My Favorites of the Year.

I know that technically the year is not at end, but as I have not done much writing about what has been going on in my life, I thought I would pick out some photos that show what has been going on this last year. Obviously my pictures only show pieces of my life when I actually remember to take my camera with me. Here goes:

( After going through this years photos, I quickly realized I am going to have to break them down into multiple posts)

Zoo Lights carousel last Christmas.

Sunset overlooking the valley.

Winter wonderland while snow shoeing last winter.



Love how clear this picture is. Love it except for the lovely poop spot on the rock that is.

Sugarhouse park always looks beautiful, no matter what time of year.


Norah, my niece

One of the few pictures I'll add with me in it!


The new additions to our home. "Johnny" is looking at me as if to say "where's mine?", and "Danger" is going to town.

My first do-it-yourself home remodeling. Everything from the tile to the new mantel was mine. Usually Larry and I work on things together, but this time I just decided to take on the task myself and surprise him. He was surprised indeed!

Some great photos from Hawaii.


The Pill box hike with Larry.

Sunset in Hawaii

I love how this photo turned out. It was in Kauai.

Larry's Birthday. I tried to make him feel like he was a bit younger! :)

These last two aren't that interesting except for that they mark the beginning of starting my engraving business again. Something that I never thought I would do again, but I am happy I am.

Cutting the cord

I have now entered into the world of alternative TV consumption, otherwise known as the other cheap meat. After testing my TV habits for two weeks, I found myself tuning in for two of the 14 days. One of which was because a visiting friend had a show she liked to watch. I found that this did not warrant $70 a month or the nearly $900 a year in crappy TV watching.

After going the rounds with the satellite company...."can we do anything to keep you as a customer? you have been such a great long term customer" ......blah blah blah, I finally cut the cord. Funny thing that although I have been a long term customer, and a regular bill payer, only now do they want to do "anything" to keep me as said wonderful customer. Some saying about wanting you now that you are gone comes to mind.

So it has been three days since the deed was done, and the only difference is the fact that I can't engage in drone clicking with the remote trying to find something entertaining or enlightening to watch. Does this mean I go without any and all TV watching? Nope. Like I said above, I have engaged in the "alternative" tv consumption. I have Netflix and iTunes, and today I spent the hundred bucks on a Roku Digital Player that plays Neflix and Amazon video on demand. Netflix has the "watch instantly" option, but rather than go through the pain of constantly hooking up my laptop to the TV, I will just be able to use the Roku like a DVR (without the monthly fee). I figure it was only $30 more for the box than what I would have paid for my month a crap programming. All that in addition to Hulu.com and there isn't much need or want for anything else.

I am all about freedom of choice, and if there is an option out there to do something different, I am usually on the bandwagon. I will save money this way (minus the $100 on the player), and watch only what I want to watch, when I want to watch it. Will I have to wait a bit for the 3rd season of Mad Men to come out on DVD? Yes I will, but at $900 a year....I think it is worth the wait.

I am BACK!!

After a nearly three month hiatus, I have returned to blogging. I could go into great depths as to why I had to privatize my account, but yes it did come down to a stalking of sorts. I have recently befriended an individual that has a past which he would rather forget ever happened. However, as much as one might like to forget the sins of one's past, more often than not we are not allowed that luxury, especially when children are involved.

To make a very, very long story some what short....... I, in being the best friend and confidant I could be, got involved in a situation concerning my friend and abuse between his oldest son and the ex-wife's husband. Being an educated woman, teacher, and soon to be therapist, I guided my friend through this ordeal which included getting the authorities involved and having charges brought against the parental units concerned. I did so out of my concern for the welfare of the child involved, the children that remain with said parental units, and my friend's desperate need to put an end to the constant railroading by the ex and husband. I also helped him retain legal assistance to guide him though what his rights were as the father. I did all of this because I care, not because I have a vendetta against the parental units. I do not even know them, have never met them, nor do I ever care to. I did what was best for those that I care about.

As I did this, said parental units took it upon themselves to make me the scape goat of their own self made problems. Apparently with these individuals, abuse is dealt with best swept under the rug or blamed on others. As they found out about me and my involvement in taking action, they decided to "look me up" and see what they could find out about me. As one might guess, "bindy" is not too common a name, and easily found my blog. They were able to read about me, my husband, and my life. Things became bad. I felt that the best thing to do at the time was to privatize my blog so that my personal stories were not SO easily found.

Three months later, however, I find that these individuals will both get what they deserve, and that they have no control over my life or what I choose to write and share. I did what was best, and did so out of love and concern. I will not fall away into the darkness, hiding from two cowardly individuals who do not deserve my attention much less my action.

I AM BACK!

Random Thoughts

I have been trying to think about how I want to change the format of my blog for a while. Do I make it more personal or less personal? Do I share more of my thoughts, or focus more on pictures and family stories? I suppose the answer is in the title of my blog, Being Bindy, which includes all of the above. These last few months have produced what might be termed a "life change." As such I have been more reflectional and not really certain of what I might want to write about. I have thought about making my blog more about daily topics or events and less about events of my life. I guess I will just stick with my gut and go with what I want to. I should know by now that I have no ability to stick to a prescribed way of thinking, writing, or anything else. I shall just write about whatever comes to mind.......

Language Barrier
A few days ago I was at a garden center picking up a few plants for my garden. As I stood at the check out, a young woman walked up to the cashier and asked, "What is the difference between an annual and a perennial? What one lasts longer?" The cashier responded with an "I'm not sure, let me call Wanda." I was rather shocked that not one but two English speaking adults did not know what the word "annual," and what the prefix "per" meant. The cashier called Wanda, and after a few minutes (who knows maybe Wanda had to ask someone too) he responded that the perennials were the ones that lasted more than one year. I stood there, with a "Holy Shit" look on my face.
Annual: In gardening, annual often refers to a plant grown outdoors in the spring and summer and surviving just for one growing season, or better known as yearly.
Perennial: (per, "through", annus, "year") Perennials grow and bloom over the spring and summer and then die back every autumn and winter.
Definitions provided by Wikipedia.


Buyer Beware
Today I was grocery shopping. I stopped off to pick up some nuts. I noticed that Planters had a "new" nut package called "nut-rition." Nut-rition offered a mixed nut that was on sale, but then I noticed that their "normal" mixed nut was also marked down about a dollar less than the "nut-rition" one. I also noticed that the "nut-rition" was of smaller volume. I decided to see what the nutritional differences actually were. Surprisingly, the "normal" mixed nuts variety had 20 less calories and less sodium per serving. So for more money you can purchase the "nut-rition" product thinking you are getting a healthier product but actually has more calories and more sodium!! Don't you just love marketing? Buyer Beware.....

Florida Trip

A recent trip to Florida: It was a beautiful 7 days of Florida sun and family. I enjoyed my time there and the two days that Larry joined me.








I wanted so much to get one of these little plovers in a good picture, but they are so fast! This one was so close, but managed to get the tip of his nose out of the picture.....bummer.

My afternoon seashell creation....it is suppose to be a flower.




My white legs before the sun got to them....

Visit

I took a quick trip down to my in-laws in Banning. I didn't take many pictures just since I was only there for a little over a day, and we generally stayed around the house working on stuff for the folks. We did make it out for an afternoon at Oak Glen for lunch and dessert.









It was St. Patty's day, so everyone but me had Corned Beef and cabbage. The area prides itself on its apples and apple pie, so we all finished our meal with a HUGE apple dumpling and ice cream. It was a good left over too!

No Regrets

As of late, I have been viewing movies that have a "no regrets" moral to the story. These stories are usually told by women upon reflection of their lives, how they lived and what they have learned. Evening and La Vie en Rose are two movies I watched centering around this theme. Each story was told very differently, but spoken from a woman's perspective of her life and her choices as she looks back.

As I watched these films I begin to ask myself the question, "What if there are no mistakes? What if there are no regrets? What if life is a series of choices, and from those choices we make our life, the good and the bad?" I suppose it makes sense if you really think about it, and maybe for most this is already a realization, but for me I had never thought about my life this way before. I had always seen my life in two columns, the good/right column and the bad/wrong column, and the idea of a "successful" life was to have more x's in the good/right column than the bad/wrong one. I laugh as I read my own words, as if life is some how that simple. I apparently concluded that making right choices doesn't require learning anything along the way.

I have learned after these 36 years, that there are no "right" choices. Now I am not saying that there aren't consequences for our choices and actions. Of course there are, but as I look back on my life lived so far, I see just choices, none that were wrong and none that were perfectly right. Even the hardest decisions, the ones I worried over, lost sleep over, never ended up being wrong choices, just simple decisions that I learned from. Maybe you have to live a certain amount of life before you come to that realization. I guess I did. I look back now and almost get frustrated at myself for worrying about doing the "right" thing....such a waste. I struggle now even to change my way of thinking, to just go with my gut and not worry about the outcome. Watching these movies, and others with the same moral, made me questions my own choices and the reasons behind them. Were they the right choices? Were they good choices? Honestly I don't think such things exist anymore. It is just life, living, learning and making decisions a long the way.

"Just trust yourself,
then you will know how to live."
--Goethe

Snowshoeing 101

This week we have been venturing out into our snowy wilderness and snowshoeing. I enjoy it because it is like hiking but with a lot of layers on. I am starting to learn that how you dress is very important. You might be freezing to death starting out, but within about 5 minutes of chugging through the snow, you really wish you had left that big heavy parka and scarf back at the truck. Wearing light weight, breathable clothes is what appears to work best. I'm learning...

Random Things

On Facebook, I was tagged to write 16 Random Things about myself. I thought I would go ahead and post them here as well:

1. I am a very physical person. I use my body to express my creativity, my desire, my competitiveness, and my joy. I always look to push my body in ways I haven't before.

2. I am a Gemini with a Scorpio moon and also Scorpio is rising. I have many typical Gemini traits and also many Scorpio traits. I sometimes feel like two totally different people (free spirited and intense, practical and romantic, emotional and rational) Yeah, spend a day in my head!

3. I really love my feet massaged with lotion.

4. I usually sleep with socks on, it has to be very hot for me not to.

5. I have hypothyroidism.

6. I love to take photos, and have since I was a child with my first Brownie camera.

7. I suffer from the typical female disease of pleasing others first. I have only started to realize that this thinking hurts not only myself but also those that I want to please by not letting them know who I really am.

8. I am working on a second Masters Degree and can honestly say I could probably do another, a Ph.D, or a law degree. I am just one of those people that likes to learn and constantly reinvent myself.

9. I love to bake and cook. I have no fear of trying a new a recipie on a guest I am having over for dinner.

10. I love the outdoors. My goal is to be an "experienced" backpacker and go regularly throughout the summer. I just love the beauty and the quiet, and of course, the physical aspect as well.

11. I am doing my first triathlon this summer.

12. As as speech pathologist I hope to help people of all ages and challenges, from newborn babies to the aged. I also want to work abroad, both as a volunteer and employed.

13. Traveling and the experiences from travel is a huge part of my life. Whether it is a 20 minute drive up to the mountains or roaming the back country of Australia, these experiences make up a huge part of who I am.

14. I hope to be a mother someday in some capacity.

15. I have remodeled a house, and have more experience with power tools and saws than I ever thought I would have felt comfortable with.

16. I am very passionate. I will fight and defend what I believe in. Call it being opinionated or stubborn, but I will not back down if I am defending that which I believe in.

Many Blogger Returns

No, I did not disappear to some unknown universe, become stuck underneath a wagon wheel, or find myself duct taped and thrown into a closet. I am here, alive and well, breathing and eating, and managing life as best I can. Since Christmas, my life has been topsy turvy and confusing. In the past, I have written many entries about my awareness of upcoming changes in my life. However, this one took me by surprise and landed in my lap when I wasn't looking. I am changing like I never have, and in ways I never thought possible. It is exciting and frightening at the same time. In times like these, writing is my usual outlet, but lately I have found myself fearing what might stream out of my thoughts. I withheld writing and kept things inside. I now find myself able and ready to write again, so that I might try and better understand the insanity that is floating around inside of me.

Since I last wrote:

• Christmas came and went

• I celebrated my 18th wedding anniversary

• I went to Disneyland for New Years Eve. It was disappointing with the craziness (what were we thinking?), and with the fog that rolled in which made it impossible to actually see any fireworks going off. A trip we won't repeat.

• My husband submitted his application to the Army to go back to being a full-time officer.

• We were told that if/when he gets orders, he will most likely be sent to Hawaii.

• I decided that if he goes to Hawaii, I will stay here. There are many reasons for this decision, most of which I will discuss when I know more.

• I started back in my classes.....one I love, one I already hate.

• I have applied for acceptance into a professional organization and am looking forward to all the possibilities and opportunities that might be available there.

• I have narrowed down my school choices for my Masters work to an online program at California State, Northridge. They offer what I want and appear to have a great M.S. program. Now it is just the "getting in" part I have to work on. Very competitive.

• The inversion rolled in last week, which makes me want to hide from the world. I hate it and it makes my lungs burn and my nose crack.

• I joined the rec center so I can train for my first sprint triathlon. I am freaking out because I am worried I won't be ready by May.

• I am starting to look for work, just part-time, but something. Not surprising, it is proving to be hard in this economy.

• I am filled with hope with our new President, and I love that he wants me to be a better American. Yesterday was a day of pure excitement for me. I feel lucky to be living in this time.

That is all I can come up with for now. I feel like I have a lot going on in my life right now, and trying to get a hold on it all without letting it get a hold on me is proving a challenge. I can see that I have a problem with time management and letting things get away from me. This is obviously something I need to work on and work on quickly.

So life is changing once again, and there is a lot of uncertainty ahead of me. I wish sometimes that wasn't the case, but then I guess life wouldn't be life without it.

A Day of Confirmation

If you have been a reader of my weight loss journey on my blog, then this entry will make sense to you. This morning I decided to go through my closet to find coats that could be donated to the shelter this cold, cold winter. I came across an old coat that I bought over 10 years ago (before I ever moved back to Utah but was missing cold weather) in the back. When I first moved back, I was unable to close the front of this coat (it was too tight), and was saving it for my mom for when she visited in the winter. This morning, going through the coats, I decided to throw it on, and was shocked to really see how much I have shrunk. It has been so gradual that I had no idea how much I had changed.

Yes, I had to take a picture. These are huge milestones for me. I did cut my face out of the picture because I have my glasses on and still needed to shower when it was taken (still in my PJs too).

Cleaning off the camera

I haven't blogged in a while. First it was Finals, then the Christmas craziness set in, add a little bit of an illness, and I just didn't have the time or desire to write. This evening I tried to get a couple of photos of the crazy snow we have had today, and realized that I had taken a couple of nice sunset photos sometime last week.



Tonight's photos of the snow.


This one is blurry because I didn't have my tripod, but I like how you can see all the snow.

First Snow

Yesterday we had our first real snow storm. It snowed for most of the day and coated our neighborhood with about 2 inches of the white, powdery stuff. I always take pictures the morning after the first big storm.

Chistmas pics

It is that time of year again for the dreaded Christmas photo. We decided to incorporate the Christmas theme and the result was hit and miss. We couldn't find our tripod, so we were unable set the camera in the right spot for the flash. The outcome was that we were either washed out or the picture was too dark. In the end, my favorite photo made Larry fuzzy, and in Larry's favorite I was staring off in space. By 9:30 last night we gave up and just went with one.

We both liked this one, but the colors seems a little off.

Larry is fuzzy here, not to mention my glowing shine.

I'm partial to this one.....

Me getting cheesy and tired of taking pictures.

Cute, but too dark. I won't post the one we picked just in case someone reading this will be getting it in the mail. Don't want to spoil the surprise.

Taking Turns

We spent Thanksgiving in So Cal with Larry's parents and family. The week before we were due to arrive, the MIL and FIL's house was under an inch of water. They were lucky enough to get to experience what happens when the water dispenser in the refrigerator decides to express itself when it shouldn't. We offered to wait and postpone our visit until everything was cleaned up and repaired, but they insisted that we come out as planned.
Side note: Larry and I have also had this most unpleasant of experiences. When we were remodeling this house, we hooked up the ice maker on the new fridge and left for the weekend. When we returned, we found the house pouring over with water. Did I mention we were days away from moving in? The basement was destroyed and we basically had to start all over. So we do understand the chaos and stress of having water running through the house.

We decided to fly out at the last minute and arrived Thanksgiving morning. Upon entering the house, we were stunned to see the extent of the damage. I should also add that my in laws are pack rats to the umpteenth degree. They will be the first to admit to their pack rat abilities, but only until they had to remove everything from every room, could they fully realize the extent of their "pack rat-ness." There were piles and piles everywhere. Larry and I could do nothing but start to dig in and try to help get things organized. They were both overwhelmed and stuck in that "where to begin" mode. We started with one pile and asked "do you use this," or "do you need this," or "when was the last time you opened this book," and every variation there of. We took old furniture out to the garage and called the Salvation Army for a pick up, and we loaded up the car and drove to the Goodwill for a drop off. I actually found an old furniture catalog from 1960! Yes, my friends 1960!

After our busy weekend, we went to leave Monday afternoon only to find all the flights had been rerouted due to coastal fog. Result.....no empty seats for us to use. At the airport, we stopped off at an Applebee's for lunch and with a full stomach, decided to rent and a car and drive home. I drove us from Ontario to Mesquite, and Larry took the last leg from Mesquite to home. We arrived about 1:30 in the morning, but were happy to be home in our bed with our little fuzzy babies.

On the long drive home, we started to see that our relationship with Larry's parents has changed. It has begun to shift from a parent taking care of a child to a child taking care of the parent. I suppose this is something that happens with everyone at some point in their lives. My mom is only 58 and full of piss and vinegar, so I think I have a bit of time to still be her kid, but with Larry's folk we can see now that they need us to be near and to help them even when they insist they don't need it. They have lived their lives as good and loving parents, and now it is time for the kids to help take care of them.