Three Things Thursday

Well, it's been awhile. School has been hectic, but now with tennis being over, I'm finding a *tad* more time for myself.

1. Rudi and I decided to get back in the exercise/eating well routine on Oct 31. Our goal is to burn at least 200 calories per day in November. So far, so good, but it's only Nov. 3rd. I stepped on the scale and it hasn't budged since last Saturday when I dared step on it for the first time in months. A debilitating back injury and nerve issue has caused me to postpone my tennis-playing until the spring. Halloween was the first day back at the gym since I threw out my back in mid-September. It went really well and my back is holding together nicely (knock on wood). I'm even up to 3 weeks between chiropractor visits. He promised me that one day I'll be back to 3 months. Sure, Tom, sure.

2. I've had Eleanor Roosevelt's autobiography now for a week past when it was due. I needed to write down the quotes that I liked thus far in the book. There aren't as many good quotes as from her Learn By Living book, but it's still a good read. I fear I will have to return it and read the two books I borrowed from the library yesterday - one about the New Deal and another from Garrison Keillor about life among the Lutherans. That should be a quickie - it's pretty short. I'm on chapter 23 in the autobiography, which is a good place to stop and start up again later. I need to start reading every night before I go to bed.

"Somewhere along the line of development we discover what we really are, and then we make our real decision for which we are responsible. Make that decision primarily for yourself because you can never really live anyone else's life, not even your child's. The influence you exert is through your own life and what you become yourself." - Introduction

"I realize now it would have been better to have devoted the time which I gave to hockey to learning to play tennis, which would have been more useful to me later on." - Adolescence, pg. 23

"But the thing he felt most strongly was that there was a vitality in the people that could be slavaged. I believe it was from his faith in the people that he drew the words of his first inaugural address: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - I Learn to Be a President's Wife, pg. 162

"Nothing we learn in this world is ever wasted and I have come to the conclusion that practically nothing we do ever stands by itself. If it is good, it will serve some good purpose in the future. if it is evil it may haunt us and handicap our efforts in unimagined ways." - The First Year: 1933, pg. 180

"Not only his old friends but with various other people my husband had frequent run-ins over the new theory that government had a responsibility to the people. I remember that when Senator Carter Glass insisted that Virginia needed no relief, Franklin suggested that he take a drive with him to see some of the bad spots. The senator never accepted his invitation." - The First Year: 1933, pg. 181

"Soil conservation and forestry work went forward, recreation areas were built, and innumerable bridges, schools, hospitals, and sanitation projects were constructed - lasting monuments to the good work done under these agencies. It is true they cost the people of the country vast sums of money, but they did a collective good and left tangible results which are evident today. They pulled the country out of the depression and made it possible for us to fight the greatest and most expensive war in our history." - The First Year: 1933, pg. 182 (speaking about the PWA, CWA, and CCC)

"Franklin said he thought people had to prepare themselves, that all he could do was to give them the opportunities and see how they worked out." - Second Term: 1939-1940, pg. 214

3. So last night my doorbell started ringing at 6:15 pm. I never answer my doorbell bc if someone's coming to see me and I want to see them, they would have texted or called me. The doorbell rang incessently so I ducked out my back stairwell and walked down the alley, around to the front of the house. It was some middle-aged white guy with glasses and khakis. He had papers in his hands. I thought perhaps that he was wringing the wrong doorbell and he meant to serve papers to the tenants below me. So I walked around a bit and then noticed that he was gone. When I got back to my apartment, there were papers under my door. Turns out the building is being foreclosed. The sheriff's sale is December 1 and they have until the 11th to pay what is owed. If they don't, then the renters are out in six months. At first I was disgruntled that my landlord didn't advise me of this. Then I thought - sweet!! If I get that short sale, this could be my loophole! I emailed my landlord and he apologized for the scare and said that he had just talked with the owners and they are taking care of it. In the meantime, my landlord/his company will continue to fix things, etc. So either I have to finish out my lease or I am allowed to move out in June. I win either way.