The Food Bank

Will is taking psychology this semester.  The teacher set a term project for the students to do 5 hours of community service.  Only two hours have to be physically at some location.  The rest can be accomplished through writing letters to senators, showing her a voter registration card (if the student is over 18) and other such things.  Will really hates writing stuff, however, and he's only 17, so he decided to do all 5 hours in physical service.  We signed up to volunteer at the Food Bank.

Yes, we.  It's not very fun to volunteer alone, and I wanted to volunteer, too.

I've never been to the Food Bank before.  I've donated canned goods often enough.  Every Scouting food drive, mail carrier food drive, school food drive, and any other food drive that comes our way, we usually pull some cans out of the pantry and send them on their way.  For the first time, on New Year's Eve, I saw where they all go.

It is a run down building near the end of the FrontRunner line.  Down by the train tracks, in other words.  In a dodgy part of Provo.  It's a warehouse in severe need of fumigating.  I spent most of my time stocking shelves in the "pantry"/store where people in need are sent through with helpers to insure they only take what they need.  They have to have visited a case worker, first, then they are sent through with a pallet cart and specific instructions to take X # of cans of soup, Y # of cans of vegetables, and Z # of cans of fruit, and so on.  The numbers were based on the number of people living in the family.  My job was to keep the shelves stocked so people could make their selections.

The canned foods had been sorted into bins in the back of the warehouse.  Many/most of the cans were dented in some way.  You know how you always leave the dented cans on the grocery store shelves when you are shopping?  Most of those cans end up at the food bank.  Some of them burst and spill their contents all over everything else in the bin.  Yuck.  That leads to the problem with mice.

The shelves I was stocking had mouse dropping on them!  Ugh!!!  I wanted to bleach wash them SO BADLY!  These poor people!  I desperately hope they sanitize the cans BEFORE opening them!  Who knows what kinds of viruses are being passed to some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Honestly, I'm not blaming the people who run the Food Bank.  They are understaffed and underfunded.  They are at the mercy of volunteers and there are never enough.  I want to go back so badly and bring a bunch a bleach wipes with me...

...but I dread going back because I had the worst allergic reaction I've had in years!  My eyes burned and were all swollen and puffy by the end of the day.  I also came home with several flea bites.

The people we helped were a mixed bunch.  Some were elderly and mentally struggling.  Some were new to the system and seemed almost apologetic.  There were several who didn't speak English.  Those who spoke Spanish could get a translator, but there were a couple of people who looked Asian, and no one could really help translate for them.  We didn't know if they spoke Chinese, Korean, or Vietnamese.  Lots of pointing and holding up fingers to indicate numbers, mostly got them through the store.

I remember one young woman.  She was VERY pregnant.  When she got to the soup shelves, she noticed there were no Spaghetios.  She asked me if there were any in the back.  I told her 'I'm sorry' and that there had been no Spaghetios all day.  She frowned and pouted that she just would have to skip the soup shelves, then, since her kids wouldn't eat anything else in that section.

?!?

Oh. My. Gosh.  If I had to rely on the Food Bank to feed my children I would make sure to take EVERY BIT OF FOOD I was allowed and my kids would EAT IT!  You don't like chicken noodle soup, kidlets?  Tough cookies!  Eat and be glad you have food!  Oi.

Some of the things I put on the shelves disappeared instantly because they were so rare.  Like Miracle Whip, mustard, or chocolate syrup.  Other things are just staples and whole shelves had to be restocked several times over the course of the day, like green beans.  Peanut butter was another fast moving food item.

Will helped with stocking the dry goods.  Stores donate day old bread to the food bank, and that is sent on to families as quickly as possible.

The guy in charge told me that just before Christmas, an anonymous family donated a thousand stuffed stockings to the Food Bank to hand out to families with children.



I was so glad to have the opportunity to serve and I am shamed that it took my son's school assignment for me to do so.  We spent two hours, went to lunch, then spent three hours more.  The time went by really quickly and when I got home I was BUSHED! (and grossed out, and allergically puffy...)

I need to go again.


With bleach.

The Workout Schedule

I have set stuff I like to do.  I like to swim.  I like to run.  I like to ride my bike.  Triathlon stuff.

So, I'll revisit my old triathlon type training and see where that takes me.

I think this year I'll make Saturday and Sunday my rest days.  At least until summer vacation.  That will give me the time I need to get weekend chores done and spend time with the family, I hope.

So, I'm splitting my workouts into two categories; MWF and TTh.

MWF will be running training and weights/core work.  My running goal for the next 10 weeks is to speed up on my 5K.  I average 31 minutes with a best time of 28 minutes.  In 10 weeks I want 28 minutes to be the new average time for the 5K distance.  We'll see what my new best time will become!  I have an app called 5K Forever that I will be working with to try and meet this goal.  The app is designed specifically to help 5K runners improve their time, so I'm excited to give it a go!  Today was my first day using the app and it went well.

Core work means situps, pushups, squats, lunges, and planks.  My 10 week end goal is 200 situps, 100 pushups, 100 squats, 200 lunges, and 120 second planks.  Weights will be just maintenance stuff on my arms.

TTh workouts will be cycle class and swimming.  The swimming is iffy, because TTh are long lanes, which means less available lanes (short lanes can be up to 8 lanes, long lanes are at max of 5).  With the Resolutioners in the gym, I might not get a lane for a little while, but I'll do my best.  I haven't created specific goals for cycle and swim.  Just to do them and push myself each day.  Work on form and endurance, mostly.

Resolutioners!  It's that time of year, again.  Today was great.  There was no crowd, yet.  I expect the crowds will hit just after the annual pass sale and fitness fair next week.  Ugh.  They all sign up, plunk down their money for an annual pass, crowd out the regulars for two months, then disappear.  Most equipment breakage happens during this time because they also bring along their kids, who abuse the equipment.

I'm really not against New Year's Resolutions!  I just really believe in only making goals I intend to achieve.  Why would you spend the money and not follow through?  Why give up after only a few weeks?  Why do there have to be so many of them that I can't get my workouts done?  The gym oversells knowing many will quit.  So in January and February the facility is really over capacity.

Still, some of them end up turning into regulars, and in that case, they are very welcome!  For now, I'll have to show up early to cycle class in order to get my preferred bike, and I might have to get creative with my running workouts if all the treadmills are taken.

2014

Hello there.

Bet you thought I'd forgotten my little online journal.


Nope.

I've just gotten way too distracted by life.

But, I'm here, now.  And I'm gonna try to stay with it.

It's a time for new resolutions, after all!

That's right!  WELCOME TO 2014 AND THE NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION POST!

I'm a goal setting kind of person.  I don't get too bent out of shape if I fail to reach them all... I just like to set them and see how far it takes me.  So, here goes!

Last Sunday, the bishop mentioned some advice he'd been giving on setting goals.  He called them goals, not resolutions, because you really should be constantly assessing, adjusting, and setting goals.  It is not just a New Year thing.  Anyways, he said the advice was to set 3 health goals for yourself...  one for physical health, one for mental health, and one for spiritual health.  That sounds like a great idea.

Of course, I have a boatload of PHYSICAL HEALTH goals I'd like to tackle.

For instance, I want to;

• Get to bed 'early' every night.  'Early' means 10-10:30 nightly (as I type this at 11:30 pm).  The problem with that is that I still have a wandering teen in the house to wait up for on occasion.  And, lets face it, I'm a night owl and have to force myself to bed most nights.   Grrrr.  Instead, I want to set a goal to try for 8 HOURS OF SLEEP per night.  I think I can manage that, most of the time.
• Get up at 6 am every school day to MAKE BREAKFAST FOR WILL.  That one is more for Will's physical/mental health than for mine.  I know.  I'm a horrible mother!  Most mornings he rolls out of bed at 7:20 am and leaves for school at 7:30... with no breakfast.  I've never been one of those "let me feed you all the meals" kind of people.  Still, I'm gonna try!  That means I will have to strive for that 10 pm bedtime on school nights if I'm gonna make that first goal.
• BUILD A NEW WORKOUT SCHEDULE AND STICK TO IT.  I've fallen off the workout wagon, somewhat.  And by fallen off, I mean I'm still holding on to the wagon and am being dragged in the dirt behind it.  I've struggled all through the holidays.  I'm making it to about 1/2 of my scheduled workouts each week.  I know I can do better.  I know I will feel better if I do better.  So, I will.
• BREAK THE STUPID SODA HABIT!  Here's another wagon I fell off of, people.  Gah!  Stupid, stupid soda!  Why does sugar have to taste so good?!  I feel like this is my Achilles heel.  My willpower battle royale.  So, I will keep up the fight and try again.
• GO TO THE DOCTOR and have the various things taken care of that need attention.  Vericose veins & moles.  I met my deductible this year, so I might as well take care of stuff. ya know?

MENTAL HEALTH Goals

• DE-CLUTTER.  I want to pick one room each month and get rid of as much as I possibly can.  Clear out the accumulation of 13-14 years of living in one place.  You know what I mean.  Things can pile up over time.  Papers and books and nick-nacks.  Picture frames I meant to paint all black, fill with pictures, and hang on the wall; but are instead all piled in a corner of the dining room gathering dust.  The puzzle that was built and mod-podged, but is waiting on top of the dryer for me to find a 22"x24" (or was it x28"?) frame so I can hang it on the wall.  All those random bits and pieces of living that need a proper home, or just simply need to go away permanently.  How is that mental health, you ask?  A cluttered home = a cluttered mind.  I think I could focus better with a more spartan house.
• KEEP UP WITH ROSETTA STONE.  I have been working on learning Spanish with Rosetta Stone.  I work at a Spanish Immersion elementary school, and the administration has provided Rosetta Stone for all the teachers and students to use.  Really such a great resource!  I could have chosen any language to work on, and I was tempted to brush up my French.  But, I want to learn Spanish, for work.  Learning a language should keep my mind sharp, especially since it sometimes feels like some of the gears are starting to slip from time to time.
• KEEP UP WITH MY BLOG.  This is my journal.  I need a place to crystalize my thoughts, and this is that place.  It is such a shame that so many good thoughts got lost over the months that I neglected to write.  I focus my writing on the positive events in my life, and it helps ME to stay positive.  Otherwise, I might let the negative creep in and get too much of a foothold in my life.  Keep your sharing POSITIVE!  Whether in a blog, or on Facebook, only record the positive.  You get back what you send out, so be careful what you send out there!

SPIRITUAL HEALTH Goals

• RENEW MY TEMPLE RECOMMEND.  I haven't held a current recommend in years.  I don't really have a good reason.  Just laziness.  I'm a slacker.  I need to rededicate myself and get back to the temple.  I'm looking forward to some Celestial Room meditations.  
• PRAYERS/SCRIPTURES EVERY MORNING.  That's gonna be part of the getting up at 6 am gig.  I'm shooting for a morning something like this:  15 min. me time (potty, stretching), 15 min. prayer/scriptures, 30 min. breakfast prep., have breakfast with Will (& hopefully Helena), send Will out the door at 7:30, get myself ready for work & out the door around 8:15.

So, there you have it.  I'm not good at the one goal per section kind of thing.  Still, I like my goals and I'm looking forward to implementing them.  Tomorrow I think I'll build that workout schedule!

If you are setting goals this week, I wish you all the best in achieving them!  I'm no cynic about New Year's Resolutions... I've accomplished many of mine over the years, so I know they are worthwhile endeavors.

So, set your goals and chase 'em down!

Cheers to a bright 2014!