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Friday, October 29, 2010

Losing It - Week 36


This week I read about Kathy hitting the treadmill in her hotel. For 45 minutes per day. She inspired me to "up my game" this week and I hit my tready for 45 minutes for 3 days. (I looked a bit purply-sweaty at the end but I think I worked off some of my Halloween "candy taste-testing" this week.)

I lost .5 lb. this week. You don't need to stop the presses...yet I am happy with the scale going down a bit.

I also went to the dentist on Thursday...no cavities! (I love sharing good news.)

This week's goals are:
45 minutes on tready for 5 days.
More water. 64 oz./day.
More healthy eating (hurry up trick-or-treaters....have all my candy!)

I'm linking this post to Kathy's blog (House of Hills) and am hoping you'll stop by to join in and/or encourage the group! See you next week!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

I've Been Thinking...

I've been thinking about what my blog represents. The only theme I see is that it's my online journal about whatever I'm experiencing in life.

A few months ago, I was talking to Terri about the Relevant 2010 conference. I wished I could attend to hear Ann Voskamp (one of the keynote speakers) and this year it was close by in Hershey, PA. But I'm glad I didn't go since I'm not a professional blogger, just an amateur and I'm comfortable with that definition. Monica (The Homespun Heart) put a link to MomTV where at certain times they have live video-stream of the speakers. Ann is scheduled for today (Saturday) at 6:00 p.m. I'll be watching! (Update at 6:52 p.m.: The internet connection at the hotel is not good tonight. They are having trouble pulling bandwith for streaming. I didn't get to see Ann's presentation.)

The wind was blowing hard yesterday morning and since I had my window cracked-open I kept putting on and taking off a sweat jacket. Today is supposed to be sunny and 66 degrees. I'm planning on laying out on the patio and getting some Vitamin D. I am kooky.

Both my kids have been sick this week. It is strange to know about their illnesses and not be around to "doctor them back to health."

Readings from The One Year Chronological Bible yesterday had me praying for God to allow me to see, understand, and serve. (I highly recommend Wendy Pope's blog. She vlogs Monday-Fridays and I visit her site after my daily reading. I love her southern accent and her Christian wisdom is awesome!)

I've been sending out encouraging cards lately. It makes my soul feel good, yet my main purpose is let others know that I care for them.

I met Sue at Starbucks on Thursday. I haven't had my latte in a couple weeks. It was a tasty experience (the latte) and wonderful to sit and chat for a couple hours.

Since we've purchased my new washer and dryer...I love doing laundry. How strange is that?

My house is easier to keep clean with two people in residence instead of four (and there is less laundry).

The Phillies won Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. So the series score is Phillies 2 Giants 3. Tonight is game 6 and I'm hoping for a Phillies win. (The Texas Rangers are the American League Champions and will be playing in the World Series.) Could it be a Texas vs. Philadelphia World Series? If so, I might not be taking any phone calls from my side of the family during the World Series!

Lastly, I've been doing some early Christmas shopping (online). For the past couple years (at least) I assigned Wonderful Husband the job, so this year I think he'll be happy with my being a more active shopping contributor. The only problem is figuring out what to get him. Any suggestions?

My brain cell is exhausted....

Friday, October 22, 2010

Losing It - Week 35

Dag nab it! This week's update is not one I wanted to "talk" about. It was a week of eating stupid and not moving enough obviously.

The scale moved up 1.5 lbs. and I need to get my head back in the game (again)!

I must say that I've already read Kathy's update and her wonderful success this past week. She has inspired me to get focused again and so I ask for your prayers this week because I need them!

I've linked up to Kathy at House of Hills this week and ask that you stop by and check out the other ladies and their progress. Thank you and see you next week!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Ants

A couple weeks ago, ants invaded our kitchen. We had a lot of rain on consecutive days and my theory was they were trying to move to drier ground. It was a battle that waged on for about three days. I think they left when the weather (read dried up) improved.

This morning I asked Wonderful Husband why God invented ants. Without missing a beat he said, "To humble you."

Wow. Great response. How do I come back from that answer?

(I thought He invented ants so that anteaters had something to eat.)

And Wonderful Husband is correct. In the fight between me and nature, nature wins.

Humbling.

Have you struggled with/against nature recently?

Friday, October 15, 2010

Losing It - Week 34

This past week my usually focused and organized world was changed up a bit. Wonderful Husband and I started sanding and prepping the front porch. We worked on the porch on Saturday and Sunday.

Monday morning I went out and wiped it all down with a 1 part bleach/3 part water mixture and then (lucky for me) our daughter, Young Sweetie was home for "Fall Break." She wiped off all the sponge remnants and then assisted me with painting the exposed wood with primer. (I thanked her profusely since I knew it wasn't much of a break for her on that day.)

On Wednesday, I finished the bleach/water wipe down on the lowest part of the porch and painted it with primer. Finished it in 3.5 hours and thought I'd never be able to stand up straight again. Yet I could!

Here is a picture update so far.

We are waiting for Thursday and Friday rains to blow through and Wonderful Husband and I will (hopefully) finish painting on Saturday and Sunday.

Then our next step is to seal the floor of the porch. We're under a time constraint between weather, visiting our son in VA at the end of the month, and of course the bazillion trick-or-treaters that will coming with hopes of treats (not tricks).

Here is my Losing It! update for last week:

Eating - Not so great since I was too beat to cook I had unusual unhealthy meals including: a cheese steak hoagie, a slice of chicken-bacon-ranch-pizza.

Tready - didn't step on her for 3 of my porch work days. My body was one big ache from bending/hunching over. So 4 days of tready this week.

Did sit-ups and worked on my arms with 7 lb. weights.

Increased my water intake but didn't hit the 64 oz. per day goal. Going to try and get back into this habit this upcoming week!

Lost .5 lb. this week.

I do want to say that while working on the front porch I was continually thanking God for giving me a body that could move, bend, hunch over, and scrape along the bushes that sometimes were a little mean to me! (It  helps me to focus on blessings while doing work I don't like very much.)


I've linked this post to Kathy at House of Hills. Please stop by and see how the other ladies are doing. Join in if you have your own weight challenge. The accountability factor is great and we encourage each other toward success one week at a time.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Books

Happiness in a box....




Some are for Christmas gifts and some are "gifts" for me! I love Amazon.com!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Myrtle Beach, SC

The last pictures of our vacation were taken in Myrtle Beach. We left Calabash at 3:30 and arrived at Barefoot Landing at 4:00 and took our time walking around.

A lot of shops to wander by or through. Some I'd never heard of before and some were familiar back home in PA.

I loved this picture because of the blooming flowers. It was unusually warm during our vacation (15 degrees warmer than normal for the area) and I knew that it was cooler back in PA with leaves beginning to turn and fall off the trees.

So these flowers just made me happy.

I got a kick out of this shop called PURPLEologist. A shop with all things purple (apparel, jewelry, housewares, journals, and gifts). In the first picture I was trying to focus on the purple golf clubs inside the left side of the store. While that didn't work out so well, I do like the reflection of the woman captured in the right door.



We had dinner at T-Bonz Gill and Grill. The burgers were ok. The dessert was magnificient! Chocolate Mousse Cake. A three layered chocolate cake with Bavarian cream separating one layer and raspberry cream separating the other layer. I did share with Wonderful Husband but I didn't want to! lol

At 7:30 we had reservations to see "One The Show" at the Alabama Theatre. It reminded me of the type of variety shows I've seen on a cruise and when looking at the performers' bios, a lot of them had cruise ship experience listed. It was a fun evening and they did say that they begin their Christmas performances on November 2. (Just thought I'd let you know.)


That concludes the posts for our September vacation. It was wonderful to get away from reality for ten days and I must admit it was wonderful to get back home too.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Losing It - Week 33

I've decided to post my Losing It! updates on a weekly basis on my blog and link to Kathy's House of Hills. I've tried to do updates every 5 weeks on this blog and post comments at Kathy's House of Hills weekly but it doesn't seem to keep me accountable enough and my results have been dismal.

A re-cap:
The first 10 weeks I lost 10 lbs. (Hooray!)
The second 10 weeks I lost 6.5 lbs. (OK!)
The third 10 weeks I lost 3 lbs. (YIKES!)


See a pattern? Losing less and less as time progresses. Please don't misunderstand, I am pleased with weighing 19.5 lbs. less. But, I need to get my head "back in the game" and blogging weekly will hopefully keep me more focused and determined.

Week 31 - I was on vacation with Wonderful Husband and didn't have a scale nearby.
Week 32 - Gained 2 lbs. Not unexpected since vacation is vacation.
Week 33 - Lost 1 lb. Alrighty then.

My lifestyle plan is to eat less (making more healthy choices) and move more.

I need to make more healthy food choices this week. Meals were fine but I was snacking on Hot Tamales (candy) and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (more candy). I need to stock up on green apples and have healthy snacks.

I walked on the treadmill at a 2.5% incline, 3 mph, 25 minutes/day for 5 days this week. I want to hit tready 6 days per week.

Keep doing sit ups and working with 7 lb. weights.

Last but not least....water! I need to drink more water. 64 oz. a day worked well for me during my first 10 weeks.

After Bible Study yesterday, I ran a few errands and decided to "treat myself" to a slice of chicken-bacon-ranch-pizza. I'd rationalized that I had been pretty good this week. (Sometimes I tell myself little white lies.) I walked in to my local pizza place and looked at the counter. I asked the server, "Do you have chicken-bacon-ranch-pizza?" The cashier (with her back to me) said, "I just sold the last slice."

"OK, thanks anyway."

I was laughing on the way to my van and thought, "Well God, I guess You didn't think I deserved a slice today." (I do believe that God wants me to be healthier too.)

I've linked this post to Kathy at House of Hills. Please stop in and see how the other ladies are doing. Join in if you have your own weight challenge. The accountability factor is great and we encourage each other toward success one week at a time.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Typical Day

I had two errands to accomplish on Friday.
First, get a flu shot.
Second, buy a birthday present for our one year old great nephew, Brady.

My friend Terri gave me a great gift idea for Brady. A Melissa and Doug puzzle. Handmade, very sturdy and after checking online, I discovered they were in stock at my local Toys R Us store.

Off I went to my 10:00 a.m. flu shot appointment. I walked in to my doctors' office, checked in and went and sat down for what I was thinking would be a short wait. Ten minutes later, I was called back, got my shot and left.

I drove to Toys R Us. A smidge over 10 miles away and started thinking that I didn't know how many years it had been since I'd shopped in the store. I remember a time when I felt like I "almost lived at Toys R Us" and then our kids "outgrew the toy part of life." (That's also when the gifts got a lot more expensive too.)

I took a shopping cart and found a cute card for Brady. Then I started wandering around looking for an Apple to Apple game I wanted for our family and of course a Melissa and Doug Puzzle for Brady.

Right away I determined that Toys R Us had too much visual stimulation for me. I started thinking that the place could drive me to drink. I looked in the aisle that had board games, saw the sign that said they were in alphabetical order and then wondered in what classroom they learned what alphabetical order meant? The shelf started with "C" and next to Candyland was Monolopy. YIKES!

I gave up (for the moment) and went in search of puzzles. Not only did I find the aisle with a sign that said "Puzzles" but underneath that lovely word was "Melissa and Doug Puzzles." Hooray! I found two puzzles for Brady and was sorting through them to find the most pristine conditioned ones when a woman and a toddler came into my line of vision. I apologized for sorting through and stacking the puzzles along the shelf and she turned to me and said, "Were you just at a doctor's office?"

I'm sure my face registered my confusion....and after a pause....I said, "Yes." Then she said, "I thought I recognized your green shirt."

Note to self: If I want to go unnoticed, I shouldn't wear lime green.

Second thing to ponder: A young mom (with a toddler) has sharper mind recall than me.

Thirdly: It really is a small world when we ended up over 10 miles away and saw each other again.

Lastly: My arm hurts from my flu shot, but I accomplished buying our great nephew's gifts for his first birthday.

My purchase at Toys R Us: Puzzles for Brady, gift bag and birthday card with a big "1" on it, and Apples to Apples for my family. Thanks Terri for the great gift idea!


Happy First Birthday Brady!


Do you have a toy store experience you'd like to share?

Friday, October 1, 2010

Sunset Beach, NC


I read the book The Mailbox, by Marybeth Whalen, a couple months ago. Imagine my surprise when Wonderful Husband (WH) chose Calabash for our vacation and told me that we'd be going to Sunset Beach for our shore time. Woo hoo!

I couldn't pass up the opportunity of finding the Kindred Spirit mailbox which Marybeth Whalen had written about in her book. We had gone into a couple beach shops to buy a visor for me. (Yes, once again I forgot to bring one on vacation with me. Darn!) WH asked where the Kindred Spirit mailbox was located and the cashier told us to drive to the end of the street and park in one of the two street parking places. Then go onto the beach (via public access) and walk about 45 minutes to get to it.

YIKES! I'll be getting some exercise! We decided to wait to do it. (Hey it's vacation, we can take our time in making decisions.) So three days later, we parked in one of the four parking spaces on the street. Put on suntan lotion, my $3.50 visor and off we went to the public access wooden bridge leading to the beach. We picked up our flip flops once we hit the sand and set off at a good pace staying out of the water trying to walk and keep our eyes alert for the mailbox.

We found it!

It took us 35 minutes to walk to it, and WH had predicted that we would spot foot traffic leading to the dunes helping us locate the mailbox. The day was sunny and the breeze coming off the ocean was delightful. There were a husband, wife, and daughter writing in notebooks when we arrived. WH took a picture and then we took out notebooks and pens to write our thoughts.

One thing I found interesting was a note taped inside the mailbox lid asking for the person who finds a completed notebook to mail it to a P.O. Box in Hope Mills, NC. (I guess no one removes what's written every evening like I thought and it disappointed my romantic notion a bit.)

I saw something I'd never seen before on a beach.

Sand dollars.

They were broken unfortunately, yet I can't tell you over the years how many jellyfish I've seen on beaches and I'd much rather see broken sand dollars. I collected a few and took a picture. (FYI, I left them there since my years are over of bringing stinky shells back into my home.)

During our stroll in the shallow water, it took us about 45 minutes to get back to the public access bridge. The water was cool, not cold (83 degrees), and about 20 degrees warmer than the ocean temperature at Wildwood, NJ. Loved it!

Thank you Wonderful Husband for taking me on this adventure. I know I wouldn't have found the Kindred Spirit mailbox without your presence since I'm geographically challenged. You are the best!