L'aventure américaine

Do you know in "She's Coming 'Round the Mountain," when you sing: "She'll driving six white horses when she comes...   Whoa back!"   That's a bit how I feel right now.  I'm driving a few horses and I need to rein them in a little bit. But, man, they are good horses.  The Sky Lakes Wellness Center has gotten off to a roaring start.  We have had unbelievable enthusiasm for our program and the first cohort of 30 people starts Tuesday with their group classes.  We are booked until July with individual appointments and are already making some appointments in September.  (I have an appointment booked on my due date, so I'll let you know how that one goes!)  We have had several cranky people come in for informational sessions (in which we explain the details of the program and they decide if they want to move forward or not) and leave with smiles on their faces.  (One woman said, "I thought that this was going to be like overeaters anonym...

I mentioned in the last post that my mom came to visit.  It was such a wonderful time.  I assume, anyway.  I was at work much of the time, but judging on the delicious meals that were on the table when I got home, it must have been going okay. Last week, after she left, there weren't as many delicious dinners.  I miss her for a lot of reasons, but that's a big one. Of course, there's nothing that Randal hates more than a mopey Katherine.  So, he bought me a bike to ease the blow of fewer homecooked meals.  You can't see how fat those tires are, but they sure stopped my flipping-over-the-handlebars nightmares that I kept having.  We'll see how long I can ride during this pregnancy, but my sweet new commuter will let me keep going for months. I did have to say goodbye to the infamous Torker while getting this one.  It had been a great bike and I loved it so much.  However, it was gathering far too much dust as my desire to ride up our...

After last week's ultrasound, Mom suggested the name 'Skeletor,' since that is what the baby most closely resembled.   We are seriously considering it. 

All sorts of new things brewing here in Klamath Falls... Our beautiful town was selected as the next Blue Zones project after some heavy campaigning to the state. The Oregon Healthiest State Initiative chose us due to our need (34th out of 34 reporting counties in health outcomes) and our will (we showed enthusiasm and collaboration and fought hard to be chosen). Watch out world! Klamath is going blue! The Wellness Center launches on Tuesday and we are going to be ready (ish). Our building is complete (ish) and appointments are made. We're finally doing it!! And there's a little something brewing in the Pope house that should arrive around mid-September. It gives me an overwhelming sense of... weird.  But, good weird.  It's a lot, but it sure is happy.  However, it sure was sad to say goodbye to my mama who came to visit for a week and a half. She was so tremendously helpful and I'm so so glad that she came. 

The Wellness Center is now projected to open on March 31st.  Construction was slightly delayed again, but we have updated the announcement forms and plan to send them out this week.  We are supposed to move into our new building next Monday with computers and internet scheduled for Tuesday.  It is getting close and we are getting excited!  (By excited I mean: eager, nervous, a little anxious, and having to pee a lot.) Of course, it is important to balance one's work with pleasure, which is why we have enjoyed ourselves on the weekends in the last month. In February, we spent a crystal clear day at Crater Lake, stomping around in snowshoes.  (This wasn't really necessary as the snow is dismal this year at the lake, but I got these snowshoes for Christmas and dang it, I will wear them!) Is it any wonder this is a national park? Expert snowshoer. And then we went to Portland for an MPH reunion.  The conversation was geeky.  The fo...

It's hard to believe that January is already over and we're a quarter of the way through February.   It was a tremendously wonderful holiday season that you can read about on my parents' blog .  Or you can watch a video that I made with footage from their visit here !  It's worth it just to see how adorable my niece and nephew are.   After the family left, we celebrated Randal's birthday in Ashland before he headed down to Phoenix to sell his house.  It was a lot of hard work, but it's done and we'll be able to use this money to work on our building downtown. Birthday boy. Opening day is nearing at the Wellness Center...  currently projected to be March 23!  Construction continues, but there is an end in sight.  We have successfully hired a dietitian and an administrative assistant and hope to hire our therapist by the end of next week.  We're compiling a great team and we're so excited.  There's much to be done befor...

Five reasons that you should watch this video : You can see my pretty terrible dancing. You can also see Stephanie dancing! If you look hard enough, you can find Randal in the crowd scenes. You can learn fun facts about health and wellness. You can marvel at the fact that we were able to convince so many people to join us on a Saturday for an entire day of filming! Check it out here !