Angie Windheim

Two guys, Ewan McGregor (yes, the one in Star Wars) and Charely Boorman (English actor), get the crazy idea to jump on motorbikes and drive on two amazing journeys. They ride from London to New York via Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia and Canada In Long Way ‘Round, and from the northernmost tip of Scotland descending through Western Europe and Africa to Cape Town, South Africa. It’s all journalized in a DVD series that Brian and I have been borrowing from Netflix. We’ve had a blast watching it. Amazingly fun and funny. The guys are enormously entertaining to listen to and watch and the places they go are fantastic. Not your run-of-the-mill travel show for sure. The inevitable drama during the hardships and rough spots are interesting to see as well. The DVD series and books are entitled “Long Way Round” and “Long Way Down.” I recommend watching them in order…”Round” came about first.

I’m getting in the groove on my photography blog now. I’m trying to focus on photo ideas and tips. Check it out if you get a chance. You can also follow me by being a “fan” of  Angie Windheim Photography on Facebook.

Anybody interested in being a virtual walking partner?  Hook on a pedometer and start tracking  your steps (I have an Omron “walking style”).  The goal is roughly 10,000 steps a day or let’s say 60,000 steps per week (we need to allow for one day of slacking). It may take us a few weeks to reach that goal. You may be surprised at how many steps that really is.  But it’s also fun to try to meet that challenge everyday. You may find yourself creating excuses to go the long way or even doing laps around the kitchen. I plan to report my steps on Monday mornings.

Yu-um. Ben and Brian love fish tacos, but I haven’t been satisfied with my sauce experiments until now. My new sauce recipe is so good and it has a nice kick. We used the left over sauce for veggie dip the next day. Best part? So easy and fast.  Go get the details on eHow.

Went in for my annual check up with Dr. Yu (who I think is fabulous and I have switched my whole family to her care).  I always go in with my fairly minor list of issues/questions and brace myself for a weight conversation. Well, she never picks on my weight, but never likes my moles or my allergies 🙂

Just one mole has to go this time around. I’m guessing I’ve had 7 or 8 removed over the years. It’s never the mole I think she’ll be after. I always suspect the bumpy ones that itch or get raised. Clearly, I don’t know what to look for cause she’s removing one that I don’t think I’ve ever really looked at before. Of course, now I’ll be staring at it every day!

And, my dry scalp, crazily dry eyes and red throat and nose are getting a double punch.  An allergy nasal spray and the ever-so-popular food intolerance blood test. Time to stop treating the symptoms and actually figure out what is at the root of the problem. I figured out myself that coffee is a problem for me, but eliminating coffee didn’t eliminate the symptoms…just made them more manageable.

Guess it’s up to me to tackle the weight issue. I always secretly hope that she’ll freak out on me and that’ll be the motivation I need.  But, she doesn’t.  I know what to do. But, it’s so hard to truly make it a lifestyle. I’m a yo-yo girl, for sure. The plan? Well, the pedometer is back on my waistband and I’m tracking the calories on my iPhone’s Lose It! app. I know how to cook healthy and exercise. It’s not magic. It’s eat less and exercise more. Stay tuned. I feel a big health shift coming for me…some Spring Cleaning for my body 🙂

After much debate and multiple designs, I do believe that this is the official deck plan we’ll be using. I think it’s going to be awesome. The little “nook” space will have built-in bench seating and maybe a trellis/arbor eventually.  We’ll have plenty of space on the big section for a large table and chairs and for setting up food tables and extra seating when we want it. We also widened the steps on the way down to allow for some flower pots or just for sitting. I always enjoy sitting on warm steps and looking out at the yard.

Now we need to finalize the plans/estimates and pick out materials. We’re definitely going with an easy-to-care-for, composite material. We plan to hire someone to do the framing and then Brian will do the decking and probably the railing himself. Normally, he would want to do it all and save us some money. But, baseball season is underway and free time will vanish for the next 3 1/2 months. I’m just so happy to have things moving along!

Some thought we were crazy for booking a house at the Oregon Coast for Spring Break. But, we were game for anything. Bad weather meant huddling inside with books and movies and good weather meant we were extremely lucky and we’d spend our days on the sand. Well, we got sooooo lucky. The sun shined every day and we even had to lose our sweatshirts ’cause we got too warm. Awesome.

We had an excellent time. We rented a house in the Bella Beach neighborhood just north of Depoe Bay and south of Lincoln City. The neighborhood was full of the cutest beach houses ever. We’ll definitely go back and maybe rent a larger place to share with another family and stay longer. The beach was very nice and semi-private. No cigarette butts anywhere. And, that part of the coast has the BIG waves. The kids were very impressed. In fact, I’m afraid it turned us into beach snobs. We visited the main Lincoln City beach on our way home and left almost immediately. The beach was dirty, too windy, too crowded and then the Tsunami warning system kicked in (false alarm, but boy was it annoying).

We took some time to explore Depoe Bay’s little shops, watched the whale watching boats (but no whales) and bought some candy (Fuddy Duddy Fudge is yu-um). And, we explored the tide pools at Boiler Bay. It’s a steep trail down and some seriously technical climbing up and down the rocks. The boys loved it.  Ben, of course, had to try one more thing before we left and sliced up his knee. Why is it always that “just one more thing” that gets us into trouble???

Regardless, we enjoyed our time there and it was a glorious 3 days on the Oregon Coast.

Oh, and where to eat you ask? We mostly had our meals in, but the McMenamins Lighthouse Brewpub in Lincoln City had great chowder and a crab/shrimp melt. The Kyllos in Lincoln City was OK. Nice view. The fish and chips were tasty but the chowder was a little disappointing. Next time we’ll try the Blackfish Cafe that claims to have the “best chowder on the Oregon Coast.”

I love reading historic fiction. It’s so satisfying to learn while being entertained. Literary perfection for the multi-tasker 🙂

So when a friend passed along The 19th Wife, by David Ebershoff, I eagerly snapped it up.  I’m happy to report, the novel delivered an amazing story wrapped in an intimate picture of lives of both the early day Latter Day Saints and those who currently live in the aftermath of polygamy.

Ebershoff delivers two entwined stories. The first is the historically -based story of Ann Eliza Young. We see how her family came to be followers of Joseph Smith and made the journey to Utah. We get to see how the message of celestial marriage was introduced to the Latter Day Saints and then how it morphed and became a dominating force in the church. Ann Eliza was a catalyst to ending polygamy after she eventually escaped her role as the 19th wife to Brigham Young.  She toured the country beginning in 1875 telling her story, writing a book and fanning the flames that eventually led the Mormon church to denounce polygamy.

The second story is in present day, Mesadale, Utah.  Imagine that you are the husband to 15 or even 20 wives and father to some 40 children. Now your church says, “oops, no more polygamy.” What do you do with the mess you’ve made? Some chose to clean it up and others chose to hide out in Mesadale and keep on living what they believed to be the true doctrine of Joseph Smith. The story in Mesadale erupts with a gun shot. A 19th wife has been accused of shooting her husband and this ignites her excommunicated son to return and find out what really happened.

I was completely engrossed in both story lines. I was able to feel the power of faith in these characters and better understand what faith allows the mind to overlook.  The sacrifices women (and even men) made during this period are amazing. I believe that all religions have darkness in their histories. What man has done in the name of “God” is both inspiring and horrific at times. The LDS church is no better or worse in that respect. True religious leaders need to embrace and confront those mistakes and triumphs. Don’t hide them. Share them. Learn from them.

2010 is the year I get a backyard. Over the years I’ve thrown a few trees and a row of blueberry bushes out in the pasture, but this year we get serious.  While I impatiently wait for a deck to be built, I’m making plans for a real lawn, an island planting bed, a nice path to the goat pasture and a fire pit. And, that’s just the beginning! I also want a few more raised beds for the garden along with a trellis for the entrance and some beautification efforts to clean up that area.

And, somehow I also need to prep an area for a new furry friend. A bunny should be joining our family very soon. The bunny, some chickens and a batting cage are planned for our old garden area, but we may have to “chicken out” of the latter two for this year. The bunny can take over the old dog kennel without much effort and will get Joe off my back 🙂

I’ve taken my “before” pictures, I have a pile of clippings and book pages with ideas and I have a rough sketch of what goes where. Next step? Kill the weeds for the fire pit and big planting bed. I filled up my backpack sprayer and sprayed the outline of the areas and then sprayed the middle. After the weeds begin to die off, I will get out the tiller, truck in some dirt and have some fun.  In the meantime, hopefully Brian and I can dismantle that unsightly and completely unspringy trampoline.

Stay tuned for my backyard transformation!

I do believe that my heart’s desire, a deck, is going to appear this spring/summer of 2010. After 6 years in our home, the dining room door will actually have a purpose!

We are in the final deck design stages and I plan to keep you posted on the progress. For now, you’ll have to settle with the so sad “before” picture.  And, if I don’t post anything soon, don’t ask. It will be a sore subject for sure…J