Girl's Camp & Goals

For nine years straight, I have attended a camp for young women as a leader. I have experienced many aspects of camp, but I have to admit that the job I have done for the past two years have been my favorite. Only because of the drama. When you work as leader at camp with lots of teenage girls, there is lots of drama. In the kitchen, which is where I worked this year and last, it is pure physical labor... like 6:00 am to 11:00 pm labor. But it is a labor of love and done with lots of laughs. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

All the kitchen staff had their own sleeping quarters that included a separate lodge. During the day, our rooms were closed and would get very hot. At the end of every long day, the cooks would meet in the lodge to have a devotional and chit chat. Because I sleep so poorly in the heat, on the way to each devotional, I would leave my room door open to let the air circulate. One night, as we were returning to the rooms, a fellow cook noticed a scurrying coming from my room. Out popped a raccoon! That fat thing scampered off to our screams then turned around and hissed at us!!! It was a very cruel raccoon. Would you like to know why? Because it passed up the candy I had on my night stand and favored my roomie's! The reason why that action was cruel is because I am trying very hard to lose weight. Oh, the irony. I did end up giving my candy to the poor cook that lost her candy to a hungry raccoon. But it would have been awfully nice to skip the step of even having candy in my hands!

While we're on the weight loss subject, I would like to share some of the journey I am taking. In the last week of January, I made the decision to work more diligently on taking care of my body. It is a gift from God and I have been treating it very poorly. Very, very poorly. With the mix of many small factors, I have found a balance that is bringing success. I am excited to share that I am 3 pounds short of losing 40 pounds!!! Isn't that just the bee's knees?! My goal is 100 pounds and then some. There have been many little things that happen to bring squeals (or even tears) of delight. I cried in the dressing room at Gap when I actually fit back into the clothes there. I have been happily wearing clothes that are nearly a decade old- with new accessories, of course...

Also, something funny happened to me. Before I got married, my income was such that I might buy myself many nice things. Of those nice things, I would purchase fine jewelry. Of that fine jewelry, there was a fabulous ring with 12 sapphires and six diamonds set in platinum. Jimmy and I were in matrimonial bliss for maybe five years when I could no longer wear said ring. It devastated me, but not enough to keep from shoving that ring to the back of my jewelry drawer. Well, one day I decided I was going to don that ring once more, darn it! Before a relief society activity, I attempted to push it onto my chubby sausage of a finger. It would not fit! So, I did anything a normal person would not do- I pushed even harder. So hard, in fact, that the ring just barely squeaked onto my finger. And stayed. The ring stayed for the whole relief society meeting and steadily created a purple bulge above the joint on which the ring sat. It was only after multiple urges from concerned women that I finally relented to attend the emergency room. The doctor refused to cut the ring off (much to my dismay and Jimmy's glee- it was a very expensive ring). Instead of cutting the ring, the doctor used thick fishing line to screw the ring off. It hurt like the dickens, but my jewelry remained intact. That sapphire, diamond and platinum piece was pushed back again to the far corner of my jewelry drawer. Well, last night, my current setting (I've been through 7- I like bling) was too big and was annoyingly turning circles around my finger. So, I daringly, gasp!, tried on my sapphire ring. Good news folks- no trip to the ER! It fits! Things like that experience are what brings me joy: fitting differently on the Disneyland rides, jeans falling off, etc.

Because of my success in weight loss, I have been attempting more difficult goals. My newest goal?! Running a 10K! I am excited, only because I have experienced one day of training. But I am optimistic. There is ample time to prepare. The date is November 17th of this year and I am running it with Jimmy and some friends. Oh my stars and garters, I cannot wait!