Moving Forward

you ever feel like you are  in limbo? Like you are in a constant state of rush and listlessness all at once? That is a pretty good way to describe my last two semesters. After much Prayer and discussion with my husband the decision was made to withdraw from the theatre dept at ISU; I met with an adviser for general studies and that is now my major. After six years of college I am only 8 upper division credits from graduating. Since I still need to maintain living wages at McDonald's I will be taking 2 semesters to finish those courses. During that time I will also be taking classes that can help me with my Shoppe. This semester I am taking Jewelry making, Intro to Photography, Spanish (required), and Medieval Literature.

My focus has shifted over the last year or so, I no longer want anything to do with the theatre world, its too cut throat and in all honesty I'm just too tenderhearted. However,  I still have an immense passion for costuming. The answer to feeding that passion is Shannon's Shoppe: a Traveling merchant business specializing in Re-enactment costumes, accessories, and fashion/practical steel swords. I have put the better part of the last 5 months into researching, planning, and preparing for this venture to take flight. In January I will be applying for my tax ID, and begin purchasing raw materials to build my stock. I am researching vehicles with towing capability and with enough diligence and a little luck I will begin as a Weekend Warrior this summer. The ultimate goal is to spend half the year on the road and half the year at home building stock; an exciting prospect  to say the least.

Marcus is going to be speaking with an Air Force recruiter in January. He found his nursing school on the campus of UNLV, a place neither of us had considered before it popped up on a google search. Marcus wants to see if the Air Force can help him get to where he wants to go in life; if not than we will find our own way to Las Vegas. He is registered for a CNA course that starts next month so he is moving forward as well.

I am greatly looking forward to the day when I do not have to work a job that requires smelling like fries when I'm done. Fast food pays the bills but it is not what I want to do with my life. My path, for now, is clear I just need to get there.

it is cold....and i don't like it

so the weather has gone from late summer directly to winter....again. you'd think that after living. in idaho for well over a decade I would be used to it by now. I'm not. I don't like the cold I never have. And its even worse when it sneaks up on you, BOO! That reminds me halloween is coming up. Yay for spooks and specters and honoring the changing of the seasons (even if they have no clue what they should be changing too) well that's my random contribution to the blogosphere

Updates and stuff

Hey all. I know it has been a while since I was on, so here are a few updates that have been going on in our lives. First thing is the weather. Many of you know that I complaned a lot this last "spring" because it was an extention of winter. It was. There are pictures to prove it. Well like all of Idaho's crazyness this year, it went very abruptly from extream cold to extream heat. It happened in a seven day time frame. Picture this: end of May should be seeing flowers and other plants coming back to life, but just drove home from work in the snow. Again. Now: begining of June. Highs are now in the 80s while lows are still in the 40s. Trees and flowers are blooming like they are trying to catch up to where they should be. Instead of snow I'm driving home in a constant rain storm. Which brings me to my next update.

The constant rain we recived the first couple of weeks in June killed the lettuce. If they would have been given time to dry out they would have made it. Instead about a week before being able to start harvesting them all of the roots rotted. Rach and I dug them up and tried to start over. By then we were in the 80s and the heat killed them. However I did plant some rosemerry and it is doing okay. It is still stuggling, but ever few days I can see it getting bigger. Out of the whole seed packet only four plants came up. Two are now dead. If they survive I will be thankful. If not then next year I will try to find some starts. The catnip didn't even get a good start. None of its shoots survived. Now it is too hot to try replanting.

Number three. This one will be brief here because Rach wanted to blog about it. After being married for almost four years we have finally been camping. We brought the cats with us and yes there are pictures. After she gets back from Cedar City she will have more time to blog.

Number four. The reason we went camping was two-fold. The first was to make sure I wasn't called into work. If did it would have been 14 days strait with no day off. Nobody wanted that. The second was due to our apartment facing the south and being made of bricks around two and three in the afternoon, it would turn into an oven. At night when it would cool off we were still about 20 degrees higher then the outside. It made all of us miserable. Rach and started not being able to sleep properly. The cats looked drained of all energy. We would come from work and sleep the afternoon away. It was very unhealthy. We were able to receve a blessing that enabled us to buy some fans. That dropped the internal temp down to manageable levels. We are sleeping better and have energy to do everday things.

Number five. The oven-like conditions finally came to a head Monday night. I was overheated after waking up from an afternoon nap. My skin felt like it was on fire. When the fan hit me I shivered and couldn't stop. Those who know the signs reconize that I had heat exhaustion. My head also felt like it was being split open by an axe. Every muscle that could tense up did. Espesally in my neck at the base of my skull. My sleep was restless and fitful. It wasn't until I was at work the following morning and just having my pulse elevated caused me pain that I relized I had a migrain. I was nausious and had slight vertago all morning. I was able to to get a dose of ibuprofen and that helped. That morning I also asked God to sustaine me if my body would be forced to do so. He helped me get through my shift without any complicatoins. I want to stress that it was small and VERY mild, but I don't ever want to have another one. I also have a lot more respect for those who get them with frequentcy and intensity, but still go about their daily lives. I don't thik I could do that and not cry. Rachel made me some tea when I got home. It has St. John's Wort, baisal, peppermint, skullcap, nettle, alfalfa, and powdered willow tree bark. Once it had cooled it tasted really good. I have developed a tase for peppermint tea. There are a lot of worse things to like. She also got me some Exedrine Migriane. It wasn't the name brand, but it did the same things. That and a non-prescrition sleep aide hepled me to be feeling tons better this morning. Now I have two days off to get better and back on the ball. I love my wife.

Well, that's what is going on our neck of the woods. Please coment if there are any questions or otherwise interesting thoughts.

I have earned the Green Bead!!

Even though I spent my middle and high school years running, I have never earned the Green Bead. Until now. I earned my first last night around 9:30 pm. Let me explain the significance of this.

My Junior year was the first time I had run Cross-Country. For those who don't know, XC is where you train to run a 5k every week for about 5 weeks. It goes to 6 weeks if you make State. Training starts about two weeks before school starts in August and goes till about the middle of November. The first meet isn't until the middle of September. By that time your body has started to feel like you have put it through a meat grinder, was spat out, pounded with a tenderizer, and stuffed back through the grinder. That is all before the first meet. Once you start racing the feeling only intensifies.

My High School coach was Neil Gliechman. He was different then most XC coaches I have been around. He trained and ran with his team. He was in his late forties early fifties when I was in school. He was skinny, ecentric, German, and color blind. It definatly made for interesting days when Coach thought he found running tights and a pair of naked shorts (REALLY short running shorts) that he thought matched our school colors. :) We just called him Coach. Well, Coach liked to travel during the summer and share with his team where he went and what he picked up. That year he brought everyone back a tiny safety pin with three tiny hand made beads. It was used as a good-luck charm. Mine was kept on my racing flats. Left shoe the first lace before it started up the shoe. It stayed on that shoe until I got rid of them after I got married. During the season if you did something outstanding, broke a personal record (PR), or pushed yourself to the point that you absolutely cannot go farther, you got a bead to add to your safety pin. During my two years running for Teton High, I only saw the Green Bead go out once.

It was during the Pocatello Race at Bart's Field. This was before the Performing Arts Center, Ridge Crest Apartments, and the Rendezvous Center. The only thing up on the hill was the two stake centers. Ground was getting ready to break on the PAC, but I don't think they started until after school that Spring. It was a lot hotter then the team prepared for. It was my favorite course that year. Everytime I am on Bart's Field I see where I ran and smile.

Well, after the race all of the Girl's Team was sunburned and suffering from Heat Exhaustion. I have never seen Coach get that mad before or since. If anyone has seen a German lose his temper you know what I am talking about. He chewed the entire girls team up one side and down the other. The other memory that has stuck with me since that day was when my best friend, Emily, (Em) crossed the finish line. Em ran her guts out that day. She wasn't near the front or middle of the pack, but Coach was very proud of her.

When Em crossed the line she sank to her knees in exhaustion clutching her mid-section. I heard Dani tell her, "just throw up!! You will feel better!! Come on Em!" Dani was cheering Emily on so that her body could try to free itself of the toxin build-up. Emily did throw up not long after that. She also earned the Green Bead to go on her safety pin. I had a lot of respect for Em that day.

Now to fast-forward to the present. Sunday Rach and I went to the gym with our good friend Sandra. Sandra is training for a marathon and wanted to run on the tread mills. Rachel went to a stair stepper and I ran next to Sandra. We were there for an hour. I decided that I was going to do an interval workout. Throughout the work out I would change my speed from fast to slow and back again. I ran at sprint pace for a few minuets at the end. Well, I am no where near the fitness level I was in during high school Cross-Country. In fact, I am no where near any fitness level. When I got off the treadmill my head was swimming with my vision very jerky. That should have been my first clue. Several hours and a wonderful dinner later, I was kneeling in front of the Porcelain God earning my Green Bead. To say that Rachel was mad is an understatement. She also reminded me after I told her this story that Coach would be mad at me as well. I had pushed myself so completely beyond its current limits that it had to expel anything that had gone into it since the workout. That included water.

So, note to self: Do not go to gym dehyrated.
Do not run for 60 min strait without a break.
Do not try to act like you are in high school.
Follow training as a massage therapist and LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!!!!

I have now earned my Green Bead. May it be my last.

Holy sore muscles Batman!

The last couple of weeks of the semester Rachel decided that she wanted to get into better shape. She did some research on workouts, but focused mainly on those for women. Since we have a membership to Golds Gym, she wanted to spend the summer there. Her inspiration was her friend and coworker Tamara who is getting in shape for a Cabaret audition next year. Once the research was done and printed off, she stuck everything into an old three-ring binder. Now the real work begins.

Stating yesterday, Rachel and I have been going to the gym together. I am going for a couple of reasons. The first and foremost is that I am EXTREAMLY out of shape and need to get back to being healthy. The second, yet just as important is so I can cheer on my wife. See, the workouts that she found can all be done separately and individually. So instead of dragging the process out for weeks and weeks on end, I suggested that she alternate days of the week where she does a specific workout set. That made it so everyday she has some type of exercise set to do. That also means that she will struggle with some once her body is pushed outside is comfort zone. That's where I come in. Not only do I have experience being on the training end of things, but my education as a massage therapist makes so I know how specific muscle groups are being targeted. It doesn't matter if she is at home working or the gym, Rachel will be able to have my help if she needs it. At home I add the roll of personal trainer. Some of her workouts she doesn't want to do at the gym so she does them at home. There I help her keep her form so that her body doesn't find ways around the exercise when she gets tired. She says it really helps her out.

Well, for the last couple of days Rach has been doing her workouts and I have been helping her, but not really participating in them. Today was a different story. Today we went to the gym for two hours. Part of her schedule is cross-training. Any good athlete knows that in order to get the most of the body's effort all muscles have to be strong. Not just the main ones that are being used. Well, that is also true with getting back into shape. One of the options the workout set gave for cross-training was racquetball. Rach thought it would be fun to learn, so for 15 minuets we played racquetball. The remainder of the 15 minuets we played WITH the racket ball. After that we went to the treadmills. I realized that my body couldn't handle a hard interval set so I finished up the day in the pool making sure that my shoulder didn't freeze up from racquetball. Rachel learned that her body can handle two hours of moderate to high exercise, but not three hours.

Well, that was our day. I am VERY sore, but its the good kind of sore. Rachel has been working her abs and doing yoga at night. Last night she was in a lot of pain. It was almost to the point of tears. Today when she woke up she realized that the lower part of her abs hurt. I was excited because I am told those are the hardest muscles to work on a woman. Yay for sore muscles!!! Who knows how spending the time together working out will help not only our bodies, but also our relationship. Updates will follow. ;)

New Blog Title

Okay so we have a new Blog Title. Partly because I am no longer blonde, thanks Marco :p. and also because I felt my last title put too much forcus on me and not enough on we. so there ya go. The Costumes part of the title is obvious, the Customs well first is sounded cool and second; Marco and I joined a medieval group this month and we are learning LOTS of stuff about the middle ages which will be communicated via our blog. Sorry if we confused ya:)

Experiments

The last week has been kind of fun at our house. It all started when we went to Wal-Mart about 3 weeks ago and bought a planter for this summer. Rachel and decided that we wanted to have some fresh veggies, but we weren't sure if we would be able to keep them alive. We decided on having lettuce. It is easy to maintain and with moisture beads in the bottom of the planter, its okay if we forget to water them. Last week it was in the 70s and looking like spring had finally come to Idaho. So, I got everything together and we planted our lettuce.

This is the right side of the planter. It is being held to our banister by fishing line. The wind would have blown it away if I hadn't tied it down.

Here is the left side of the planter.

The reason that I had to take two different pictures is due the fact that there is a garbage bag held on by duct tape completely surrounding the planter. Here is a direct quote from Weather Bug on my phone about the forecast for Pocatello today: Mostly cloudy. Scattered snow showers and rain showers in the evening...the n scattered snow showers after midnight. Windy. Snow accumulation around 1 inch. Lows 27 to 34. Southwest winds 20 to 30 mph. Gusts up to 40 mph in the evening. areal coverage of precipitation 50 percent. We are supposed to have a combination of rain and snow through this weekend and into next week. Finals are next week. It still looks like winter.

This was taken from our kitchen window around 6pm. The bright dot is the sun. It was trying to snow.

Another fun thing we did was dye Rachel's hair. After having to spray white hair spray in her hair every night for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (still don't have pix from that yet) she was kind of tired of her blonde beat up hair. So its red. I ended up dyeing it because Rach kept crossing wires with a friend who she wanted to do it. I have never before tried to dye anyone's hair and I REALLY enjoyed myself! :D So, here is Experiment 2: Rachel as a redhead.

The last interesting experiment came tonight during dinner. Rachel made some dough and taco meat mixed with refried beans. We were going to have Navajo Tacos. She put some shortening on the stove to melt and heat up. The fumes nearly did us in. I had to open the windows and wave a damp cloth in the air to force the smoke to dissipate. We don't have a hooded oven so no fan. :( While the oil was heating I took half of the dough and pounded out hand-sized parts for scones. Rachel dipped them into the oil and watched them boil!! Yay! Below is the result of said cooking:

What you see is very brown very well done outside and a doughy inside. The oil was too hot. Rach told me that the last time her family had tried scones without a home fryer the oil was too cold and they ended up being grease sponges. The verdict: both ways are ewwwwwwww grooooooossssss!!!!!!!!

AMTA Idaho State Convention

Last weekend Rachel and I went to Twin Falls for the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Idaho State Convention. We went together since I went to Montana with Rach in February. I had classes Friday and Saturday from 8-5 with a one hour lunch break. It came out to 16 total continuing education units. (CEUs) I need 48 total CEUs in a four year period to maintain my AMTA accreditation.

It was SOOOOOO nice to have bodywork done!!!! It has been over a year since I have had a massage. In the massage world, going two weeks without one is considered a no-no. Needless to say the women in my class were very shocked and not at all surprised when they discovered how tight I was when deep work needed to be done. We learned how to relax the neck and shoulders by going deep into the muscle tissue. I had no problem with the shoulder. It was tight, but it felt wonderful!! However, I have serious neck issues. I don't like having the front of my neck touched. It doesn't bother me to have my neck muscles worked on, but if anything goes near my windpipe or throat, I start wanting to panic. Thats what happened while I was the test "body". We each practiced three different times on three different people each step of what we were learning. It made it so it cemented into our brains and hands. Hands mean a lot in massage. They are the "backbone" of the industry. I have learned to "see" with my hands when they are in a body. My mind was able to take and store the information while my hands felt and experienced what that information meant. Thats as good as I can explain it. Sorry if I am unable to do better. Please feel free to comment if what I have said doesn't work very well.

While I was in class, Rachel was able to relax and unwind at the hotel. She didn't have anything besdies homework to occupy her thoughts. Although the first night we were there she said that she missed our cats. :) I was giving her a pedicure while winding down from having my neck worked and she couldn't stop thinking how the cats could possibly get into things that I was using on her nails and that it needed to be kept cleaner then what it was. It was cute. I chuckled at her. :)

It was a very interesting and educational weekend for the both of us. It was good to get out of town and away from the stress of work along with finals. We had a great time just being together.

MCRS

Last weekend we went up to Soda Springs for a Renaissance Fair put on by the Medieval Chivalry Reenactment Society or MCRS. We had a blast!! At first I didn't know if I was going to like it, but after meeting the small group, seeing children ages 1 year to teens, and seeing how open everyone was, made it worthwhile. It was started by a group that was tried of all the drunkenness that goes along with the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) in this area. The time frame that this group picked was 500-1500 AD. We were instantly welcomed and asked to help. I was asked if I wanted to participate in the fighting event and had two experienced members give me lessons. Everyone we met wore smiles. They also worked together to get the Masons Lodge looking like it could be a medieval court. Rachel made both of our costumes.

Rachel in front of the car before we head out.


Marco learning how to fight with a duct tape broadsword.

After the fight was over there was a ball and a feast. We didn't stay for the ball since Rach had to be back in town by 5 for "Threepenny Opera." The dances that were done at the ball were learned before the fighting began. I found out that not only could I hear in the music where the changes in foot placement were, but I could follow along without any real thought process. I couldn't count the times I had to go over and over a dance for Show Choir in high school. Yay!! A style of dancing Marco can do!! Lunch that was served was period. It cost money though so we brought our own period lunch. We are excited for June 11 when we will go to Green Canyon area north of Rexburg for a 3 day camp trip with the group. :) The group also does twice a week fighter practice for those who are interested. One is in Pocatello and the other in Blackfoot. I haven't done anything like this since high school. I am very excited for the camaraderie that this group offers. It will be good for both of us.

New Blogger!!

I have now been added as a blogger on my wife's site. Yay!! That means that while she is busy with school, work, plays, life, homework, staying healthy.... I will be able to update those faithful readers who want more out of this blog.