissies!!

It's about time!

I have no good excuses! I think of it kind of like I do exercise, I guess. I can't miss even one class or one week or I've had it! The holidays came around (& a bunch of other stuff) & I stopped blogging AND exercising. No kidding!! But this week I started my water aerobics class again so it's time to get back to my blog. I know, I know. It's about time!

I'll try to post the last 3 months worth of updates this weekend...so you know what we've been up to. For tonight, I just had to get rid of the Christmas music!

Homesick

I'm having one of those weeks! I haven't been homesick for a really long time, but for some reason, today especially, I'm homesick. I think the kicker tonight was finding a long lost friend's blog (of course it doesn't help that I'm emotional this week!). She wasn't really "long lost". I know where she is & I know how to get in touch with her. We just kind of let life get in the way. Dumb! I read her entire blog, from the beginning, & cried. So many memories came flooding back. "Flooding" is a good word since I can't stop bawling now!

I miss being near family (that I'm closer to), camping, hiking, the lake, drives & picnics up the canyon, fall weather (but not winter!), & truly great friends!!! Why do we let time go by so quickly? We rush, rush, rush through everything...especially here. It's called city life.

Do you ever have those days where you wish you could rewind, just to enjoy certain times, things, & people all over again? Maybe it's the holidays.....I don't know. I'm such a mess!

Quirks & fun facts about me!

I've been tagged! I've seen so many "tags" but haven't taken the time. Maybe it will be fun...

Rules: A - People who are tagged need to post these rules and 8 random habits, facts, or quirks about themselves. B - At the end of the post, choose 8 people to tag and list their names.

1) One of my favorite, favorite snacks is Ritz crackers, cheese, & applesauce....all together! Put the cheese on the cracker & a dab of applesauce on top of that. LOVE IT!!

2) I hit the snooze in the morning for up to an hour. For most of that time, I hardly realize I'm hitting the snooze. I do it in my sleep. I can't help it! I've tried everything....radio, buzzer, soft, loud, across the room, 5 minutes before time to get up, an hour before time to get up, & every time in between. I am NOT a morning person AT ALL!

3) My dream car is a Cadillac. I've wanted one since I was a little girl. Grandpa & Grandma Irwin had a big, white Cadi with red leather interior. How long has it been since you've seen red leather in a car?! Some of you are probably too young to remember that! Anyway, I felt like a movie star when I rode in it & I've wanted one ever since.

4) I'm obsessed with keeping my cuticles trimmed. I spend entirely too much time making sure they're just right!

5) I have no rhythm whatsoever, in song or dance. I'm terrible! Dirk says I "can't carry a tune in a bucket". He's right! I don't know if I even have one creative bone in my body.... It's just not my thing, I guess.

6) I have phobias (undiagnosed, of course). I'm claustrophobic, afraid of heights, afraid of spiders, & afraid of sharks. JAWS! When I was younger, I was afraid to swim in a pool at night! I do ok now, but I'm not ready to get up close & personal!

7) I hate to mop! Mopping is always last on my list of chores. It never quite makes it to the priority list. I don't mind almost anything else...toilets, windows, even cleaning out the kitty litter, but I dread mopping. Usually I try to make Dirk do it!

8) My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. I love this time of year! I really, really miss the mountains, the leaves changing, the air cooling off, the smell of fall. When I retire (if I ever get to retire), I want to be a snowbird. Utah in the summer & Arizona in the winter. Thanksgiving dinner out on the patio is awesome!!

Tag, you're it!...Jana, Shalise, Kelsey, Therena, Bethany, Melissa, Heather, Ashley