RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Wow, sorry that it took me over a month to post the details of my trip out west!  It usually takes a little while because of the pictures and stuff, but never that long.  I'm sure you were all hanging on the edge of your seats and everything.  Would they stop and take pictures again?  Would they ever see a moose?!  I'm sorry for any strain I might have put your heart through.  :)

2) One reason it took so long is that life kind of got weird here for a little while.  Most of you already know the gist, so I don't need to give you the down and dirty details of it, but for those of you who I haven't spoken to, here's the Reader's Digest Condensed Version.  During Steve's annual physical, the doctor found an unidentifiable spot on his lung X-ray.  Not good.  He had to get a CT scan, which confirmed that, indeed, he had a nodule (which is something too small to be a mass, but too big to be nothing.)  Since the CT scan couldn't show them what it was, he also had to go see a pulmonary specialist who scheduled him for a PET scan, which would measure the metabolic rate of the nodule because it was possible it could be cancerous.  Also not good.  So he had the PET scan.  Now, I'm not an expert, and pretty much everything I know about all of this I found online and from what the doctor told Steve, so forgive me if I've gotten this part of it wrong.  The PET scan was inconclusive because whatever metabolic scale that it measures showed a slightly elevated level, not just in the nodule, but in the surrounding lymph nodes.  That could mean cancer, but it might also not mean cancer.  So, you know, the test was basically an electronic image of this nodule giving us the finger.  While his doctor seems very positive that it isn't cancer, due to Steve's age and the fact that he doesn't smoke, the slightly elevated test levels do not completely clear him of the possibility.  Now we have to wait another five or six weeks for him to have another CT scan to see if the nodule has spread or not.  They can't do a biopsy without cutting his chest open (the doctor's words) and since they don't have enough proof that it is cancer, they don't want to do that yet.  Also, if it IS cancer, it isn't the kind that would be easily operable and he'll have to do chemotherapy and radiation, so...yeah.  Good times.

So, since we've been dealing with the possibility that he may or may not have cancer, it's been a little mind occupying to say the least.  I'll keep you updated and prayers would be welcome! Just say NO to cancer!

3) On to nicer topics, please. 

4) Do you know that I've discovered that it takes me approximately 10 to 12 minutes to completely eat a Jolly Rancher?  That is, when I don't bite down on them, anyways.  No, really, it's true.  I discovered it a while back during church services.  I would always keep 3 or 4 Jolly Ranchers in the sound booth with me, and I realized that I was consistently going through only 3 of the candies during the sermons.  So one Sunday (with apologies to the pastor) I timed myself and sure enough, give or take a minute or so, it only takes 10-12 minutes.  That is how I started timing the sermons.  The regular sermons are only 3 Jolly Ranchers long, but if Bro. Mylon gets excited, we have a 4 Jolly Rancher service.  He's actually done a 2 1/2 Jolly Rancher sermon before, but it's rare. I told him about it, and now when we talk about his sermons, he asks how many Jolly Ranchers long it was. Nice.

I should probably be embarrassed that I've admitted this kind of thing to the public at large, but I'm not.  My name is Kelly and I time our pastor's sermons with Jolly Ranchers.

5) I went to the gym for the first time in just over two months this morning.  I'm a bit ashamed that it's been so long, but with hurting my neck, traveling, and general apathy, I've just kept putting it off.  I could tell it had been a while, because I used to be able to jump on the elliptical and go for an hour at a high level, but today I could only do about 40 minutes at a mid level and even then, I thought I was going to die.  I hate that I've gotten so behind in working out, but I think I just got burnt out on it.  I wish I could be one of those super obsessed people who have the insane desire to spend every waking moment of my life exercising, but I'm not.  I also stopped losing weight a while back, even when I was working out more often, so I think I also just got discouraged.  I mean, I know my eating habits, although much improved from before, are still not stellar, so that's why the weight is sticking around, but it's still hard to get back in the good habits when they seem to have stopped working.  Granted, I've lost a total of 40 pounds, which is great, but I still had more to go and it doesn't want to move!!!!!!  Blerg.  Anyways, so I'm hoping I can get things going again and try to hit my goal weight before I go completely off the rails.  I'm not obsessing over it (I probably should) but I'd just end up burning out that much quicker.  I wish I had a time frame, like I did with Sara's wedding, but hopefully I'll just find the right trick.  I also wish food wasn't so delicious and sleep wasn't so wonderful. We'll see!