Stormy Beach

Winter is arriving... with the wind and the rain. I love the beach and this time of year is my favorite... the wind comes in crashing the waves on the shore and then rips them back out.. dragging sand and rocks and logs with it... churning it all up and uncovering all the treasures.

There is power and life on the beach in a storm and one never knows what little bits of beautiful it may uncover and leave laying on the beach to be found. Yesterday there was a period of strong wind gust and it happened to be at high tide.. which was not all that high.. but mixed with the wind gust is made it so much more powerful and amazing. We were only out there for a few minutes yesterday and got a couple of pictures is all... I will be heading out there this week to see what has been turned up so there will be more pictures soon... this time of year.. there will be a lot of beach pictures :)

Normally at a 10.4 tide the water would be many feet from the little sea wall there... with plenty of room to walk down the beach.. and.. this is not big ocean beach.. most of the time we have little ripples not big frothy waves.

I am a little concerned though as I have been reading reports that items from the Japan earthquake and tsunami are expected to start washing up on beaches before too long.. with the most of it arriving in 2013. Beach Combers Alert Even though I do not expect any to wash up on the beach I spend time on..it would have to go around Whidbey island. I do know I will be looking at each item a bit differently. That tsunami really affected my time on the beach... I have not walked the shore since without being thankful for everything I have or without thinking on those who lost so much.

If You Blog.. Then You Need...

Eclecticsix.com Just be ready to spend a few days wandering around like a kid in a candy store.

I have followed Heather from Home to Heather for a long time now.. to be honest I have no clue where or how it started (feeling a bit like a stalker now) I am thinking possibly twitter.. years ago. I also follow her on facebook and her blog. She is always friendly, helpful, supportive and fun to read and interact with. She started talking about a new adventure her and some of her friends were getting into it. As soon as I had a couple minutes (turned into all day) to sit and explore it I headed over to have a look. Within minutes I was drawn in and I am amazed at how much stuff is in here. I shouldn't be.. it is just like Heather... full of information, support, ideas and help and it is fun too.

Eclecticsix is a forum based blogging world. I am sure there is everything there one would want or need for blogging. A collection of people who blog..... from beauty to recipes to family to anything you can think of.. you will find someone here who blogs about it. The wonderful thing is that it is set up to help and encourage and share. Do you need a little help trying to figure out how to add a widget to your blog... do you want to know what a widget is? This is the place! Have questions about wordpress vs blogger or other places to blog... ask here! Want to learn about how to get followers... there is a place for talking about that too. This is a forum ran by some amazing people who have a lot of experience in the blogging world and who are sharing that experience. This site is priceless, a place to share, support and help in all areas of blogging from real people.. who help in terms we all understand. This is not a place just for people who know all the right coding words or tricks.. this is not a place just for people who blog about their babies... this IS a place for anyone who blogs.. if you are just starting or if you have perfected it... this place really feels like what blogging is all about to me...connecting.. this place is an amazing connection for bloggers.

After you sign up.. this place is free to join... I would love it if you would visit the Chit Chat thread and go to the !!Win $100 Cash!! thread and let them know you signed up thanks to me... while you are there and after you have spent some time looking around you can also get signed up to win the $100 (instructions are in the thread) I am not in anyway asking anyone to sign up just to help me win.. This is all about blogging so if you have no interest in blogging then there is no need for even taking a peek.

Reaching Goals

Today I am doing a serious happy dance... I have reached a goal! Today I got on the scale and I am down 30 lbs from where I started almost 3 months ago. I still have about 50 lbs to go.. but right now my next goal is to reach -40 my half way mark.. ten more pounds! Today I am wearing a whole size smaller jeans than I was last week.. and 4 sizes smaller than when I started. Let me tell you... my music is playing loud and I am having a hard time even sitting still long enough to write this post!

I have a long ways to go... but with every pound that comes off it is getting easier and easier. I am having less cravings for unhealthy food... and thinking about my future so differently. I am moving more... exercise is a whole different story now than it was 30 lbs ago.... I can do so much more so much easier.. one there is less weight to move around. Two I am seeing things happen.. which makes it much easier and is great motivation to keep things happening!

We have weekend hiking trips planned this spring.. hiking to ghost towns.. and over mountain ranges... sleeping in the woods and playing in the creeks. I am thinking about all the beautiful photos we can take of flowers and animals and even bugs. The time we will get to spend just being together out in nature watching the sun set and sleeping under the stars. I am so excited for the doors that loosing this weight is opening!

Beach Walk

30 degrees and a bit cold this morning... but still a great morning for a walk on the beach!

Tide was coming in so it was not a long walk but it was so calm and sunny and brrrr cold.. Wonderful morning walk! With all the wind the last few days there was all sorts of fun stuff stirred up and left on the beach :) This morning the water was so calm and the birds were just having a lazy morning.. lots of stretching and quiet noises... very peaceful and calming.

Found lots of fun treasures

This one made me think of my flickr friends :)

Pretty sure the bird on the left was telling the other bird... " head up.. open the wings.. fly!"

Time to head home.. which was ok because my toes and finger tips were getting a bit chilly :)

Five and Dime Post

This post is going to be just a little bit of this and a little bit of that and some of not really anything :)

Had an awesome weekend.. as always.. with my honey... spent Friday in the jeep on the freeway stuck in traffic most of the day.. lots of time for just visiting and holding hands and being together :)

Made another load of stuff to goodwill.. the last of the loads from storage.. feels so good to have that cleaned out.. one more trip to the dump soon... almost have enough ready to go... the dump and goodwill are two of my favorite places to go.. I love getting rid of stuff!

Worked in the shop this weekend which is always good... a bit frustrating now since we are so much further behind than we wanted to be. Had planned on being done and making things by now.. but.. life happens. We are getting closer... have the dust collection ran from the sander and router table and from the miter saw up and across the ceiling to the dust collection.. now we need to add on the table saw, band saw, jointer, planer, and drill press and than it will be good to go. We did get the new (old) heater, from my dad up and running and it works great.. so much quieter than the one we were using. Will sand it down and give it a coat of paint this week and get it installed. Also planning on adding insulation into the rafters this week / weekend.. should be a lot cheaper to keep it warm this winter.

My plans this week include lots of house keeping stuff. I want to move the furniture around a bit.. into a better set up for laying on the couch and snuggling while watching movies. I love this time of year :) Also want to get the cupboards in the kitchen all emptied out and cleaned out.. lots of food in there we are not eating anymore.. and this is a great time of year to donate to the food banks. Noticed the fridge could use some cleaning up too.. shelves wiped down and what not. Will have to pace myself and see how my shoulder goes.. and will have to save some of it for Dave to help with... thankfully he enjoys this type of stuff too :)

Wanted to share a couple of things I saw this week and thought were fun. A friend blogged about 25 uses for coffee filters.. oh and you can use them to make coffee too :) I am going to be trying a couple of these.. love the microwave soup one! Also found a new blog this week that is local and interesting... Journey Beyond Average I love finding local blogs.. I keep a list on the right hand side of the blog of the ones I find and I enjoy!

Scale update.. it is still moving down... down... down... slowly but surely. Which works for me!