(July 2019) Just Having a Little Fun Last Year at Disneyland

 (July 2019)

I had to hop online a few days ago to quickly download some pictures from a trip last year to Disneyland before they were deleted.  It feels so long ago.

Heh, the above pic is so flattering. :P  Unfortunately I didn't pull the sword out of the stone, I mean anvil.  It was fun, though.  The morning a little drizzly before all the guests arrived.  I went into the park early with my Dad, my Mom and Aunt wanting to take a little longer before our character breakfast at the Plaza Inn.  We had fun riding a few rides.

I don't know when the California parks are opening.  Downtown Disney is, but I'm not going to make an effort to visit until the restrictions are lifted, so it will probably be awhile before I visit the Disney Parks.  Everything is a whole lot crazy right now.

But I am having withdraws.  It's the little things, really.  Not even the rides.  I miss sitting in the glass covered portion of the Plaza Inn with a chicken meal and chocolate cake, overlooking Main Street USA, watching park guests, seeing balloons, and maybe a passing parade.  I miss walking through Adventureland and hearing hints of Jazz music (Sing, Sing, Sing is played in the Indiana Jones fast pass ticket area, the the music for the Jungle Cruise line is the best), the new dole whip area is nice.  I miss catching a show at the Golden Horseshoe when there were performances.  Wandering through shops in New Orleans Square and stopping to hear a band.  Grabbing treats at Pooh Corner.  Hearing the music at the Tea Cups in Fantasyland.  I miss the smell of churros and other tempting scents.  I miss the energy, the barbershop quartet, the ragtime piano man next to the Gibson Ice Cream shop.

I miss it all.

(I miss California Adventure, too, but my heart is in the original park).

I'm just super glad and thankful that my Mom and I were able to take two of my nieces last February.  That's how I want to remember Disneyland.  Wondering and wandering around the parks with complete freedom, doing everything we could to not waste a moment.

The below pictures are a couple I took with my Dad. 

Random Thoughts July 2020 Edition

Sorry for the lateness of this post.  I hadn't realized it's been two weeks from my last entry.  It's four in the morning as I write this.  Insomnia.  So hopefully this all makes sense!! :P  Though, back in the day I wrote some of my best college essays between the hours of 2-5 am.  Heh, I no longer have a youthful brain helping me this time.  

Last Saturday I went on a drive with my Mom, Aunt, and Grandma, and we did what's called the Alpine Loop.  It's kinda famous in these parts, but funny enough this was only my second time doing it, the first being well over a decade ago.  Seriously, how have I neglected this beautiful path!?  There's Quaking Aspens.  Grand vistas.  Places to camp and hike.  Rivers.  The smell of camp fires here and there adding a smokiness to the fresh mountain air.  Delightful.  The only downfall are the occasional cliffs, as I have a fear of heights, but it's worth facing fears to get lost in nature.  It costs money if you stop, park, camp, etc, but if you're driving straight through it's free.

Last month the great Forrest Fenn treasure was found.  In 2010 the art and antiquities collector hid the treasure, worth over $1 million, and only left a poem as direction for its location.  There's an episode on Expedition Unknown all about it, which is how I learned about this treasure.  What's crazy is that over 300,000 people have searched for it this last decade, some giving up jobs.   And now it's been found, somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.  The finder wishing to remain anonymous.  I understand the desire for anonymity, but dang it, where was the treasure specifically?  What was in the chest?  I want pictures.  But there are no pictures released, only the message that the hunt is over.  Now it will go down as legend, and without published photographic evidence, is it possible people in the future will question whether it's been found, and go treasure hunting in search of the all ready taken treasure?  (I just did a quick search and there are photos tied to the treasure, but some are claiming it's not proof, and others speculating it hasn't been found, so... yup).

I've developed a peculiar habit when it comes to eating string cheese.  As a kid I loved pulling the strings of cheese and eating them this way, but as an adult, I don't know, maybe I've become a little impatient because now I just eat it.  No more strings.  Just whole encompassing bites.  I've become one of Those people... 0_0 (heh, is it obviously I'm tired?)

So I've had the Borg, those collectivist villains from Star Trek, on my mind a lot lately.  They terrified me as a kid, and I hated every episode they were on.  For those who don't know the Borg take over regions of space, assimilating every alien/human they come upon.  Individuality is stripped.  Robotic implants attached.  A single voice is taken over by a hive controlling united mind.  In the last month I've been thinking a lot about these fiends.  Their tagline/threat: Resistance is Futile.  Catchy and terrifying.  So I never got around to watching the last couple episodes in recent Doctor Who, subscribing instead to Britbox to delve into Classic Who.  I'm currently on season two of William Hartnell's first Doctor, the Dalek Invasion of Earth, when one of the robotic alien Dalek's said, "Resistance is Useless."  And I was like, "Did Star Trek steal and then change the line?!"  Dang.  "Resistance is Futile" is better.

Facebook is a funny place.  Sometimes I will look something up just so I can control what ads I see, even if I have no intention in buying it.  And then there are the random videos that pop up.  They rotate, though some keep coming back like Brad Mondo, Viva la Dirt League, The Action Lab, probably because I take the time to watch these videos.  But then I get really random ones in the mix, like this British lady who is obsessed with fancy, expensive cars.  And then these videos are followed by those gold digging vids about girls who will dis a guy, but then flirt when she sees the nice car, or back out of flirting when she thinks said nice car isn't owned by the guy.  Shallow stuff.  Probably all fake, but I still watch them to the end.  I've never really been into cars, mainly because of this really bad accident I was in as a kid, so I don't have emotional attachment to vehicles.  Though if a guy offered me a ride in a Model T, I would actually be tempted.  It's stupid to get into a car with someone you don't know.  Safety first.  But it would be fun to cruise around in classic cars, just to see what it's like.  I saw a Model T like car last week driving around town and it was the cutest thing.  Are they at all comfortable?

In other news church meetings started up a month ago.  I live in Utah, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Each stake, which is a group of wards (congregations), is approaching sabbath meetings differently.  Each stake was given the permission to pray and decide what is best for their congregations.  My siblings and I all live in the same area, though we are all in different stakes.  A stake one of my sibling's is in isn't having the wards meet yet, letting them stick exclusively to at home church.  Another sibling has their ward meeting once a month, as the other wards in his stake have the other Sunday's.  My Mom's ward is actually meeting every week, but for 30 minutes.  No singing, just listening to the hymns with reverence.  My ward is rather large, so we've been broken up and I meet once a month with my group, 40 minutes, and we actually get to sing the hymns.  We sang "My Country Tis of Thee" and "Come, Come Ye Saints," with a sacrament hymn in the middle of the meeting.  It was so nice singing the hymns.  It's been interesting seeing the different approaches each stake is taking. 

It's after 5 am, so I should head off,
Until next time,
Sarah

Escaping to the Mountains

A nice respite these last few months has been the ability to escape into the mountains.  When I lived in Porterville CA my Mom and I would drive around the Sierra Nevada foothills, and sometimes head directly into the forest.  Now I live next to the Wasatch Mountains, which are rugged and beautiful.

Sometimes we drive up to Heber and back.  Though, for the first time, my Mom and I decided to drive to Wallsburg Utah, which, instead of driving past Deer Creek, there's a road that takes you to Wallsburg next to the reservoir.  It's like stepping back in time.  Open fields, many of which have horses and cows, with hills on either side.  Every home has a propane tank.  And there's an old brick abandoned building with 1904 at the top.  Driving there is a nice little getaway.

Also, in the last month, my Mom and I drove up to Heber, got milkshakes, drove past Heber a little, and then drove through Midway while heading back to Provo Canyon.  I've lived in Utah just shy of two decades and I've never visited Midway.  It's a charming little place.  When things normalize I definitely want to explore some of the restaurants and stores, see if there's anything interesting.

You know, I haven't been to Park City since 2018 when Tata Patou, my Mom's best friend who is like an Aunt to me, was visiting from France.  It's this super touristy place I just can't get into.  It's kinda hoity-toity.  I like places that are more down to Earth.

Anywho, it's just really nice having nature real close.  Between mountains and beaches I can't pick a favorite, but nothing quite matches the sight of pine trees with the soft sounds of a river.

Recognizing Miracles

I was debating whether or not to write this blog post.  Even now I'm having doubts if I should, talking myself out of it these last few days.  Constant internal back and forth.

Everything has been a bit crazy in life and online.  I've seen sides of people I've known for years shock me on how they're treating others with comments and mean spirited memes.  Kind of makes me want to take another break from social media, but I'm not running or hiding, but remaining neutral out of respect for others despite being super opinionated over everything.  My family knows what I think about stuff which is good enough for me.  Heh, we just vent to each other.

With that said it was really windy last week while two fires blazed in Utah County.  Both fires are now contained.  What was interesting was a picture that was all over the local news in regards to the Knolls fire.  It was an image of a fire line that came right up to the back of a bunch of houses, rectangle shaped, but didn't burn the homes.  The fire fighters were amazing.  And I just read an article about a man who stayed behind, having fire line experience, and was able to create a safety parameter.  All the comments rightly celebrated these men.  They deserve so much praise.  What surprised me was a considerable lack of calling this a miracle, and when people did mention God other commenters jumped in to attack saying only the firefighters deserve praise.

The firefights worked hard.  They were heroic and brave.  But how is pausing to thank God for a miracle taking away the bravery of the fire fighters?  We should thank God for all the miracles in our lives.  And thanking God doesn't take anything away from anyone, it adds to everything in a beautifully magnificent way. 

I do believe in the power of prayer.  I believe in it with my whole heart.  Within the last few years my Dad had neck surgery.  I had an idea of when his surgery was starting and was going to say a little prayer around that time, but 45 minutes before this time I was prompted to say a prayer right then and there.  I was walking around the living room, getting goal steps in, watching Agents of Shield (I didn't watch last season, so it was before this), and I was going to wait until after the episode.  But the feeling persisted.  I said a quick prayer while standing, not even pausing the episode.  Then the words came into my mind, "No, kneel, and say the prayer out loud."  I paused the episode and knelt next to the couch.  The words that came out of my mouth I can't entirely remember, and I said things I wasn't planning on saying.  One thing I do remember was praying for the help of the doctors, that if anything wrong happened they would be inspired to know what to do.

The next 30 minutes was filled with back and forth calls with my Mom who was in the hospital up in Salt Lake.  My Dad's surgery was called off, though I didn't know this at the time.  Something bad happened during prep.  Something with the breathing tube.  The moment I said the prayer my Mom tried to call me, and even though she had no problems calling from that spot before or after my prayer, while I was praying her phone kept dropping her calls to me.  Then after she got a hold of me, literally right when I finished the prayer, the doctor came out to tell my Mom the surgery was canceled, so I hung up for my Mom to talk and get information.  And then my Mom called me back and told me that while she was talking to the doctor, well, technically surgeon, the surgeon got a call that those in prep were able to fix what had gone wrong, so she headed back to the operation room.  The surgeon later told my Mom that over years and years of having operations canceled, only two, my Dad included in this statistic, was turned around and the surgery went ahead and was performed.

The doctors were brilliant.  But what happened that day was a definite miracle.  Prayer is powerful.  Prayer does work.  Does it always work?  Well, that's where faith comes in.  Faith to accept whatever happens.  I always pray to have faith and strength to overcome a trail if there is to be one.  I have so many unanswered prayers.  I've prayed for protection and help, healing, and not received it.  My heart aches with loneliness.  But there is power in prayer.  And there are still miracles happening everyday.  When they do happen lets not forget to pause and say a prayer of thanks.  There's strength in it, not weakness.  There's strength in faith.

July Health Goals: The Sticker Method

Ha! So I did something yesterday.  I threw away my scale.  It was hidden, I found it, weighed myself a few times (lost a pound and then gained it back), and then my scale went crazy: it decided to add random numbers to my current weight, so in the trash it went.  I don't need that mental drama.  The other scale is hidden very well, but hasn't been working right anyway, so it's dead to me.

What is the sticker method?  It's just a simple way to track goals.  Create a main goal, find a wall calendar, collect fun stickers, and everyday you're successful put a sticker on the calendar.  My favorite calendar is by Katie Daisy.  They're super adorable with lovely art.  It has to be a calendar that's not being used for keeping track of events, so that's valuable wall space if you're needing a calendar for said important dates.  I like using a planner for that, which Katie Daisy has also created, and they're even more adorable.  I love cute things.  Then in the corner of the date boxes you can add symbols for other goals, whatever they may be.

June ended up being a flip from May, where I was all over the place in the beginning of May and then got my act together by the end of the month, and then June started strong and ended in a mess.  My stickers represent days where I didn't have sweets, unless it was a nibble of chocolate or something.  Pre-selected treat days are symbolized by cute treat stickers.

Treat stickers are already placed for July.  Treats with a hint of red to go along with the cherry theme.

I could hang my head in shame and give up simply because I plateaued a whole month, but I won't.  On the plus side I didn't gain back the weight I lost in May, so that's good!  Nah, I did spend the last few days beating myself up for it, but I'm trying again on Monday after getting passed the Fourth and celebrating a family birthday.

So what are my goals?

1. Sticker everyday from Monday the 6th onward, because I may have had treats these last few days.  I'm human!  These things happen!  And it's my way of coping with the insanity in the World, plus it's a holiday and family birthday weekend, so it is what it is, but Monday I will focus.

2. Keep trying to get to bed before midnight. -_-;;  Heh, it will happen, and I will be consistent.

3. Walk three miles a day.  I did walk a total of 42 or so intentional miles last month, which is a little less than I planned.  Intentional miles are steps with purpose, above a half mile, no casual steps are allowed.

4.  Try out strength training with circular strength training bands.  Don't know what they're called, but resistant bands in a circle.  I got some off Amazon, so I'll blog about it next month.  I tried the HiiT workout, and my IC flared up a little, so I'm pulling back from that to reassess.  I haven't had bladder pain in a super long time, and I worked really, really hard to heal, so I just need to experiment to see if it was anxiety causing the slight pain, the exercise itself, or if it was all in my head due to fear.  I actually like doing high impact, I just have to make sure it won't make me sick and completely make me stop all together, so low impact stuff is all I can do for the time being.

And you know what?  I think that's good!!  Also, I should mention I've been intermittent fasting for the last couple months.  It's not a goal.  It's not something I was meaning to do, I just don't like breakfast, so I've been skipping it and only eating two meals a day.  Only twice has my hunger attacked, but it's been helping the way I feel.  No sugar sickness, as I call it.  Breakfast really is an annoying meal.  I really should have oatmeal in the morning, though.  Ah well, we'll see.

Later!
And good luck with everything you're trying to improve upon!

2021! We're Halfway There!

So, for anyone who is absolutely done with this year, each day beyond this point is one day closer to January 1st, 2021, and further away from 2020.  Honestly hindsight is 2020--couldn't resist :P--and we honestly don't know how 2021 will look.  Maybe it will be better.  Maybe it will be worst.  But I think we're all wanting a fresh start with new numerals.

It also means we're at this years half point.  It's July!!  Yay!!  Crazy sauce.  Maybe you were absolutely amazing during the first part of this year.  Prosperous!  Great time management!  Accomplished so many things!!  And I'm like, heh, don't look over here, so not me.  Ahhhhhhh.  I'm just laughing.  Well, 2021 is six or less months away and I don't want to wait that long when it comes to creating prosperity and hope.  Yes, there's a lot out of our control.  There's a lot of unknowns.  Did anyone take those murder hornets seriously?  If anything this year will be known as the year of the memes. 

I've been goal planning and figuring stuff out.  All the books I want to read.  All the projects I want to accomplish.  0_0  There's only so many hours in the day, and I'm really fond of sleep.  How did Leonardo Da Vinci do it?  How much sleep did he need?  I have a love/hate relationship with my brain. 

Also, I've been watching the most random stuff.  I still have a news addiction, but I won't touch on that.  Lots of YouTube: Lost in the Pond, Clownfish tv, Nerdrotic, royal gossip (not proud of this one).  Also!  I recently found old episodes of BBC's Changing Rooms, the original before TLC Trading Spaces.  I LOVED THAT SHOW!!  No, seriously, I could watch an episode for the umpteenth time and not care.  It was just so much fun.  People have classic Iron Chef Japan episodes up as well.  None of this is legal, but it's so much fun revisiting these shows.  And my love of travel is being explored through old NHK World Somewhere Street episodes.  Honestly don't know the target audience, it seems young-ish, but it's a nice way to see different cities from around the world. 

Oh, and American Girl is releasing a new historical girl later this year: Courtney, 1986.  We're getting a 1980's doll!!  Spoiler leak pictures have escaped online, and she's playing an arcade game on the cover, so I'm sold!!  She does look like the Maryellen doll, 1954.  Their age difference is the perfect mother/daughter age range.  It would be cool if American Girl did a mother/daughter relationship between two historical dolls, but I'm not counting on it.  But it would be so cool!! 

Anywho,
Until next time,
Ja ne!  (Japanese)