Battle Creek Falls

Ron took me on a last-minute date (what? we're both getting home a little early today?) up to Battle Creek Falls tonight. Nice, easy hike, with a fun payoff at the end. It's a pretty little waterfall that splits into two sections (my picture is of the larger one), and drops about 50 feet. I took my sandals off and walked in the water below the falls, and the spray felt wonderful!

We also hiked to the top of the falls, and the view of the canyon and valley below was fabulous!

Sunset was starting on our way back down, and I got a nice silhouette of a cool looking tree...

We had a nice time together (and had fun getting in a little kissy-poo downstream of the waterfall...) The only downside was my back was still hurting from having to move two printers last Friday at work, and I forgot to stretch before starting the hike... ouch. I'll probably feel this for a few days. Having a bad back sucks.

Be Careful Of What You Ask For

You just may get it.

When I decided to date/get married again, I wanted to marry someone who was divorced from a crazy ex-wife, so he'd know exactly what I went through in my marriage to Pierre.

Well, I got her.

I just finished up a 16-page packet for Ron's ex-wife. She is nutso-crazy, and I'm just going to deluge her with facts and figures so she'll shut up. :)

In doing all the research for this packet, I had to do all Ron's girls' medical for the past two years. I uncovered that his ex was using my health insurance illegally (long story, but she doesn't get any benefit from my insurance as per legal papers). Now I have to go through my insurance, who will bill us for the full amount they covered, and then we have to try to get reimbursement from Ron's insurance.

I am not happy about having to deal with insurance fraud when it's MY neck on the line.

Biocompostable Products

I'm on the "Green Team" here where I work. I joined it because I'm horrified at the amount of water that is wasted on the lawns here (and spills out to make mini-rivers in the parking lot...). Geez, people! We live in a desert, remember?

Anyway, at our meeting yesterday, some way cool things were used for our luncheon. Check these out: http://worldcentric.org/biocompostables

We ate with forks made of corn starch, and drank from cups also made from corn. In a composting facility, they will break down within three months. Is that cool, or what?

It makes me wonder, though, what kind and what amount of fuel is needed to make these things... I'm sure that the factory that makes these isn't running on solar power. One thing I've noticed about "environmentally friendly" products is that they still use fossil fuels to produce their products, and sometimes it takes more energy to produce the "friendly" product than the old one.

I guess it's at least a step in the right direction. The less chemicals in our food and homes, the better.

Extra Baggage

I've got about 25-ish pounds I need to shed. It's not that I'm particularly unhappy with how I look (ok, so maybe I'm slightly unhappy with how chubby I look in my Yellowstone pictures), but more about how I feel physically. My back can definitely tell that I'm carrying extra weight, which makes it hard to do things I enjoy doing (like hiking).

So I'm trying really hard to avoid sugar as much as possible, and attempt (ha!) to get more exercise. I've found it's very difficult to get exercise when you're running the kids around all over creation...

I'm not sure how I'll update y'all on my weight loss progress, since I'm very anti-scale. I gauge things by how loose or tight my pants get, or by how much of a "muffin top"** I have showing over my waistband.

I really should break out the yoga DVDs and find time to use them.

** Kayla's description of my extra padding that... um... 'overflows' above the waist of my pants...

Blast From the Past

I spent the weekend cleaning more crap out of the garage. I'm getting ready to have one more HUGE yard sale and get rid of what's left.

I've now hit the boxes that contain 'memorabilia' of times with E.C. and Pierre.

Just when you think you've buried old hurts, healed old wounds, etc...

Let's just say that it's a good thing Ron came home and gave me a big hug that first day. You have to remember that there are things right in the world. Not everything is heartbreak.

It did feel good to trash some more of the old divorce papers, though. And I'm selling a bunch of little presents E.C. gave to me. There's something freeing about choosing actions like this. It's at least a step in a positive direction when there's so many negative thoughts swirling around you.

Child Support Problems

Today I had a phone hearing with the Child Support Division in Washington. Shandy has been living with my sister Louise in Washington since January 2007. It was agreed back then that Louise would be completely financially responsible for Shandy, since I knew there was no way I could pay child support for her there.

Well, Louise has reniged on the original agreement, and has sent Washington after me. They've been garnishing my wages since April for $1,000 a month (!!!), which has created HUGE financial burdens on my family.

I am hopeful that things will get worked out soon... we had to rush to refinance the house so we'd have enough cash to cover the period of time it takes to get this all worked out. Not fun. And we have to run stuff through the Utah legal system to clarify the original order, too, since everyone seems to have a different interpretation of what the (limited) guardianship papers mean. It's a royal pain in the butt, as well as being very expen$ive.

Here's hoping the judge will figure out what's what with this mess.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

Today is a Utah State holiday-- Pioneer Day, which celebrates Utah's pioneer heritage. What this really means is that everyone in Utah does lots of barbequeing, recreation activities, and can legally shoot off fireworks.

Now, fireworks that are allowed in Utah are extremely wimpy (since we have high risk for fires in the nice, dry deserty areas). This means that lots of people (including me) like to make a pilgrimage to Wyoming, where practically every firework known to man is legal.

So we went to my brother's tonight to do the ritual illegal fireworks festivities. We decided that "Electric Eels" are pretty cool for such a small little thing, and that the "Firecracker Fountain" is probably the longest running fountain we've ever seen. The kids had a blast dropping water firecrackers into a bucket and getting splashed by the resulting explosions; the adults had fun shooting off bottle rockets and the like.

At one point, my brother Dusty pulled out his stash of Roman Candles, and handed them out to all the kids. He had one left, so he asked Ron if he wanted to light one. Ron hadn't been doing anything besides watching up to this point, so he said, "Sure."

Well, because the wind was blowing a bit, we were lighting off the Roman Candles with one of those firey sparklers. Ron put his candle into the flame, and the sucker went off, right in Dusty's face.

Holy crap!

Thankfully, all that happened was a pair of singed eyebrows out of that incident. Ron felt stupid beyond all belief, because he wasn't pointing it away from people when he lit it... Dusty sat looking a bit shocked for a couple minutes, and then got up and started lighting more fireworks again.

Boys.

Ron apologized to Dusty for trying to blow him up. He just laughed about it. But Ron's decided that he's better off being just a spectator for any future fireworks activities!

Texting

Kayla has been whining for over two years, hoping this will eventually convince me of her Great Need For Texting. Now that she's going to be attending a school about an hour's drive from where we live, I'm thinking now is the time to get texting.

Of course, this morning the main news headline is about a woman who caused a bad accident and almost killed a man because she was texting while driving.

I've told Kayla in no uncertain terms that if she EVER texts while driving, I will confiscate the phone permanently. I've heard of other parents threatening to withdraw all driving privileges until age 18. I'm thinking that's not a bad idea...

Comments on the news article mention a new device called tiwi. It tells your kid that they're driving too fast, or doing other reckless things while driving. If it only could tell when your kid was texting while driving, or yakking on the cell, or even messing with the stereo too much... then I'd get one.

You Know You're Getting Old When...

My mom called this morning. She mentioned that she and my dad were going to his 50th high school reunion next month. I told her that mine was next month, too. She says to me, "So this is your 10 year reunion, right?"

Uh, no. "It's my 20 year, mom."

Silence.

"Yeah. I've been out of school for 20 years now."

My mom sighs. "This makes me feel older than it did last week when your brother turned 30."

I guess it will be my turn to feel old when I become a grandma. Which is very possible within the next five years... eep!

Cecret Lake

Ron took me on a date tonight... a hike up to Cecret Lake. It's a beautiful drive to get there, past Snowbird and Alta ski resorts. Absolutely lovely! We went up in the evening, so the light wasn't good for pictures-- so here's someone else's photo. :)

It wasn't too bad of a hike; about a mile roundtrip. However, it does do a little bit of elevation change, and my back still isn't recovered enough from surgery to make climbing uphill very enjoyable. It's difficult to hike when your legs keep dying on you.

On the way back, I (carefully) climbed down some rocks to get pictures of the little waterfall coming from the lake. You can see the waterfall behind the pretty yellow wildflowers (which were all over on the way there). And to top it all off, we saw a 3-point buck on the way back down. We didn't see any moose (which are common in the area)... darn. After a week of trying to spy moose in Yellowstone, we figured we'd have more luck at home. Skunked again!