It Is What It Is

The letter of the day is, S. And S is for sick and that's what I was and that's why letters P, Q, and R are MIA. Ok, also they're missing because I couldn't come up with anything I wanted to write about but mostly it's because I was sick.

I'm not one to get sick very often so when I do, I'm a very unhappy camper about it. I don't want to be bothered, I don't want to be waited on, I don't want to be asked every five seconds how I'm feeling because I'm sick. I'm best just left alone in my misery.

Luckily all was fine by Sunday morning and our family Easter festivities continued as planned.

S is also for sisters.

And s is also for the MIA sister who isn't really missing we know where she is she just doesn't live nearby and she's getting married in just a few weeks--

And that's it for getting back on track. I am not a fan of the saying, "it is what it is" but y'all, it is what it is.

And I'm not promising a t-word for tomorrow. Wait...

I hope everyone had a marvelous Easter celebration!

AND---

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Zen

Well, not the REAL Zen.

My Zen.

That's right. I'm personalizing some Zen for myself. I'm using it to help improve my mental health. Specifically, the way I look at things. And then judge them.

Yes. I am guilty of judging. Not so much really big things (I don't judge people based on things like race and religion and it's easy, I've just never done that) but just the little every day judgements that I almost don't catch as being judgmental.

Like passing judgement on how another person drives. Or their choice of hair color. Or how they discipline their kids. Or...you see what I mean?

Anyway, when I 'Zen' my thoughts, I become aware of the judgement that follows my observations. And this is going to help me stop passing judgement. In theory.

Like when I see a female with bright orange or purple hair and I say or think something like, "EW! That's so ugly! What WAS she thinking?" Now I will remind myself that that thought wasn't very Zen and I let it go. I mean, who cares what color someone decides they like for their hair? Does that really need to be judged. Personal preference? It's her choice. Let it go. Easy peasy.

Or the man walking down the sidewalk with his shirt off. Exposing that keg beer belly to everyone passing by and I think (or say because rarely do I keep these things in my head regardless of whether or not someone is with me), "EW! Why doesn't he cover that thing up?!" But really, he's out there walking. And that's good. And maybe one day that belly will be a six pack. So... 

And when I talk to my dad and he tells me about the new cheeseburger pizza at Pizza Hut and I remark, "EW! That's just disgusting! People don't need to eat crap like that! Are they trying to kill people?!" Whether folks need it or not is NOT for me to decide. Nor is it up to me to determine Pizza Hut's motivation behind the pizza. Or for my dad to decide either. He was agreeing with me.

But then there are things that I just can't help myself. I judge. Harshly.

Like yesterday at the pond. There was this cutesweet lab with her owner. She's still a pup and I've talked to the owner before and he always seemed like a nice guy.

Anyway, he would throw a toy into the pond and cutesweet lab would go in after it and bring it back (which I tried to get Tucker to watch because while he will chase a ball or Frisbee he will then take it further from you instead of bringing it back so you can throw it again). Until she picked up a smell. And cutesweet lab wanted to smell it- imagine that...a dog who wants to smell something.

Well owner man didn't want cutesweet lab to smell the smell and he told her"NO!" in a loud voice. Cutesweet lab continued to smell, of course (because that's what dogs do). And then stupid ass owner man took that toy and started hitting cutesweet lab in the head. I judged. And I judged loud.

See? Things like that I just can't stop judging.

Like the mom who was letting her kids run around Wal-Mart like a bunch of wild things (judgement) and then yelled at one when he ran into the shelf and knocked something over. Really, lady? (judgement) Really?! (more judgement) Yeah. I judged. I judged her for letting her kids run around like a bunch of wild things. And then for yelling at the one who knocked something over. Idiot (even more judgement).

Sometimes I just cannot stop myself. But I'm hoping that getting my 'Zen' on will help me recognize, realize, control, stop.  It will help my mental health. Make me a better person. Keep me positive.

Of course, that's more likely to stop when people stop acting like morons. And start doing right by their kids, their pets, and other people in general. Sheesh.

This is the twenty-sixth AND FINAL day of the A-Z April Challenge. I thought I might try a theme this year and focus on my personal journey to health and fitness, including weight loss.

Today's letter is Z and my word for the day is ZEN.

You

This post is about YOU.

YOU women out there who take care of everyone else except yourselves. I know YOU because I'm one of YOU. Or, I used to be.

There is nothing in the world I wouldn't have done for the lovelies when they were growing up. No one single thing. Heck, I'll still do for them now. But I was so busy paying attention to their extracurricular activities, school, friend connections, etc. that I completely failed to pay attention to me.

I never said no to anyone. Only to myself. Sound familiar?

Am I sorry? Not really. I mean, I wouldn't change most of way I did. However, I would add some time for me in there. Time that would have kept me healthy. And fit. And slim&trim. Time that would have made me a better role model for the lovelies. At least in the area of health and fitness. I'll just have to settle for the fact that they are still watching. And still learning. And still willing to follow my lead.  

I guess it comes down to this-

• do YOU want to see your kids/grandkids grow up?
• do YOU want to be a health, fit model for your kids/grandkids to follow?
• do YOU want to enjoy your life?
• do YOU want to walk up a flight or ten of stairs and live to tell it?
• do YOU want to stop being a spectator?
• do YOU want to walk from your house to your car without becoming short of breath?

Then please realize that:

• YOU are a worthwhile human being!
• YOU are important to those around you!
• YOU are awesome/fabulous/terrific!
• YOU are a treasure!
• YOU are loved!
• YOU are strong!
• YOU can do whatever you set your mind to do!
• YOU ROCK!  

This is the twenty-fifth day of the A-Z April Challenge. I thought I might try a theme this year and focus on my personal journey to health and fitness, including weight loss.

Today's letter is Y and my word for the day is YOU.

X- Marks the Spot

I've heard that Pirates used an 'X' to mark the spot where they buried their treasure. I thought about marking an 'X' on the body part that needs the most work but then I've have thousands of 'x-es' all over my body. Cause there's not just one place. So, I've got an 'X' marking the spot where my ideal weight is. And it seems to be taking for-freaking-EVER to get there.

I wonder what it is I will do when I hit the 'X' marking the end of my weight loss journey? I haven't been at my ideal weight for at least 10 years. I'm not sure I'll know how to act.

I've been hiding behind my girth for some time now. I haven't gone places or done things just because I was so very much overweight. I'm still overweight. But not as much. And already things are starting to change.

I ordered a dress to wear to a wedding at the end of May. I ordered it a size smaller than I usually do. It arrived yesterday and it is at least 2 sizes too big. Which is great news, right? That means I'm getting a little closer to that 'X'. But it's kind of weird. I'm a little freaked out.

I don't mind as much going out in public anymore. I actually look forward to attending certain events now. But it's a little freaky. Because I don't know who this healthier, fitter, a little less overweight person is. She's been gone for such a long time.

So maybe it really is a good thing that this journey is so dang slow. Maybe it takes a long time to reach that 'X' because those of us on this path have to get to know our healthier selves. We have to get to know who we are without all that excess weight holding us back.

And people had better watch out. Because I have a feeling that, when we do get to know our healthier, fitter, less overweight selves, we'll be out there enjoying life more than we ever have before!

This is the twenty-fourth day of the A-Z April Challenge. I thought I might try a theme this year and focus on my personal journey to health and fitness, including weight loss.

Today's letter is X and my word for the day is X MARKS THE SPOT.

Stop Shooting Yourself in the Foot

I'm referring to triggers. The emotional kind. The ones that make it difficult to stay on the healthy path and to lose weight.

I had TONS of emotional and physical triggers during my first attempt at weight loss and during the first part of this last attempt.

Triggers kept me from traveling the healthy, fit path. Or, rather, I allowed them to control me.

If I ate sugar, that triggered me to eat more sugar. TONS of it. I could eat, in one day, the amount of sugar most people eat in a week. Or so I'm assuming. And the other carbs- pasta, bread, potatoes--all YUMMY and all TRIGGERS to eat moremoremore! There were the times that frustration, anger, boredom, irritation, being sleepy, etc. would trigger an eatanythingyoucangetyourhandson fest.

Seriously, you just don't get this much overweight without being ruled by triggers. 

For nearly one year now, the triggers have been virtually nonexistent. I attribute this to the change in my mindset from merely being about losing weight to taking the steps to living a healthier lifestyle, the steps towards getting fit- the exercising, the food choices, the food prep, the oil pulling, the dry skin brushing, the smoothies- everything altogether, has made all the difference. Oh, those nasty little triggers still show up and give it the old college try. But it doesn't work anymore.

I'm glad their control over me is pretty much all gone. I like being in control.

How do you shoot yourself in the foot? 

This is the twentieth day of the A-Z April Challenge. I thought I might try a theme this year and focus on my personal journey to health and fitness, including weight loss.

Today's letter is T and my word for the day is TRIGGERS.

Excursion

I'm taking a little break from the theme portion of the A-Z Challenge (my health, fitness, weight loss journey) because I committed previously to a book review and guest post.

I did choose an 'E' letter for today based on the book--EXCURSION- because it is about an excursion. Of sorts. A personal, self-discovery type excursion. As well as an excursion of Canada.

The book, WEST OF WAWA by Lisa de Nikolits, was an easy read which I really like when I don't have a lot of time and thought to give a book. As a matter of fact, this would be a great beach read for the summer.

Benny, the main character, works through some life obstacles that left her reeling as she travels through Canada. In a couple of places there are some cliches that were a bit annoying BUT the author uses Benny to address that fact that she's aware of them as cliches thus creating the point that, sometimes, a cliche is just what we need to accurately describe a situation or how we feel.

While there are some descriptive scenes of the Canadian landscape on her excursion, I got all caught up in Benny's personal excursion. Why? Well, maybe she walks around in a cloud of destruction; maybe she doesn't. Maybe she makes some dangerous choices; maybe she doesn't. Maybe she wakes up and smells the coffee; maybe she doesn't. Maybe she has a storybook ending; maybe she doesn't.    

Am I being vague? Maybe. Want to know what happens? Well, you can always buy a copy of the book! OR you can enter to win a FREE copy! Just let me know in the comment section that you want a chance to win and I'll put your name in the pot!

Now, a guest post from Lisa herself!!!
  

Skipping the Tourist Traps and Finding the Heart of a Place

I never know in advance if I’m going to write about a place in a work of fiction or not but one thing’s for sure; I always ditch the guidebook until the very end of my trip.

I like to pretend that I’m an explorer, an adventurer, a fearless female pioneer. I like my observations to be my own, and not swayed by encouragement to walk the roads much travelled; instead, I like to find the hidden gems.

An excellent example of this would be my recent trip to Beijing. I was returning from a family visit to see my family in Sydney, to see how much my beautiful little two-year-old niece had grown and meet my incredibly adorable new nephew (and best I don’t start dwelling on him or this post could end up being about nothing else!)

I always try to see a new part of the world when I head Down Under; I’ve flown back via Hong Kong (fantastic), Singapore (tropical, lush and verdant), Tokyo (cherry blossoms) and this time the return journey was via Beijing.

True to form, I didn’t read up in advance, I booked a hostel close to the Forbidden City and figured I’d take it from there.

A quick note aside, given my predilection for self-discovery, there have also been those awful occasions when I’ve been horribly lost. But I’ve learned from my mistakes and these days I take a map with the hotel circled on it, a business card with the hotel phone number and in this instance, instructions on how to find my hostel written in both English and Chinese. I was therefore safe as houses to head out in the hutong, looking for adventure and what else came my way!

I knew I had to see the Great Wall. That’s pretty much on everyone’s bucket list, right? So I booked my tour and headed off in a tiny minivan, enthusiastically snapping pictures through the window. A couple of hours later we arrived at the Great Wall which was memorable for three things: the Great Wall itself, a horrifyingly terrifying chair lift ride to the top and the awesome gem of a hidden rock cave that I found all by myself.

One could toboggan down from the top of the Great Wall but I chose to walk down instead; I did a lovely meditative walk contemplating the really great greatness of the Wall (how did they do that??), as well as congratulating myself for not having lost my mind due to fear on the ride up, coupled with the joy of never having to ride the chair lift again. Yes, I found it that scary! I’m just not used to dangling several kilometres off the ground in a rickety steel bucket without safety harnesses of any kind…

On the way down, right near the foot of the mountain, vendors were shouting and thrusting their wares and I decided to duck away from the frenzy and see what lay behind a small entrance that was for the most part being ignored. The guide hadn’t mentioned anything to us apart from the ‘small ride up’ (masterfully understating) and encouraging us all to toboggan down. She certainly didn’t mention a rock garden filled with ancient treasures, or a path that led deeper and deeper into the stony wonderland, a wonderland that finally pointed to the entrance of a small cave.

Now, I’m not one for heights and I’m even less enthused about caves. But I had to go in, the cave had invited me, I couldn’t be rude. And when I tentatively eked my way inside, I was, for want of a better word, gobsmacked with awe. Stalactites and stalagmites from outer space, carved by wind, water and millennia. When I got home, I googled ‘ancient rocks of china’ and found some descriptions of the wonders I found: soda straws, chandeliers, frostwork, moonmilk, pillars, boneyards, boxwork, draperies, cave popcorn, cave pearls – rock poetry!

The cave had been lit in with various colored lights and I rather wish it hadn’t – it would have been just as fantastic without the aid of gimmickry.

I stayed in the cave for a while, delighted by my discovery and now, whenever I think of my trip to Beijing, I think of my cave with fondness and joy – and of course I also remember the Wall and that harrowing ride up!

With two days left in Beijing, I consulted the guide book; I still had time for other must-sees, but I’d given myself the opportunity to be an adventurer and an explorer and who knows what character might in appear future books in a cave at foot of the Great Wall of China! 

This is the fifth day of the A-Z April Challenge. I thought I might try a theme this year and focus on my personal journey to health and fitness, including weight loss- but took a break today to honor a previous commitment.

Today's letter is E and my word for the day is EXCURSION.

BTW- the winners of copies of CARING LESSONS are:

 Mama Zen at  The Zen of Motherhood

skoots mom at my hands His Glory 

I've emailed both winners and have heard back from both! Enjoy the book ladies and congrats!

A-Z Challenge Sign-Up!

The crazy thing is that April is only two months away! The great thing is that it's time to sign up for the A-Z Challenge for April 2012!

Just click on the banner above to sign up! It's that simple!

And then we have two months to go ahead and work on posts for letters like q, x, z...those were the most difficult for me last year.

If you have questions you can contact one of the hosts and they will be more than happy to help you out!

The A to Z Challenge Blog hosts are: Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Jenny Pearson at Pearson Report, Matthew McNish at The QQQE, Tina Downey atLife is Good, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Elizabeth Mueller,Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Karen Gowen at Coming Down the Mountain, and Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small. 

Will you be joining in the A-Z challenge this year? 

Z is for Zenith

Zenith televisions.  I remember these.  We had one and my grandparents had a Zenith CONSOLE television.  I can remember watching professional football and golf on our Zenith.  I remember getting to stay up late and watch the Beatles on the Zenith and drooling over Kurt Russel in Disney movies (back in the day when I liked Disney...I still drool over Kurt Russel).  When I was little I watched Captain Kangaroo on the Zenith.  When I was older, after school I would come home, fix a snack and watch Gilligan's Island or Batman or the Flintstones or the Addams Family or The Munsters...Do you remember Green Acres?  Bewitched?  I Dream of Jeannie?  The Brady Bunch?  Whether I liked them or not, I watched.  That's what the Zenith was there for, right?  And let's not forget about the NBC peacock! And those antennae!  What about rabbit ears?

Funny, though, I don't remember ever watching television during the summer months.  I remember spending days at the library where my dad's mother was librarian.  I remember playing with my cousins and neighborhood friends; riding my bicycle; going to the swimming pool every day; vacations...but not television.

I'm pretty sure the only thing my grandfather ever watched on their Zenith CONSOLE was the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite; baseball games; gospel music on Sunday mornings and LAWRENCE WELK.  My grandmother, on the other hand, loved the soap operas on CBS.  As The World Turns and The Guiding Light were her absolute favorites.  And then, on weekends when I spent the night, she and I stayed up late and watched Elvis movies (I started to write 'old' Elvis movies but they weren't really that old then, were they?).

At our house, we would eat supper on TV trays while watching television.  Not at Grandmother and Granddaddy's though.  At their house, supper time was family at the table time.  We had that at home once my parents adopted my three wonderful brothers.  But I think it was because the den was a bit small for 6 of us to sit with TV trays and watch that smallish television.
 
I remember my mother telling the story of my grandparents' Zenith when I was three years old.  Apparently, I liked to turn the knobs on the set but, for some strange reason, that little pleasure of mine was not all that pleasing to anyone else.  So, one evening I was about to turn the knobs and my mother said, "Pam, do NOT turn the knobs on the television."  She says that I stood there and looked at her, looked at the television, and then back at her.  Suddenly, I took off running and, as I passed by the set, I reached my hand out and turned every single knob without slowing down one bit.  Sadly, I haven't changed much when it comes to having my way.

And that's the way it is- Saturday, April 30, 2011.   


      

Y is for--Y'all!

It wasn't difficult to come up with a 'Y' word today but it was difficult to narrow it down to one word.  I considered using Y is for Yellow because yellow is Deanie's favorite color.  Then I thought about using Y is for Yummy and talking about my favorite foods but since I'm trying to lose massive amounts of weight, I did a rethink on that one.  I contemplated Y is for Yarn but I've already posted about my knitting attempts. Next, I speculated about using Y is for Yard work, but I've already posted about that too and, it just annoys me when I consider that the trees are still standing so that got a negative.  Yoga (me?  Take Yoga?  That's quite laughable to say the least); Yesterday (it was just another day); Yoda (my girls say I talk like him sometimes)---everything got thrown out.  Why?  Because I wanted to use this one:

Y is for Y'all!  All of you!  Each and every one of you who share and provide humor, advice, inspiration, encouragement, comfort, joy, love, care, concern, honesty, support, compassion--through your blog and your comments--I appreciate Y'all!  I appreciate you individually and altogether.  I'm not sure what I expected to get out of blogging, but what I have ended up with is the best EVER great, big extended family full of wonderful people and I love each and every one of y'all!


Now, line up for your hugs---
    

X is for Xylophone

X is for xylophone which is one of the many percussive instruments that DoodleBug played while in high school and continues to play in college.  I may have mentioned before that her high school band took first place at state all four of her high school years.  And, they have continued this tradition for the two years since she graduated.  Yeah, that band is PHENOMENAL to put it mildly.  I have never heard another high school band produce such pure tones as I have this one-and only some college level bands.  They ALWAYS took first in the music category every time they competed---which was anywhere from 5 to 8 times each marching season.  DoodleBug was eXtremely serious about band.  As a matter of fact, state is always the first weekend in November and we had to plan her sister's wedding around the state competition in 2008- DoodleBug's senior year.

((I tried to put a picture up of her freshman year first BUT most of those are not on disk AND, the ones that are--well, Walmart did it and they are all upside-down and I can turn them but they won't save...thank you, Walmart, once again, for a job well botched.))   

That's DoodleBug on the left...at summer band camp sophomore year.  At the end of July-beginning of August...temps in the upper 90s- heat index around 105.  Band camp runs an entire week with an exhibition on Friday evening.  It starts every day at 8:00 am and ends when it's over...usually, she was home by 9:30 or 10:00 each night.

She's on the left again.  This is the warm-up before the exhibition.  They are in their summer uniforms.  That's Kim (read about her further down) on the bass drum in the background.

Band camp, junior year.  Now she's a cool band geek. The percussion kids put in at least two weeks more practice than the rest of the band every summer and that doesn't include the extra practices here and there. 

DoodleBug's last state performance- senior year.

There's a percussion concert Friday night at the high school.  All the percussion alum are going to attend and perform in memory of another student- a good friend of DoodleBug's, Kim, who passed away from cancer on January 14 of this year.  She was 21 years young.

Four of the percussion ladies at the Band Banquet in 2007. DoodleBug, Jordan, Kimmy, Kim. This was Kim's junior year.  My goodness she was one sweet cookie! We miss her. 

I tell you HONESTLY- if I owned a business that hired students (we have a lot of this down here as we are a tourist area) I would ask if they were band students and, if they were, I would hire them--ON. THE. SPOT.  These kids are polite, well-mannered and the hardest working young people I've ever been around in my life.

On a lighter note, according to DoodleBug, X is also for Xenophilius Lovegood...

"WTH?"  I asked her.
 "That's Luna Lovegood's dad in Harry Potter.  He's the editor of the Quibbler and wears the symbol of the Deathly Hallows in order to show he is on the quest to find the three Deathly Hallows which will make the possessor the master of death."

DoodleBug actually has a tattoo of the Deathly Hallows on her wrist but for an entirely different reason which she explained to me but I'd heard way more about Harry Potter than I ever wanted to know by that point, HOWEVER, it had something to do with something Dumbledore said about not forgetting what it is to be young or always seeing things through a child's eyes and being open and nonjudgmental...something along those lines.  Sound advice, I'd say.

Only two more letters to go on this A-Z Challenge- I certainly do appreciate all y'alls patience with this challenge and your kind, funny, generous, encouraging comments through it all!  

V is for Vulture, W is for Water and Wednesday HOPS

I am a day behind on the A-Z Challenge and it's driving me NUTS!  So, today I give you TWO letters:

V is for VULTURE...of the turkey variety--

W is for WATER

I have finally figured out how to get all 8- 8 oz glasses of water down before midnight…just go out and work in the garden in this low-country heat…I can have three 16. 9 oz bottles of spring water down before noon! 

Ass off is still holding me true.  For anyone who is unfamiliar with Ass off, that’s my solution to my weight issues –I took the things I like from Atkins and combined them with the things I like about Suzanne Somers’ program and I’m losing…slowly, but  it IS coming off.  Seriously, you could use my ass as a table for a tea party---it NEEDS to come off.  

I am amazed and quite proud to announce that I had absolutely ZERO sugar over the holiday weekend.  As a matter of fact, I haven’t had any sugar since March 19^th.  That is HUGE for me. 

W is also for the WEDNESDAY HOPS:

The first HOP is from Patrice, at Everyday Ruralty, who hosts Wednesday Words of Weight Loss every Wednesday!  It's a fun HOP that offers encouragement and company on the issue of weight.  It's never too late to join!  Come on, this is your week to join in the FUN! 

 

Questions

1. As the weather is getting warm, I want to know if you're a person for the higher temps or one who likes to be in with the air conditioning.  The hotter it gets the more I prefer to stay in the air conditioning.  I don't like to sweat.  I don't like to take five showers every day.  Good moods elude me when it's hot.  However, I do go out every day, hot or cold, and walk Tucker and to work in the garden.  I just make sure I get up really early so that I'm back inside before it gets unbearable.

2. Shorts or capris?  Capris dahlin'--NOBODY wants to see these legs!

3. Do you need the prescribed 8 hours of sleep, or can you get by with more or less?  Seven hours/night is perfect for me.  A couple of hours less and I am to be avoided.  A couple of hours more and I wake up with a headache and back ache. 

4. What's your favorite healthy snack?  Nuts with sea salt (just a few) or cheese and olives.

5. Tell me one thing you can do for yourself this week that would make you feel good.  Complete everything on my graduation prep list.  Birdie graduates in one week and five days!

My Birdie

Second is WEDNESDAY HODGE PODGE from Joyce at From This Side of the Pond. I've been wanting to participate in this one for a while but kept forgetting!  Let's just chalk it up to the age thing. 

Wednesday Hodgepodge Questions


1. What is something that bothers you if it is not done perfectly?  Well, it used to be ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.  But, I have mellowed in my advancing age and now, if someone does something to help out, I just try to appreciate their efforts and not comment on how it was done. 

 Me then.......................................................Me now






2. What is one of your best childhood memories? The excitement from the anticipation of the arrival of Christmas Eve!  Oh goodness, that was such a time!  It's impossible to narrow it down to one specific Christmas though.  They all ROCKED!

Christmas 1960

3. Do you plan to watch the Royal Wedding and when was the last time you wore a hat?  I wear a hat in the garden- does that count?  I want to watch it but I promised a friend I would substitute teach for her that day. I'm very excited about it- I just love Kate!  William too, but Harry is my fave! 

4. Where do you fall in the birth order in your family? Do you think this has influenced your personality? I was an only for the first 11 years and have been the oldest since then--my parents adopted THREE biological brothers.  They are FANTASTIC! I definitely believe that being an only child all those years molded my personality--I am quite self-centered. 

Our first day as sister and brothers!

5. Where do you think you spend most of your money? At Wal-Mart. In my defense, they do sell groceries there too.  And they are less expensive than K-Mart or Target.  And I really hate going in there.

6. When you need to confront someone would you rather communicate in person, on the phone, by email or by letter? Why?  It is much better for me to confront via email or letter BECAUSE if I do in person I am going to blow my stack and lose all credibility.  I'm much better in writing.

7. Dodge ball, freeze tag, kickball or jump rope? You have to pick one. I absolutely LOVED freeze tag when I was a kid so freeze tag is my choice!

8. Insert your own random thought here.  Some of you are familiar with our weather dude heres and how they never get it right.  They are not calling for rain until Thursday.  Monday, we had THREE rain showers.  Tuesday, we had one--it was a down pour complete with thunder and it lasted from morning until the afternoon.  I don't know whether to stick around for Thursday or just ignore it. 

U is for Undermine

I tend to undermine myself when it comes to my weight loss efforts.  Things will be going well and I will convince myself to have one little tiny piece of something of the sugary goodness variety and BAM!  My refusal to eat sugar takes it in the back and dies.  Once that happens, I further undermine my efforts by using logical reasoning skills.  “Oh come on.  One bite isn’t going to bother anything;  Pul-ease, maybe you’re just meant to be fat;  Maybe your thin days are simply over;  Who really cares what you look like; You’re too old to lose weight now…”  all the while shoving candy or cookies or ice cream down my throat.   Seriously, I don’t even pay attention to how much time passes by while I’m rationalizing my sugar habit.  Oh and crabs?  Same thing.  I’ll eat and eat and eat them.  

I am hopeful that Hubs won’t undermine my efforts.  Not that he does this maliciously but he will do some little things that he SHOULD know will undermine this most difficult yet necessary endeavor.  For example, he brought a store bought carrot cake into the house for Easter dinner in case anyone (guess who) was not interested in my sugar free cheesecake.  He assured me he would take whatever was left uneaten (‘U’ word) into work, yet it still sits in my fridge.  The little bit of leftover candy is still sitting here too.  So far, it’s not been a big deal.  I have successfully stayed away from that evil deliciousness.  I did have to talk to myself about the carrot cake though—“I see it there but you may NOT have any so get it out of your mind.”  And, poof!  Out it went.  Of course, it’s only been one day.  

I am also hopeful that my acute awareness of this ability to undermine myself will be one of the keys to losing this massive amount of blubber  and keeping it off BECAUSE the number that registers on the scale is UNGODLY—another ‘U’ word.  At least my former cravings and the foods that appease them are not ubiquitous (yet another ‘U’ word) this time.  Not only are they not ever-present, but my cravings have unquestionably (clever, eh?) diminished.  The only concern I have is whether or not this is an undeviating (what?!  Another one?!) situation or will I, sooner or later, revert back to my usual (!!!) attempts of undermining.   Only time will tell.  And I hope it tells quickly because, if this doesn’t work, I just may become unhinged.      

This is the 21st day (well, it's MY 21st day, it's really the 22nd day --I should be on 'V'-- but I took a break on Saturday to be with the family) of the A-Z Blog Challenge for the month of April. The hardest letters for me are within these last days...thankfully, we're almost FINISHED!  I just might make it!

T is for TEN

The Ten Good Things on a Monday meme from Brush Up On Your Reading that is---

Nina, at Brush Up On Your Reading, hosts  a list making meme on Mondays.  Nina says:


Here's how it works:

1. Think of a particular group of good things you want to make a list on, does not necessarily have to be about books, e.g. your current book wish list, or your favorite book foods (you know, foods you love to eat while reading, if you're like me), or your favorite girly names, whatever you can think of, as long as it makes you feel good.
2. If you have no ideas for a list, you can always visit my blog post to check out my theme for that week and you can take a cue from my list.
3. Post your list on your blog, grab that cute ARGH button above and put it on your post too, so we'd know you're doing this meme.
4. Leave the link for your post on my own 10 Good Things post for the week, if you see others doing it, comment too and let's share our good things with everybody.
5. Everybody goes through the whole week happy!

This is my first time joining in with Nina's meme and I'm going to use her theme:

10 Things to do this week:

1.  It's clean up from the weekend time!  I don't worry about it when everyone is home but, once they've all headed back to their outofthenest lives, I hit the cleaning hard.

2.  Enter preparation for graduation mode.  Birdie graduates from college on May 7th and it's time to start planning the celebration weekend!

3.  Blog!

4.  Journal every night!

5.  Prepare a wonderful home cooked meal for the college lovelies.  Our two college daughters come home every Wednesday night (with friends) for mom's cooking!  This is why Wednesdays are my favorite night of the week!

6.  Take some time for birding!  I've been slack here for a few weeks.

I haven't seen this guy in months!

7.  Take Birdie and the other Athletic Training majors (there are 6 graduating seniors) out to the beach and take a group picture.

8.  Figure out some really good ways to use up the left over ham and turkey from our Easter meal.

9.  Plant the squash, zucchini, cucumber and bean plants in the ground garden.  Get the wildlife netting around the raised beds.

This is the 'squash garden' area- it looks better now than it does in this picture as we have since tilled it up and formed our rows...well, Hubs did.  My focus is the raised beds.

10.  Mail a package for Deanie.

This is my 20th day of the A-Z Blog Challenge for the month of April. It's been a fun challenge but, hankfully, we're almost FINISHED!  I just might make it!