Let's talk shoes

Two years ago I heard about a sandal type slip on that allegedly helped to tone your muscles. They were only available over seas so of course, I didn't buy any. I sat around on the internet looking for quicky weight loss plans or ideas. Last year, again with the whole turning forty something, when I took stock of my life and made some choices, one of the things I dedicated myself to was losing some weight. I am glad to be able to say that I am down over thirty pounds now, six months later. I continue to lose but I am concerned about toning up and finding the time to fit in just a little more activity. Walking is the one thing I can do and do well so I have been checking into the new sneaker type shoes that are supposed to help with toning. Recently, I came across the mbt shoes and while I do not think they are very attractive, they do have an appeal that I like: they allegedly mimic the feel of walking barefoot. I walk barefoot all the time. I only wear shoes at work. I don't even worry about the spiders, critters and scorpions anymore. I just want the feel of my bare feet clenching when I walk. I might have to try the shoes.

Taking Stock of What's Important

When I turned forty a couple years ago, I did a little prioritizing in my life. I realized that killing myself at work was not going to give me more quality time with my kids or husband. I realized that getting my Masters degree was important to me. I realized that I needed to slow down and take just a few minutes each day for myself (that part isn't working out so well. See my last post). Mostly, I did something of a taking stock of my life thing and decided there were a couple places that needed changing.

Since that time, I have redone my yard (because hey, it was on the list of things to do). I've gone out on a limb and did something racy (that I'm not blogging). I have made more of an effort to call the important people in my life and just say hi. Recently, I painted my bedroom. I'm not liking the color much, but, as I was laying there one night thinking, man, this room needs a coat of paint, at least I wasn't thinking about how I need a life insurance policy or a living will.

Maybe that whole taking stock thing did some good.

Busy Time

Do you ever have those weeks when you finally sit down and realize that the entire week is gone and you start over again in two days? That is how the past two weeks have been for me. I honestly do not know where January went. It seemed that I was busy at work and plugging along and getting caught up after my end of month work and BLAMO! here I am again, doing the end of month work and accounting and letters and getting further behind on the legal stuff because I'm so caught up in the administrative stuff.

This is where I slide deeper into the hot bath I am soaking in and just begin to feel the release of tension in my neck. This is also the point when one of the kids comes in yelling about the other.

Ah. The good life.

Job Searching

When I first started looking for work in Arizona, I was looking only for paralegal jobs. However, moving from Utah to Arizona, while at first glance seemed like a no brainer and I thought I would find work immediately, instead turned out to be 59 resumes and one call to inquire about my Arizona experience. Clearly I needed to change something. I drove down to Arizona on a Sunday and interviewed with two temporary agencies on Monday. After two weeks, when I still had not heard anything, I began an admin job search figuring that administrative work would be the same across state lines. Sadly, I was apparently not what any employer in Arizona was looking for. I finally ended up getting lucky and finding a job with a firm that was established in Utah, but had an Arizona office. Five years later, I'm still there. Those other firms, who did not give me the time of day, they don't know what they're missing!

Rehab - you gotta want it

Way back in the day, when I worked for the criminal defense attorney, we had many cases where our client, the defendant, was referred to drug rehab and of all those clients, my best estimate is that only one quarter of them successfully kicked their addiction after the rehab. What I learned after all those years, is that unless a person really wants help, or to stop bad behavior or addiction, they will never be successful unless they are doing it for themselves. Not for the spouse or the parent or the judge. It has to be for themselves.

Western Governors University

I received the majority of my undergrad degree by taking online courses. At first I was intimidated at the idea of not being with other students in a controlled environment. I was nervous that I would not learn as much as perhaps I could. I will be honest, I was shocked at how much more I believe I learned attending an online university that I think I ever did in the early portion of my undergrad studies. I think having to really read the material and complete the assignments was better for me in the online arena because it forced me to focus. It also allowed me to keep my full time job and take care of my family while I pursued my dream of higher education.

The college I attended had only a limited number of online degree programs available, however, Western Governors University has a large selection of programs and degrees available in a good selection of fields. The thing that gets me the most, as I am currently enrolled in an online program that is not WGU, is that tuition at Western Governors University is less than HALF what I currently pay. That alone has me checking into transferring my credits and moving forward at half the cost.

Half.

(holds head in hands and weeps). Half.

Diet Pills

Speaking of weight loss, I did not try any diet pills over the past two years. I remember way back in the day I tried one that shall remain nameless, it was pulled from the market due to some heart issues. I then tried another that was sponsored by a beautiful blond who had gone from very large to very small. All that did was make me mega cranky and gave me the shakes. So, even though diet pills did not work for me, I guess they do work for other people. I just read an account of a 21 day experiment with liporexall that sounded like it turned out well. The author was pleased with his or her results.

Weight Loss The Continuing Saga

Any long time browser of this blog knows that I have struggled with losing weight and endless doctor visits trying to figure out if it was my hormones or lack of hormones or exactly what caused me to gain three to five pounds a month for the past two years. While the doctors kept telling me I was fine, yet I kept packing on the weight, I started trying my own things. I used a belly fat burner for about three months, and I really did notice a difference. Now, I have changed a few things, added some exercise into my routine and cut back on sugars. I’m down 33 pounds. Go me!

FootBALLLLL

OMG OMG OMG the Saints and the Colts in the Super Bowl! YES!
(I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a little bit sad that Favre didn't make it.)

BUT - I like the Saints and I hope they take the Colts by the reigns and drill em'!

SEO Tools

Speaking of web terms, SEO is one that I did not understand and I really did not know what it had to do with anything. SEO is search engine optimization and it is the best way to get readers to your website or your blog. In early 2005, blogging really picked up and soon, everyone it seemed had a blog and was blogging away. Countless number of companies cropped up advertising their pay services to get your blog or website indexed with the top search engines. What few people know is that there are free seo tools available for website owners or bloggers that will net results just as easily as the paid services. In a time where we are all counting our pennies, free seems to be the way to go.