It 39;s A Wonderful Life Qartulad

[Jordan Tucker]

2Thanks to my Dad who gave up his bed and slept on the floor so I would have a place to sleep for 2 of the nights home. Thanks Dad! I had a great time at the Turkey Trot and totally want to do it next year but it was very exacting on my body. I had serious pain for 3 days. It hurt to sit up, move, walk, do anything. Having sleep on a comfortable bed was essential to my muscle recovery.

5. Good news on the Poler front! We had a very successful Black Friday sales weekend and are looking forward to a great Christmas season. There are still bugs to work out but congrats to my the Poler team for a great start! Particular shout out to my brother who has worked so hard on this new company.

9. I decided during this trip that I am going to start walking/running once a week from now on. With how difficult my recovery was from the 5k I need to work out those walking muscles more often. Walking is such an easy thing to do while traveling and swimming is very difficult (at least in the winter). Anyone want to be my weekly walking buddy?

10. My friends are going to swim the Great Salt Lake through the Winter. They have a group called the Wasatch Front Polar Bear Club. They have already swam in 46 degree water! I think it would be a fun adventure to join with them but my fibromyalgia would be super painful. Its just not worth it for the rush.

The Muppets movie was GREAT!! I loved it. I thought it was funny, I loved the music, and the whole thing made me smile throughout. While I think children will enjoy it I think it is designed for young adults my age. There were tons of references to the Muppets I knew growing up and I found them all charming. I just really loved it.

20. Do you like the cool new theme for the blog? Got to switch things up every now and then. I am trying to figure out why I got double the hits this same time last year? Tell me blog readers what have I done differently? ?

21. One last thing- a couple of weeks ago I gave my phone number out to a boy for the first time in my life. It felt totally cliched but I was proud of myself. He never called but hey its a step in the right direction! Probably sad that it took me to age 30 to do that. Oh well!

We just finished a delicious Thanksgiving meal (we always eat in 2 phases meal and a couple of hours later pie!). Now we are sitting together chatting and sharing memories. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. I was in charge of the mashed potatoes- a food I have not eaten in months and yes it is just as delicious as I remembered! If anything absence has made the heart grow fonder!

I got a little over-zealous in the mashed potato making and you should have seen the giant bowl of leftovers (thank goodness I get 2 days off my diet, so I can eat some tomorrow! Yum!). I was also in charge of the pumpkin and lemon meringue pies. I purchased the pumpkin pie but the lemon meringue was from scratch and a lot of work (it has so many steps, zest and squeeze lemons, make crust, lemon curd and meringue. ). It was exhausting but a lot of fun.

This morning started off with a bang. Trying to justify a day of bingeing I organized a group of us to go to the Folsom Turkey Trot. This was a 5k run/walk (I speed-walked it. 5k in 1 hour 27 seconds which I thought was pretty good). The proceeds from the race go to the local food bank and despite some rain it was a fun activity. It always warms my heart to think of all the volunteers and work that went into making a community event like the turkey trot happen.

I am very grateful for all who sacrifice to make our communities better. It makes me want to do more to contribute. It is also nice during this day of feasting to do something that helps those in need. Especially during the holidays those that do not have enough food to eat or money to buy presents feel it acutely. I loved participating in the race and I hope it becomes a tradition at our Thanksgiving celebrations.

Needless to say after a day with a 5k and then cooking all day I am tuckered out! My feet hurt and I feel like I could fall asleep now. Nevertheless my fatigue has not diminished my enjoyment of the day and my realization of the many blessings I have in my life.

ps. I am doing a Christmas Swimfest on Dec 17th at 9:30 am at Gene Fullmer Pool. We will have Christmas swim caps and some games (I am renting 2 lanes) and then we will go to Golden Corral for breakfast buffet. It should be a nice chance to engage with one another and have fun. If anyone would like to come let me know so that I get enough caps.

Fa, la, la, la, la. The special time of the year is starting next week with Thanksgiving. I leave on Tuesday for California where I will be visiting my folks along with 4 out of my 5 siblings and their families.

At least I get two days next week off of my sugar fast- Thanksgiving and the day after. I am so excited to eat pie! My mother makes the best pie in all the world (I defy anyone to go up against her pies!).

I think part of the reason I love Christmas movies is that I spend many holiday nights alone, which is fine with me but the holidays can feel a little lonely sometimes. It can be a little bit sad to not have a special person/children to buy presents for or start new traditions.

4. White Christmas- I know the plot is contrived and ridiculous but who watches a movie like this for the plot? Its all about the wonderful Irving Berlin music from talents like Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney and the amazing, over the top dance numbers from Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen. So many classic songs like Count Your Blessings, Sisters, Best Things Happen While Your Dancing, and of course the title number White Christmas. So great!

9. The Shop Around the Corner- While not technically a Christmas movie, it is set during the holidays and selecting gifts proves a critical plot point. The story is that Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan hate working together but are secretly cherished pen pals to each other.

Eventually the soldiers meet and agree to a Christmas cease fire zone where good wishes and Christmas treats are shared between opposing sides. It may sound cloying but its not. Its beautiful and tender and does not necessarily have a happy ending. However, to be catapulted back into the realities of war does not disturb the power of one moment of peace. Very good film that originally had an R rating (crazy!) but it was changed to a PG-13.

So, this meet was the biggest of the season and definitely the most crowded. I think there were 5 or 6 heats for the 50 free! It was great seeing a bunch of my swim friends; although, I wish more of the open water community came out for the meets. We miss you! I got to carpool up with my friends Kate and Erin. I should have taken a photo but it was wonderful to visit with them. It was also fun to see Josh (and win a free cap) and meet Matt fro the first time. I even was able to introduce myself to some new friends.

I particularly love when people are swimming in their first race/meet. I feel almost like I did as a missionary welcoming a new investigator to church. I just want them to have a great experience and be welcomed by me, like I was welcomed by others.

I swam in 3 events and was nervous about my performance as practice has been quite brutal lately. Between my business trip and the tonsillitis I had gone 2 weeks without a swim. I was also taking a strong antibiotic called clindamycin which caused my blood sugars to be high and my whole demeanor to be low energy (not to mention my body was fighting off tonsillitis.

When I went for my first swim last Friday it was brutal. My arms felt like weights, the water like glue. It was so hard to even get through a 200 m. Nevertheless, I pushed forward and swam/worked out every day this week. I am proud to say I had a 4 swim/5 workout week! I say this with particular pride because never were the routines more difficult to get through. At times it was very discouraging but I persisted on.

It may be true that food should be less important, more neutral in our lives and that emotions attached to food can often be dangerous; however, to pretend that food should have no impact on our lives is just denying reality.

The thing that gets my goat about is any trainer or health professional who is preaching this type of lifestyle to his or her patrons. They are setting them up for failure. Its like the people who push the green drink (or any other radical change diet). Yes, you will lose weight, yes it may even be healthy but it does not work with the culture we live in. It does not accept reality, work with it, and create a real solution. I am so glad my trainer gets it.

You may ask- what about my sugar fast? Is this not denying reality? There is some truth to that, and I have struggled with such a drastic lifestyle change (and not been perfect I might add); however, it is not a permanent fix. We are attempting to change my habits and cravings so that when I immerse myself completely in my world I can make better choices. I am also just trying to get through the holidays with as few cheats as possible. I have no delusions that this is a better way to live or that I would even want to keep it up for an extended period of time.

As I mentioned in my fall TV review I have gotten totally hooked on this season of The Sing Off. It is an acapella singing competition where the singers have to be everything- the band, accompaniment, leads, everything with their voices. This is the third season of the show but I had never watched it before but this season they got a new judge- my favorite Sara Barielles.

In my opinion I think they are much better than any of the other groups. Certainly more entertaining! Petnatonix is looking strong but I prefer Vocal Point. The truth is I am completely partial to anything BYU. Just like with the American Olympic team, I want us to win everything! The thing I wish I could tell people is there are tons of groups like Vocal Point in Utah (they had an entire Acapellafest every year if that tells you something!).

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