Snow is in My Future

Immediate future that is. They are predicting a 4 to 8 inch snowfall beginning tomorrow around noon. I will post snow pictures during the weekend.

I was suffering with a cold all during Thanksgiving, by Tuesday this week, I was healed and felt great. On Wednesday, it returned! Ratz!!!

I worked from home today. I am taking advil, zinc, vitamin c, and drinking lots of fluids. My weekend plan: stay warm, drink tea, read, maybe do an art project, watch a couple of movies, eat the curried carrot soup I made tonight and just get better.

Winter is on the doorstep.

Back in the Gym

and it feels great. I got a bit sidetracked between my rotten cold and the holiday. I have renewed my focus on nutrition and am being very mindful of my food choices at each meal.

BRRRRRRRRRRRR - it really cold here - like January - this morning it was zero degrees when I got up. That's right ZERO DEGREES.

I have been busy with back to work, back to workout and getting the house back in order after company --- time to catch up.

Happy Thanksgiving

Cooking onions, mushrooms, celery, sage, sausage, butter - preparing the turkey and counting my many blessings this morning. Huge, wonderful smells permeate the house.

We are here in the first snowfall of the season. A dusting overnight and now, big fluffy flakes tumbling past the window - covering the deck, frosting the trees. The perfect Thanksgiving morning.

My heart to each of you today. So much gratitude for this blogging community. Have a wonderful day.

Thanksgiving Dinner

My friend V is arriving on Tuesday night - my friend photogirl is joining us for Thanksgiving dinner. Gratitude - giving thanks. I am cleaning, dreaming, counting my blessings and planning the dinner.

What are you cooking/eating for Thanksgiving OR what is your most memorable Thanksgiving?

Angels on this Earth

I found Tom on the floor of our home office on Thursday, November 11th at 5 pm - Tom died at 7:15am November 14, 2004. So many people stepped forward and held us in their arms.

Lisa, Joan, Steve, Bonnie, Bernie, Vanessa, Heidi, Jonathan, Susan, Ann, Hope, Patsy, Rob, Shereda, Mark --- you did everything - I love you and will never forget.

Beginning in the hospital - standing with me as I made the tough decision to remove life support; sitting with me as we held Tom on his final journey.

Going to the funeral home. Selecting casket and clothes. Visiting with the Pastor. Assisting the children and grandchildren to travel safely, be met at the airport and taken home.

Placing all the phone calls - talking with shocked friends. Helping to make decisions no one is prepared to make.

Kicking me in the butt when I did not "want a funeral." Taking the flowers while no one was home; arranging for the food at the service and at the wake at home; making sure the cleaning person came; taking care of all the children during the visitation.

Answering the constant phone calls, talking with people who loved Tom so much and those who worked with him and were stunned by his abrupt departure.

Finding all the papers needed for the military burial. Working with the boys to finish getting the house ready for winter. Being here after everyone went home.

Your unwavering support, your constant love and care saved me so many times. You allowed me to see glimpses of life when I did not believe there was a life ahead.

You were our angels. You, my treasured friends, are angels on this earth. I am healing - standing up with hope and with a new life emerging. These days of remembrance are difficult. Last year, my life ahead felt like a tunnel. Today, my life feels like a sunrise.

I will forever bless each of you. In eternal gratitude, I send my deepest appreciation and love to you.

An email I received today

Suzann—
I just wanted to let you know that I’m thinking of you this week and hoping it is a time of peaceful remembrance for you. I can still see Tom in my mind’s eye. I simply don’t remember him from photos—I can actually picture what he looks like standing in a room. I consider this remarkable because I have trouble remembering many more people who were closer to me; I can’t recall their faces without referencing a picture from the past. Tom was a man with lots of impact—a quiet strength that continues to live on these years later. I know he’ll be with you on this anniversary, cheering you to keep moving forward. He continues to live on in your heart and mine. Please let me know if you need anything—you are in my thoughts! HHB


The angels on this earth - I am blessed.

PS This is post 301 - how amazing.

Beautiful Day

......here in St. Paul - November 11 and all my windows are open. I finally had a good night's sleep after a week of being up and about at all hours - sleep the great restorer. Today the following memorial (with a picture) ran in the St. Paul Pioneer Press - I did not do a memorial last year - I really like it, this fills me with gratitude and happiness today.


Thomas William Murray
April 23, 1935 – November 14, 2004
Our Strength and Our Guide

Memories are Treasures
I will always be grateful for your love
My husband, my fly-boy, my soul mate, my friend

“No one cries very much unless something of real worth is lost. Tears are the jewels of remembrance – sad, but glistening with the beauty of the past.” – J. Peterson

Fall Into Winter

A cold, steely day today. I looked at condos on Cathedral Hill - that is a beautiful historic district in St. Paul. Our office is on Cathedral Hill. It never hurts to look. I am home and making split pea soup. I am here to snuggle in, talk to my friend V for a bit tonight and then watch movies.

Tomorrow a memorial will be in our newspaper for you know who. It is really beautiful. Tonight I am so grateful that I had my Tom - just filled with gratitude.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh

The days of shock and awe.

Yesterday, I went to the eye doctor and then I voted. Those were two of the last things Tom and I did in the days before November 11, 2004 when I came home to find him on the floor. We voted in the Presidential election and went to see Dr. Scott.

The memories assail me - walking the road. Keep me close.

Wow

In the first 14 months of not smoking, I gained 14 pounds. At the end of June, I joined this workout gym, which is one mile from our office. I retained a personal trainer, who designed a weight lifting program for me.

For the past 4 months, I have been quite consistent in doing the full body weight training routine at least 3 days a week. Wednesday morning, I had an appointment with my trainer for a weigh-in and to measure my body fat percentage (sounds fun huh?).

To lose weight in the past, I would have just gone on a diet, restricted my food intake and lost pounds. I am really good at setting goals and meeting them.

I now have a new approach and a new understanding of fitness. It is not about just losing weight. It is about functional fitness - maintaining and building your muscle mass - while removing body fat. It does not matter what the scale says. I am getting smaller and the scale is slightly increasing or staying the same.

I am so happy to report that in 4 months, I have removed 1.25 pounds of body fat and GAINED 6.25 pounds of MUSCLE!!!!! Wow. This is a new framework with a common sense approach. This isn't "weight loss" as I have known it in the past or how we women have been told to go about it.

In the old weight loss paradigm, we go on a "diet" and the scale goes down - we lose both fat and muscle. In this new scenario, you work out, you eat good food at regular intervals and your build your long-term functional fitness - getting it right for good.