My Journey Through Life

I have a family member who is in a dark place.  I have been praying for strength to reach out to this person and help to pull them out of the darkness.  I know that God will give me the words.  I find joy in the fact that when we have concerns and don't, in our human frailty, know how to deal with them, the Lord leads us in the right direction.  I was reading a book that mentioned "mind binding spirits".  I never heard this term before, in fact, I am finding that many terms that I am not familiar with are coming to my attention.  They all have great meaning for me.  I have been reading about strongholds that Satan builds in our minds.  The Mind Binding Spirits go right along with the strongholds to hurt us and hold us back from so many things.  I was drawn to research more about these spirits, or demons and I came across a prayer. As I read it, I realized that it could apply to my loved one. I took that prayer and adapted it to the situation that we are facing, the situat

As I search the internet for jobs and try to decide what is next for me in the work world - I am trying to get some things done around the house.  I have been keeping up with dishes and have even cooked a few meals!  Lots of other things I need to get to.  A guy that my husband works with gave us a cabbage.  A huge cabbage!  Today I was adventurous and decided to make sauerkraut. I am not a big fan, but what the heck - you can only eat so much cabbage.  I found a recipe online - one that is done by canning the sauerkraut, not letting it sit in a crock for weeks.  I don't think I cut it thin enough. It didn't say to shred it...just to slice it very thin. You can see by my picture that I didn't do very well at that.  So 10 days from now, we are supposed to have sauerkraut.  It was really simple and if it turns out well, I will post the recipe and give credit to the person who supplied it. I don't want to give them a bad name if I just didn't do it right!

I think I am finally ready to 'talk' about what happened this past week.  I was invited to a meeting with my boss on Tuesday.  The meeting was actually a sit down to tell me that my position with the company had been eliminated.  It was upsetting and shocking to a small degree, but in some ways I was expecting it. A few things happened in the past few months that caused me to: Not be as happy in my job as I once was Feel that I wasn't living up to the expectations of the company It was disappointing to the extent that I really did want to make a difference!  I really did want to be one of those people who got called up on the stage to be recognized at the end of the year meeting. This has caused me to take a look at myself, and the company that I worked for, to figure out why I didn't succeed.   My conclusion is that there are two main reasons: I didn't push hard enough.  I should have stood up and said "Look, this is my responsibility and if you

I have been so busy with work and planning the family reunion!  The reunion was a great success again!  Not as many people as I would like to see attending, but I understand - life, work and distance prevents many family members from getting there. Our little corner flower garden has done so well!  It has really filled in and I think most of the plants are perennials so next year should bring beautiful color with little work!

Weight loss has been slow the last month so I was thrilled to look down at the scale today and see that I lost 2 pounds since last Sunday!  My Stepson got married yesterday. It was a beautiful day with a lovely ceremony outside. They are having their reception in two weeks, so they just had snacks at the house after the ceremony yesterday. I ate some things that I didn't count in my calorie log - but I took a long walk yesterday morning so it worked out.  I love it when I have success like that, it proves that I can enjoy myself and still lose weight. I don't have to deprive myself all of the time. 34 pounds down and 29 to go...I am more than halfway to my goal!!! It is funny how our perspectives change - yesterday I was mad cause some of the pants that I wanted to wear were too big for me!!! Have a great and healthy week!

Another pound lost this week!  Glad to see that myfitnesspal.com  tracker updated to my total pounds lost!  It seems that the longer I go, the harder it is to lose weight.  I don't feel that I can cut my calories back any more.  I plan to increase my exercise in order to continue to lose weight.  When I try to restrict my calories too much, I end up falling off the healthy eating wagon and gaining all the weight back.  I won't do that again!  I can't do that again! I naturally don't need as many calories, but if I try to cut back to less than 1300 calories a day, I know I will fail. It is so great to have so many pants that won't fit me anymore...for the right reason...they are too big!! Have a great night!!

We had a wonderful day yesterday. Loaded a bunch of brush into the truck and took it to the dump. On the way home we stopped at a greenhouse and bought some hanging baskets and other flowers.  Today, when we were transplanting the plants and flowers, I put some of them (I think they are perennials) in the ground in our new little flower garden.  The bulbs I planted a couple of weeks ago are not growing, but I am not giving up on them until next year.  The flower bed doesn't look very full now, but I also want to add some wildflowers that are supposed to attract butterflies.  Keeping up with the weeds will be the biggest challenge.

I was especially happy to see the scale show a one pound loss this week.  I have been right at the top of my calorie goals for the last two days.  I have balanced that with some extra exercise - so I guess it worked! We have had such a nice time on this little 'staycation'.  Today I am concentrating on cleaning, and hanging new curtains.  This morning, I hoped to avoid the heat of the day by transplanting flowers at 8 am. That didn't work - we got it done, but I think I sweated off an extra pound!  It was already very hot! Time to go back to some house cleaning! Have a beautiful, peaceful day!

Today is the first day of my five day vacation.  I really need this...to just unplug and relax. My goal is to not stress out - or make demands on myself or my husband.  I sometimes get so caught up in plans that I end up not truly enjoying my time off.  I am going to do some gardening, cleaning, relaxing, reading, writing, resting and of course, spending time with my beloved husband! Have a great week!!

I was looking for a new profile picture and I came across this pic from last year.  My sister, niece and I were attending  Women of Faith  in Hartford, CT.  This was in November of 2012.  It was good to look at this picture - it really let me see how much weight I have lost!!  It is good to look back and know that I look better now - helps to put it into perspective. It is tough to  think that I have another 30 plus pounds to lose.  This picture helped me to appreciate what a difference the 30 pounds I have lost have made! Happy Memorial Day!

No loss this week, but that's better than gaining!!!  I don't know why I didn't lose any weight this week. It is kind of depressing, but I am going to keep doing what I have been doing...working out...watching what I eat...next week will be productive!! As I think back, I wonder how different my life would be if I had made different decisions.  As I reflected on my life-changing choices, I wrote the following article to sum up how I feel as I approach my 50s. This article was published on the Yahoo! Contributor Network...I hope you enjoy it! " When I graduated from high school and ventured into my twenties, I wish I had known that everything would be okay. It would have made life so much more bearable if I had known that, no matter what, I would end up happy. I used to think that if I could go back in time, I would visit myself when I was about 24, before I accepted an engagement ring from my first husband. I thought that it would be marvelous to go back and tell

Tomorrow is weigh in day again!  I feel pretty good about jumping on the scale.  This week was a challenge - having my calories cut back due to my weight loss was...interesting.  I had one evening that I just needed more to eat - I think that was mainly due to having a sub for dinner. I didn't go over my calorie goal, but I think having a sub that has most of its calories coming from the roll was a mistake.  In order to succeed, I need to eat lower calorie meals.  The rest of the week was good.  I took a walk today - it was quite chilly, but I was happy to be out walking!  I ended up walking 2 miles in 41 minutes - so I got an extra 11 minutes of exercise - plus I am going to do my strength training tonight. You might enjoy reading this article I wrote about the ups and downs of weight loss that I have experienced, including some advice on how to succeed. "It is invigorating to lose weight! I feel successful, happy, and thin! However, something always happens to push m

I did it!  I lost two pounds this week which brings me to a grand total of 30 pounds.  I am so happy and proud of myself. I am going to stick with my regular exercise plan - 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.  My calorie tracker has adjusted my daily calorie goal due to my loss.  I went from 1450 a day to 1330 a day.  At first that was daunting...some days I am hungry after I have eaten my 1450...how will I eat less?  Here is what I have planned: November 2012 Replace mid-morning snack bar with an apple or fat free yogurt - this will cut from 20-30 calories Replace afternoon snack bar with carrots - this will cut about 70 calories Eat more veggies with my evening meal - cut back on starch - I can probably cut another 50 calories there Replace evening snacks with an apple, carrots, or yogurt - that is about another 50 fewer calories Over all, as long as I replace what I am snacking on now with more fruits and veggies, I can easily cut those 120 calories out without feeling

I got up this morning and took a walk. We went out for a light breakfast before heading home.  I have been doing my flower gardening in stages.  I love having flowers, but I am too lazy to do a lot of gardening so I did it in steps: Cut back dead growth from last year Attacked the weed-vine that invades everything in our small back yard. Attacked the weed - vine again...and again...finally found some of its roots and dug them out...that was no small task Put down some bags of garden soil...more exercise...they were heavy Put up a wooden border to keep the dirt away from the grass Today I finally planted my Iris', lilies, and  Aquilegia Took a break to write my blog I want my flower garden to be all Perennials so each year I will have a beautiful display without much work.  The hardest part will be keeping the invading weeds out!! Time for a shower!! Stay healthy and enjoy the weather!!  

I wonder why I am so much hungrier some days than I am on others.  I would think that it has to do with how much exercise I get and what I am eating.  The thing is that I eat about the same thing every day up until supper.  My evening meal varies, but the rest of the day is usually the same.  Today, I was really hungry at suppertime, but was satisfied with my frozen dinner and a bowl of cereal for dessert.  I know, I have an odd diet, but it works for me.  My DH works overnight, so he was asleep when I got home from work - I don't cook when it is just for me so the frozen dinners are great.  Having an apple for a snack now.  I have been thinking about how easy it has become for me to eat healthy.  There are days that I look at the brownies in the display case at Starbucks and almost order one, but I don't. I know that one slip during the week will lead to all the bad habits coming back.  Better to wait till Sunday when I can treat myself without guilt. I am between sizes righ

I only weigh myself one time a week.  The scale can become an enemy if I allow it to entice me to step on more than that.  This week I am excited to weigh in.  I like to set small goals for myself and if I can reach my goal of losing 2 pounds this week, I will be at a total of 30 pounds lost!!!  What an accomplishment!  It hasn't even been hard.  There are days that I am tired and don't feel like working out. I do it anyway.  There are days that I feel like eating a bag of chocolate chip cookies (the greatest food ever invented) but I don't. I eat an apple or a banana or a cup of yogurt instead. Something that has helped me is "free Sundays"  I eat what I want on Sunday. I don't count my calories on Sunday. I am happy to say that even when I do this, my healthy habits override some very bad decisions. I find that when I treat myself to a higher calories meal or treat, I fill up quicker and still don't eat too much.  I feel satisfied. This helps me get th

I would love for you to visit my Yahoo page. I have published a short story there: Cassandra stood by the closed and locked window and squinted out into the afternoon sun. She flattened her palm against the pane as if she were trying to touch the outside, the sky, the very air. "I want to experience it again. I want to lie on the sand and feel the sun warming my skin. It's a wonder I don't have skin cancer…my girlfriends and I logged way too many hours slathered in baby oil and iodine! The wind…the…air…the…sun…" She began to sob. "Baby oil and iodine, what was that, a homemade suntan oil?" Dr. Sanderson knew the answer, he had an aunt who used the same technique and even as a young boy, it hadn't seemed like a good idea to him. The question was for Cassie's benefit. "Yes, I'm not sure how it was supposed to work, but we all did it. We didn't have the Internet back then to look up stuff like that. I will have to research it. I th

Four months down and I have lost 27 pounds!  I am not depriving myself. I am exercising moderately and I feel good. I also started to post articles on Yahoo! contributor site.  I'd be happy if you stopped by to check out my Yahoo page. Stay healthy!!

The realization has just dawned on me that if I lose 2 pounds again this week I will have less than 50 pounds left to lose!!!  It is still a huge wall to climb, but 2 months ago I never thought I would have had this much success so quickly. I hope the one donut (actually 2 half donuts) that I ate for Fasnacht Day won't hurt me this week. I still stayed within my calorie range so it shouldn't - I froze the rest of the box after DH ate his share so they aren't a temptation to me for the rest of the week.   I am increasing my workouts to 5 thirty minute workouts this week.  This isn't easy for me cause I really don't like to work out. I don't get that rush of endorphin that supposedly come with exercise.  I really have to push myself to do a workout but the more success I see, the easier it is to get myself motivated.  Today was a day off from exercise - the next three days I will be able to get up and have a good workout first thing in the morning.  I am d

Last Thursday I think I had a touch of food poisoning.  From about 5pm Thursday till Friday afternoon I felt awful!!!  Didn't eat much of anything on Friday either.  Ended up losing another 2 pounds this week. Enough weight loss that my food tracker cut back my daily calorie goal!  It feels great to reach a milestone of 10 pounds!!! I haven't had a 'free' day since I started this journey in January so I decided I was going to enjoy myself and eat some fun snack foods while watching the Super Bowl...excuse me...while watching the Baltimore Ravens win the Super Bowl!!!  I didn't over do it too badly, didn't stuff myself, but I didn't obsess over what I ate, either.  I have decided to add an extra day of working out this week.  I have been doing 4 thirty minute workouts - starting this week I am going to do 5 thirty minutes workouts. I really feel good about my eating habits. I stay on track with my goal and even though the myfitnesspal tracker adds extra c

About two years ago I started using products from  philosophy . I first heard of the company on QVC  which is where I buy most of my beauty and skin care products. I shop QVC for a couple of reasons. One is that I really don't like shopping, two is that I trust them and their customer service is fantastic, three is that they sell the products that I use and love. philosophy® sells skin care for your entire body - head to toe. They have some wonderful facial products that, they claim, can give you 'makeup optional skin'. As much as I liked their products, I still doubted that I would ever feel comfortable going out of the house without make-up on.  Yes - I am that bad - even if I am just running to the convenience store to get gas or pick up milk or sandwiches, I have to have make up on my face...well...I did - that really has changed!  I still won't go to work or out to dinner without my face made up.  When I put on my make up I feel pretty - I am not saying I am

I had another good week!  Down two more pounds!  Yes...I am going to be happy about 2 pound losses!  Even my nights away for work have been good, I haven't spent the evening working and eating cookies! I increased my exercise to 3 workouts of 30 minutes and one workout of 24 minutes. I finally watched the rest of last week's The Biggest Loser. I was thinking about how they are disappointed if they don't have double digit losses...I would love to have double digit losses every week -but it isn't practical to think that I can lose that much in a week. The contestants on TBL are working out every day for hours...that is not the real life way to lose weight and keep it off long term.  I know that I could push myself to workout for an hour a day 5 days a week and I would lose more weight - but I would end up hitting a plateau and having no where to go to get past it!  I know this from past experience so this is my philosophy of healthy living and weight loss: Start out s

It was a cold night...I went to be with a positive feeling about my healthy lifestyle performance this week. I stayed within my calorie range everyday except one and I increased my exercise for the week......Then came the morning!  I woke up and all the old bad feelings about weight loss started kicking in. If you have ridden the same weight-loss roller coaster that I have been on for years - you will probably understand what I am talking about.  You had a great week. You feel good about yourself. You step on the scale only to find that you have lost a pound or nothing at all!  You feel like a complete failure. You shouldn't...and you know you shouldn't, but you do.  I sat there...staring at the scale as if it was my enemy - speculating on what it would tell me today.  I wanted so badly to step on but what if I didn't lose? What if after a week of eating healthy and exercising I was still the same weight that I was last Sunday.  The only logical reason I can find for feelin

Challenge Day went well.  I apricot chicken at Olive Garden - one bread stick and two bowls of minestrone soup.  Even with that I was under 700 calories for the meal so I had calories left over for some yogurt and fruit later that evening. The really great thing was that I wasn't hungry and didn't feel deprived. Weigh in is tomorrow...I have had a good week - added time onto my workouts and stayed under or very close to my calorie goals each day.  I add the Myfitnesspal tracker here - click on it and it should take you to the site...I love it cause it is so easy and I have it on my computer - phone and tablet! Big challenge day will be Monday - we have a family dinner at a restaurant that probably doesn't have the nutritional info online...but I am going to look! Have a great weekend! Go Ravens!!!

My challenge today is dinner out with friends. We are going to  Olive Garden  so we both went online today to check the nutritional content of the foods we want.  I have it all planned out already!  I know what I am going to eat and how many calories it will 'cost' me. For under 550 calories - I can have a meal that will fill me up and eliminate the normal guilt that I feel when I dine out!  It can be done. I was so happy to see my DH also checking out the menu and deciding to not have his favorite since it is probably the amount of calories one should intake for a whole day!  I got up this morning and worked out for 24 minutes...that gave me a few extra calories - but I won't need them.  We are going to a late lunch at 2 pm so I had breakfast and will probably have an apple to hold me over till then.  Apples are great for this cause they fill you up. I think this is at least partly due to their fiber content.  Here is a link to the  Mayo Clinic Website   that shows the fib

I got a good night's sleep last night...wanted to get up and cook a nice Sunday breakfast but I woke up at 4, went back to sleep and didn't wake up till 7:30.  When I finally climbed out of bed to brave the cold I stepped on the scale to find a 4 pound loss for the week!  Okay...it isn't a Biggest Loser loss, but it is great for me!!! So many things I want to get done today. If it warms up the way they say it is going to I might even go to the store to pick up some closet organizing supplies.  I need to do a workout...I plan to start adding minutes everyday to work up to 30 minutes 5 days a week. Have a great Sunday!!

As I come to the end of day six of my first healthy week of the year I am very pleased with my progress. I feel good.  I will weigh in tomorrow- it won't be a full week, but it is easier to weigh in on Sunday than Monday. I will do my measurements tomorrow also so I can track my progress in inches. I have stayed at or under my calorie range every day but one and I went over by less than 100 calories on that day!  Today I went over by 3 calories.  Pretty good considering that I probably have been eating double my suggested calories on a regular basis. I am looking forward to weigh in tomorrow - I really expect to see a loss. I  worked out for at least 20 minutes four days this week. I need to drink even more water and start adding time to my workouts little by little.  See you tomorrow to let you know the score!! BTW...Hooray...Ravens won!!!!!

I have been tracking my food and exercise since Monday and I feel great about it.  I have stayed at or just under my calorie allotment - even with yesterday being a work at home day!  If I can work from home for a full day without eating everything in sight - I am ready to make a change!  I worked out for 20 minutes on Monday - 10 on bike and 10 on elliptical - including some work on the Total Gym.  Tuesday I did 28 minutes of walking with a  Leslie Sansone  video. It was hard - I committed to 5 days a week - so I took off today. My legs were pretty tired since it has been so long since I have done two days in a row. I will be back at it tomorrow! Well- I still have about 600 calories to eat today so I am off for a healthy snack! Have a healthy evening!

I watched the biggest loser last night and it kind of inspired me.  So..up and on the scale this morning. Only a little worse than I expected.  Started using  My fitness pal  again to track my food.  I like it cause I have the app on my tablet and phone. I can keep track of what I eat no matter where I am.  It also has a scanner so if you have a package that something came it - all you have to do is scan it and it has the calories right there!  I love technology!  So I have done well today...one day down...almost. It is almost 7:30 and I am HUNGRY...I think I still have a little over 100 calories left for the day...hmmmm...maybe some carrots!  I know what I should do...I should go upstairs and take my mind off of food by working out.....here I go! Have a healthy night!

I actually went upstairs to the exercise room and did 10 minutes on the elliptical!! It has been ages since I did that!  It felt good! Wore my pedometer today and recorded over 3000 steps. I know that isn't the goal..that is 10,000 steps a day...but I was so happy that I found my pedometer - I just had to wear it!  What I used to do...and should start again is wearing it all day and if I don't get my full 10,000 steps by the evening- go for a walk or get on a treadmill to achieve the goal!  Trying to decide what the best plan for me to use for eating is...Special K...which would keep me from eating too many quick meals on the road?  I usually find that I can't maintain that plan for long but at least it would jump start me!  We need to stock the house with healthy foods and have them ready to go so that I can't use time as an excuse to eat unhealthy food! I am looking forward to a healthy new year for both us us!