About three weeks ago, I finally got started back in the swing of daily exercise, with Sundays for recovery. It’s taken some time to get it worked into my schedule without throwing everything else out of kilter. Basically, I had to decide that exercise was priority no matter what else got thrown out of kilter. Now I’m just working out how all the other activities will fit in around it. Just taking it in baby steps.

Speaking of baby steps, that’s about how fast I run. The cool thing is, I am running. This last week, I managed to work it up to 1 1/2 miles of running out of the total 3 miles I go everyday. I have discovered several things.

• 3 miles run and walked outdoors is much easier and seems to go faster than 2 miles on the treadmill. Even in the cold and snow.
• A bandanna put to to traditional use (tied around the neck) works well as a lightweight, less bulky scarf.
• 180’s (a type of ear-warmer headphones) can be very useful to have in April when you head out into a snowstorm to go running.
• Getting out of the house and taking the first few steps is the hardest part. Once that’s done, it’s not so hard to do the whole route.
• Mapping out different routes that cover the same distance is a great way to mix up the training and not get bored. The other day I ran past a small farm that was raising deer! I didn’t even know it was legal to do that. Seems like a good way if you like deer meat.

I’m already enjoying some of the benefits of the increased exercise. Mr. Hot Stuff took me country dancing last night. It was a blast. It usually is, but last night I had a lot more energy to enjoy it. We actually left the dance because he was getting too tired and not because I was. That’s a switch. Of course, late nights still exact a price. I don’t function so well on less than 7 hours of sleep a night, so this morning at church I had to fight to stay awake during the prayers. Head bowed, eyes closed… what can I say? That’s not the easiest position to take and still stay awake. Maybe Mormons should consider the advantages of having a praise band… (I know, not in this dispensation. :-D)

I forgot to mention before that Miss Electric’s intramural distance running team placed first in the Championship competition and she set new personal records in both the mile and the two mile races, winning third place in the two mile! Yay! You go girl!!

Miss Sassy has been asked to Prom, so yesterday, her sister (our BYU-Idaho student, who I’m calling Miss Electric because I can’t remember if I gave Miss E a different nickname or not) and I took her shopping for a dress. I’ve pretty much given up on finding anything modest with sleeves that doesn’t look dowdy, or fits so badly as to cause immodest “bodice-gap”, or is waaay out of our price range, so we have compromised by finding something beautiful that fits properly and then buying a shrug or some other type of accessory item that effectively makes the dress more modest. Happily, after Miss Sassy and Miss Electric tried on a combined total of 48 dresses, we finally found a beautiful green dress that will suit the purpose wonderfully. Not only that but they had a blast trying on all kinds of dresses (if someone abandoned it in the dressing room, they tried it on – it was a hoot) – golden Egyptian princess style, anyone? No? How about pink ballerina with a short tutu? Fine then. How about the draperies? Shoe shopping will be saved for later this week. They can handle that without me.

Mr. T is on one of the BYU swing dance teams. Last night they had a little performance as a sort of intermission for their weekly swing dance. We went to watch it and it was so fun! I’m really glad that our area has a vibrant dancing culture (we’ve had several local people who have won on shows like “Dancing With the Stars” and “So You Think You Can Dance?” ). The area I grew up in is not that way, but here it’s even offered as a school class starting at the junior high school level. It’s fun to see Arctic Boy and Mr. T comparing technique and moves. They share with each other and Mr. T is always looking for something new to try at the Lindy Hop dances. Their sisters are also winners in this – their brothers practice with them, so they end up learning too! Economy of lessons – happy Mom.

winner-winner, chicken dinner 🙂