Well, my son and I survived our first Salt Lake City snow. Actually, I must say that I am impressed. Driving in Wyoming in winter, one had to take their life in their hands. People in Wyoming seem to enjoy sliding through intersections; they love to tell the stories of their near misses with the huge semi that passed through barely missing their back bumper. I, on the other hand, prefer to reach my destination with as little drama as possible. So, when the snow fell and the people of Salt Lake slowed down, it was a refreshing change. Of course, I still held my breath for the entire drive to work, and I kept getting constant tiny reminders that I need to get new tires on my car. Oh boy, do I need new tires!!!! Nothing major though. Nothing that would cause major stress for me or the other drivers around me.

Well, I have finally recovered from my overindulgence on Thursday. You would think that I would learn that the uncomfortable feeling probably means I have eaten too much and need to stop. I have decided that from now until Christmas, my son and I are going to start walking around the neighborhood. I would like to lose 10 pounds by then and I think my son needs to get away from the video games for awhile. Besides, there are some pretty spectacular houses around me and it would be nice to see them as something other than passing blurs. I love older style homes. Homes that have a unique character. My grandmother's house, for example, was built with the blood, sweat, and tears of my family. There isn't another house like it anywhere. Not only is it unique in it's appearance, but since it was actually built by my family, there is a lot of our energy flowing through it. What happen? Modern homes today show no imagination. Everything looks the same. Mass produced and just slapped together. No heart, no soul. Just a shell. People have to work harder to fill these homes with their essence; their energy and their personality. I realize that in today's quicky, go-go-go society people are looking for the fastest and easiest way to get what they want. But are they compromising their individuality to get what they want? I think so. In trying to keep up with the Jones', are we working harder for lower quality? I don't know where all of that came from. I was telling you all about my plans for getting off my ass and getting physical and it turned into a discussion of architecture. Oh well. I'll keep you posted about my progress towards my 10 pound goal.

I'm biting the bullet...taking the leap. A friend talked me into putting a personal ad on yahoo. I actually put it on there about a month or so ago, but up until now it hasn't had a picture on it. So, come Thursday there will be a picture posted on the ad and I will start weeding through the plethora of responses I am bound to receive. Am I ready for this? I don't know. But I am tired of being alone and my son is reaching the age where it is really important for him to have a father figure to help guide him to adulthood. Man, that sounds cheesy, but it's true. Well, I'll keep you posted. Hope you all have a fantastic Turkey Day!!! Denise

I have missed this space. I have been reading through some of my past entries and it amazes me how things can change in a year. The biggest change of all was my change of residence. I left Wyoming and everything I knew behind. I believe I made a good choice. I love Salt Lake City. I am surprised at the number of Wiccans here. I mean this is the "Land of Zion" after all. I am also impressed by how tolerant people are here. I don't hide the fact that I am Wiccan. I wear a pentagram much the same way as Christians wear a cross. I have been asked about it and I just tell them straight up. So far, I haven't gotten any negative feed back and nobody has accused me of worshiping Satan. At first this puzzled me, but I thought about it and came to a conclusion that seems to justify their tolerance. This land was settled by the Mormons. Historically, they have faced persecution for their beliefs. It makes sense that they would be more tolerant of another's beliefs. My son loves it here, too. School is easier for him here because he isn't prejudged by his peers and teachers. His classmates and teachers here don't know about the problems he had in Wyoming. I would have to write a novel to explain what happened with my son to cause so much grief. Let's just say that it caused huge problems for him at school and at one point in time, I actually home-schooled him to get him away from the malice of the other students and his teacher. Now, he's happy and making a fair number of friends. Not to mention the fact that his grades have come up significantly. That makes me very happy!!! What will the next year bring? Stay tuned. It could get very interesting.

Don't you just love complainers? I guess I can't say too much. I certainly do my fair share. We just did scheduling bids for Thanksgiving and even though I have the 23rd and 24th off, I have to work from 11 am to 7:30 pm. What the hell am I supposed to do with my son? So, I transferred to a different department. I am still doing reservations, but I am doing them exclusively for New York City and San Diego, CA. I took the transfer offer because: 1. It pays more money. and 2. Because I have an opportunity to travel. The travel part is a bit difficult because I in order to take these trips they plan for us, I have to drive my son back home to my mom so she can watch him while I am gone. That means taking him out of school; unless I can arrange to go on the trip in the summer. Then, I won't have to worry about it because he will already be with her. Anyway, I got my stats for the last week I was working in General Reservations. I got a $167.00 bonus. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought I had done horrible. Woohooo!!! Guess I don't need to worry too much about how I am going to renew the tags on my car.