40. The Pilates Body by Brooke Siler

This is an excellent "first book" on Pilates. It is especially helpful if one cannot get to a certified Pilates instructor to teach them how to do the moves. 

It has very sound directions for doing all the basic Pilates moves. I am not quite sure why she mixes really advanced exercises in with the intermediate ones though. I would do these in order and not mix them together like she does. 

I like her little illustrations to give imagery to what a person is trying to achieve in the exercise. I will use them for my classes! 

39. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

It is hard to believe, but I have never read this. I had to go up to Hillsboro to pick up George and was able to listen to all but 43 minutes of it on the way up. George said he didn't mind if I finished it on the way back down, and he loved it too. Ian Holm (the older Bilbo in Lord of the Rings) is perfect as the narrator! 

It is a great book. It is a deep look at the good and evil that lies in all of us! 

I read this for my Book Dames book club!

Saturday Seventeen Freewrite

I woke up really early this morning. I think I was afraid that I would not be able to pack before the 7:30 am deadline of getting out the door for a morning kayak up near Scappoose. Yes, ladies and gentleman, we WILL be having a little bit of family time before everyone leaves the nest! We had to postpone our trip to California until December due to getting this job with OSU. I had First Aid Training, PAC (Physical Activity Course) Orientation, and a social on Wednesday; a "Teaching Tips for Instructors" class on Thursday; and a new instructors meeting and CPR training on Friday. I was also able to get another key that opened up the stereo cabinet for my class. 

In addition to this, I finally got all the paperwork for becoming an independent contractor with SNAP Fitness and that involved buying liability insurance for being a Pilates instructor and Personal Trainer (coming in December).

In addition, George's car needs a brand new transmission so I had to go up to Hillsboro to get George and bring him back here to get another car. We stopped at Salem to have Paul deal with my weird shoulder and neck pain, but all the driving and sitting in the car made my hips get twisted so I had to go up to Salem AGAIN on Friday night to see Paul for what he called "really twisted and bad" hips. This has not happened since last November! I thought my twisted hips were a thing of the past. 

Sometimes I wonder if it is related to stress and the rising humidity. I did so well in Colorado with NO pain whatsoever (other than the recovering sprained ankle). It is a dry climate there, and it was a relatively stress-free time. Our house is 54% humidity right now, and I tend to do better when it is in the 20's. 

Anyway, it was a busy and somewhat stressful week as I had to do a five minute "fake lesson" for the new instructors class. The good part is that we split up in two's for it, and I got a sweet fifth year senior who tried to teach me to do a cartwheel, but with this weird twisted thing going on, I told her I probably could not do it.  I did a "Pilates awareness" exercise incorporating the principles of breath, concentration, control, and core. I also incorporated proper shoulder, neck, and pelvic placement.  It was fun! She said it was relaxing. Her feedback was to make sure she was doing it right by looking at her. :) It is hard to demonstrate while lying supine and looking over at a room full of students, but I will do my best!

I am sitting at my old kitchen computer desk. I am going to get a LOT of exercise today during the kayaking trip, and I am tired today after such a busy week. 

I think once all the classes start (three of them between OSU and SNAP), life will be much more relaxed, as I have all day Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday free to do other things. One thing I am going to do is register to start studying for my Personal Trainer exam. I am ready for this. I am excited for this. I am already registered with SNAP as a Pilates instructor so will not have to go through all the paperwork again. That is good. 

With all this, I am going to evaluate whether it is really feasible for me to open some kind of fitness business overseas while George is working, and I am an empty-nester (sniff, sniff - I love being a mom and have already mourned the loss of being a homeschooler!). Renee proposed the possibility of me leading an all-women's Pilates class with the internationals at INTO. I wonder if Drew would entertain that possibility? I know we reserve four spots in each class for INTO students, but would a woman from a more conservative country come to a class that has men in it? Maybe there can be some kind of cooperative agreement made with INTO to have an ALL INTO class? I would certainly know how to be sensitive to the language barrier. :) 

We will see! I am hoping for good things in the future, but I am certainly having my world ROCKED by not having as much time in the morning for myself. I love my morning times alone! I will have from 1 - 6 pm alone on the days I teach though. I will go ahead and do weights and cardio after my classes. 

There is my time. I will have some prayer time and then pack! 

Here is the flier for my class. I did not write it so excuse the incorrect grammar:

Saturday Seventeen Freewrite + Thursday Thirteen

A friend who has been part of the Eduanon/Trapdoor community asked these questions:

What's on your mind?
How do you figure out what to focus on?
How do you make whatever you choose a reality?

Such great questions, Dali!!! I have the countdown timer rolling, and I am not going to pick up my fingers from the keyboard for seventeen minutes. Ready and GO! 

What's on my mind?(The first two were written August 29)

I have been contemplating yesterday's flurry of activity. It was originally a FLURRY FREE FRIDAY. (When will my love for alliterations come to an end?) I was tired from NON STOP people on my trip to a Colorado conference from Wednesday, August 19 - Saturday, August 22, and a trip to Colorado Springs from the 22nd to 26th. I had planned to just chill on the 28th because I knew the 27th would involve catching up on emails and getting back into the swing of starting writing my syllabi and outlines for the classes I will be teaching at the university. BUT, the 28th ended up being quite another thing, but I am glad it went the way it did, even though it has been "on my mind" since I woke up this morning.

I guess what is on my mind is spousal abuse. Serious subject, eh? I was invited to speak truth into my organization yesterday, and I had a phone meeting from 10:30 - 11:40 with one and 6 - 9:30 with the other (my husband and his wife were in on that meeting too).  The one in the morning turned out to be God displaying His brilliance as this leader in my organization totally heard me and my concerns. There was one point where his strong personality unnerved me a bit, but I did not cry (Even though I felt like it for a split second, but I love just listening to God in the midst of things, and He gave me the confidence to go ahead and live out my destiny name: BOLDLY BELOVED. YES, God's destiny name for me IS an alliteration! LOL!). So I was BOLD and gave it right back to him, and it was BEAUTIFUL. Really 99.5 percent of the phone call was awesome, but that pesky .5 percent could have derailed the whole darn thing in my FEELER soul! :) 

What was SO AWESOME was his very long email to the leadership of the organization saying this is a clarion call from Carol! YIPEE! I want to make a difference, and I think this was a start. 

Anywho, in between all of this, was a sweet four hours with my 90 year old mentor, and she just calms me so! She is closer to me than my mother ever was. It is pretty funny though because I finally tested her for Myers-Briggs after knowing her for 25 years, and we are the same personality type (ISFJ). She said, "Well, of course, I always knew that." LOL! She listened about my phone call, and I told her about the big meeting in the evening, and then George joined us and gave his two cents, and it was a glorious meeting of hearts and souls.

6 pm came, and I wasn't afraid. George started out introducing the subject, and there was definite resistance. I am trying to let people be aware that abuse DOES exist, and we cannot put it under a rock and pretend. INTO THE LIGHT. At one point he said, "I don't want to gossip," but that was a smokescreen. So I GENTLY, yet BOLDLY pressed forward, with George behind me 100% (and the other man's wife).  I guess it reminded me of the time I spoke truth to my mom saying, "I will continue to speak truth to the dysfunction in this family." It turned out great in that respect. So, BIG GIRL, BOLDLY BELOVED panties are so nice fitting on me. 

I drove home alone (since George and I met in the middle), and I CRANKED the song WINGS by Glee. I will put the words. It was perfect for the situation I just walked out of. I also cranked IT IS WELL from Bethel. SO BEAUTIFUL.

OK that is what is on my mind.

Next question:

How do you figure what to focus on?

That one has become crystal clear for me over the years. I have a "LO" Time every morning where I "listen and obey"! I drink my chai with pen and paper in hand, and I listen. Then I write down what I hear God telling me to do. 

I think overall, I know what my life mission is, and I focus on that. I know it is probably hard to believe, but I probably get four to five requests a day to DO things. I bring them all up to God, and say NO to everything I am not supposed to do. 

I heard about going to Colorado in June. So this whole trip to Colorado was an investigatory trip to see how another organization does things to care for their people, and I learned how my organization can improve, and that is why I talked to the guy yesterday morning. That was all a result of me hearing to pursue going to Colorado to learn from the people who are doing it well, and what is such a blow away is that I had a nervous breakdown with this organization 32 years ago, and they have grown and do it well when they did it TERRIBLY before. So, WE CAN ALL IMPROVE. Really great time. 

I have run out of time for the last question, and I am going to go for a walk with my sweetheart that I have only spent 13 hours with over the last 2 1/2 weeks!

How do you make whatever your choose a reality? (written the following Thursday)

I did not have enough time to answer this last week when Dali asked the question so I have thirteen minutes on my timer (because it is a THursday), and here I go.

My husband would say that I make everything I dream of a reality. LOL! I am very much a dreamer and visionary, BUT my dreams are usually rooted in reality. So I usually don't dream them unless I know that I can see it come through into a reality. So, the thing above about going and visiting the PRT headquarters was rooted in a time with God where He put this on my heart. I wrote it down, and I started acting upon what he told me. I emailed Rusty at PRT, but I also emailed John, our pastoral coach, and I asked him what he thought of me going to "shadow" the PRT in Colorado Springs (since I was already going to Denver for a conference that Rusty was going to). Both were game, and then my friend Anne, who lives in Colorado Springs, said she would like to intern with Rusty and bring back all the things she learns back to our agency. That was OUT OF THE BLUE! I did not even tell her what I was thinking about. So, I felt like that was confirmation. SO, last week (that I wrote about in the first question) became a reality! Dream realized. I feel like my job with all of that is done, except being a "bug on the wall" when Rusty goes to visit our agency. That will be fun, and I can just add "color" from a woman's perspective!

Because I am a strong "S" (I think that and feeler are my strongest letters on the Myers-Briggs), I don't think I know how to dream without it being rooted in me knowing that I have the capacity to follow through on it.

My third StengthsFinder strength is "Achiever" too. Consequently, I am a person who usually achieves my goals. I don't know why. Like when I set out to read all the books in The Well-Educated Mind. It took me eight years, but I chipped away at it and made that a reality. 

I have to say that I also have a very supportive husband who never hinders my goals, and he always supports them 100% and picks up the slack when I get into the "make my dreams a reality" mode. He likes to do things like that. 

I also like to break things down into manageable steps and not get freaked out. I have goals every day. That is just how I am wired. Yesterday, my goal was to get both Syllabi done for the classes that I am teaching at OSU, and I did it with plenty of time to spare. I also wanted to arrange CPR/First Aid training so I called the guy. I am not afraid to call people, ask questions, elicit help. Some people are afraid of that. 

Today, my goal is to learn Canvas. So, I am meeting with my boss this morning. I am also picking up the folder from my friend who used to teach the same classes I am teaching (WHY reinvent the wheel? I take her stuff and modify it for me.). I am also picking up the keys for my class and going out to lunch and a movie with a friend. I think making things into reality is not being afraid and also gathering as much information as you possibly can and learning from those who have gone before you. 

There is the bell! BYE BYE! 

38. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

This is the second time I was WAY down on the list at my library, but I scored in getting it ahead of most other people. The CD and the book hold lists were enormous, but I went on the Library2Go, and they had not even ordered it yet. So, I requested they ordered it and got it FIRST! YAY! Down to my iPhone. BOOM!

I listened to this on the plane to and from Denver (and a little when I had trouble falling asleep while there). I liked it. I do not think it is the MASTERPIECE of To Kill a Mockingbird (one of my Top 5 favorite books of all time), but I also don't think it is the MESS that some reviewers are calling it.

Reece Witherspoon's narration is PERFECT. That probably helped me in falling in love with the book. I also think some people do not like it because of how it portrays Attichus Finch. He was a product of his generation and geographical location. I wasn't as ruffled by it as some have been. 

It had some amazing quotes (the drawback of listening to the audiobook on a plane without pen and paper in hand). I recommend it, especially if you have read To Kill a Mockingbird!