Tag Archives: health

Mid-week JUMP!

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This week has been drastically different, in a good way, as far as exercise and food choices go. Of course, it’s only Wednesday…..however, one major change is that I’ve (so far) been able to wrap my brain around “One day at a time”.  Eating that elephant in small bites is a lot easier than tackling the entire thing.  Therefore, my planning for lunches has helped tremendously–especially at work when I hit the “hungries NOW” AND making it through the evening without that little “somethin’ somethin'”.

While I can’t say I’ve gone CLEAN EATING so far, I have absolutely cut a lot of junk and made some substitutions, i.e. brown rice with my sausage and spaghetti sauce instead of pasta.  Not quite the same, buuuuuuuuut, extremely filling and satisfying.  And I’m curious for those of you out there who have “cut the processed stuff” and gone clean….how long did it take you to lose the “craving” for sugar and junk?

This articleby Candace Cameron Bure via Peak313 was great, and my favorite “vision” in fighting against temptations is this excerpt:

In my book, Reshaping It All, I talk about “the eye covenant” found in Job 31:, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman?” Using Job as a role model, many committed husbands, like mine, have decided to make the same covenant with their eyes. If a beautiful woman walks by, a man may take notice, but if he gazes at her for a while, his mind will travel to places it shouldn’t. So rather than looking her way, he turns his eyes and his attention to something else.

If this covenant helped Job overcome lust of the flesh, it can also work for us in regard to food! Instead of fantasizing over lunch, or spending the evening meditating on what dessert we’ll have, let us turn our thoughts and attention to something else. Use this covenant of the eyes to avoid the snack isles while shopping, passing up free samples instead of stopping to consider them, replying “No, thank you,” the next time someone passes a brownie your way and to stay focused on the car ahead of you when you drive by a fast food chain.

Thankfully, this week’s challenge Scripture verse is ALL about cravings and I find God’s timing is once again perfect.

1 John 2:16

For everything in the world, the sinful cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does, comes not from the Father but from the world.

Monday mourning..

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Blah.  At some point perhaps I will try a boring weekend and see if that makes Monday more palatable.  Naaaaahh….

This Monday starts week 3 of the Peak313 “5-week challenge” and I’ve got to say, so far, I’m sucking.  OK, well, not a total lie…the first week was pretty good…with room for improvement on the food choices, but the second week.  Blech!

  • Sick child
  • Hubby dealing with some personal issues…which I then take on (because that’s what I do..I empathize to the point of making it MY problem) and then revert to comfort food and busy-ness wherever I can find it
  • Open house for the Elem school
  • Change in soccer practice, unexpectedly
  • Super busy at work

Nothing truly earth-shattering, however, life got in the way and I let it.  Bummer.  It derailed my exercise AND my eating and so I fully experience the saying “when you fail to plan, plan to fail”.  And fail I did.  When you fall (or fail) you have to get up, brush yourself off and get back on the path.  One day at a time.  One foot in front of the other.  And so on.

Somewhere around Friday I began to rally mentally.  Better food choices.  A little exercise.  Saturday was a busy sports day for the girls with LOTS of driving, however, better food choices and a decent mental outlook on the day as a whole.  Sunday was the RESTART:  Mass.  Walk. Grocery shop.  Pre-cook for lunches for the week:  Baked chicken breasts, brown rice, quinoa, hard-boiled eggs, cut up some veggies for the kids to snack on (and me).  I also made some treats for the fam–not exactly “clean eating” but a treat…moderation, right?  Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies–I’d give you my recipe, but it’s a little of this, little of that kind of deal but you could use this one from A Sweeter Thing.  I made the cookies for a treat for the week (we’ll see if they last that long!) and I made a peanut butter pie for dessert last night.

Moving on….we have fruit and veggies in the house…I’ve got food prepared for the week…I can’t wait to try this pumpkin oatmeal recipe for breakfast this morning… I’ll be hitting the gym @ lunch today…we have a healing mission @ church tonight. Day 2.  Week 3.  It’s ON!

This challenge is motivating and encouraging and I am also EXTREMELY motivated by Socially Fit’s blog and Twitter feed throughout the day.  Focus.  Focus.  Focus.

I’m off to start the morning rush…..How’s your week looking?

Peak 313..Week 3 Scripture verse!

Lessons learned…wisdom earned? Time will tell….

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Friday, Friday and the kids have no school and yet…..yes, that’s right…..Mama and Papa have work.  Stinkers.  Whatev….Either way, I am wrapping up my week with a few lessons (in Quick Take, Conversion Diary form)  learned from this week.

Lesson 1.  Home with the youngest on Monday and I learned that I could do without HALF of my closet.  I mean really, how MANY pair of khaki capris and shorts does one need?  Between donating 5 bags (Publix size, not garbage!) to our church’s thrift store and then reorganizing by color, I feel refreshed, uncluttered and actually inspired to be a little more “fashionable”.  I’ll do it again once it’s cool enough to bring the winter-ish clothes down.  True fact.

Nice right? OK, not my closet, but you can find some great organizing ideas AND this picture HERE!

Lesson 2.  There is a need to revamp my social media.  Apparently.  Now I know why people are always face down in their phones.  They are updating tweets, RTs, MTs, statuses, blog reading, photo sharing, liking, commenting.  You HAVE to be face down 24/7 to keep up. Farm out the laundry, dinner, kid care, schooling, house chores, work for $$ job, because you cain’t do none of that if you’re doing the other. Serious. As for me,  I joined Twitter to be more abreast on the world.  Facebook to KIT with fam and friends.  Pinterest…..ah, I’m not sure on that one but I’ve gotten lost on there a few times and have really added to Hubby’s “to-do” list.  Instagram b/c I love photos, taking and looking.  However, the sad fact is that I don’t get paid to be social 24/7, so I am going to just chill.  Check in when necessary, disregard the numbers and try to relax on the house projects.  ‘Cuz it’s crazy yo!!!    True fact.

Image cred and social media organizing tips HERE

Lesson 3.  Walking near dusk with a gator in the lake, the podcast must be turned down, eyes must be watchful, legs must be ready to run and camera must be ready to shoot.  Sadly I missed the basketball versus gator wrestling match, I heard it was a doozy.  True fact.

Image cred…ME..on Instagram 🙂

Lesson 4.  If perhaps you are with a middle schooler for after school pick up and you see a fight going on with the amoeba crowd closing in and would by chance, I don’t know, lay on the horn like a crazy lady a few things would happen:  a) the amoeba crowd would scatter like ants and, b) the middle schooler in your vehicle would become like melted butter and sink to the floor of the vehicle.  Then, if you were to call the Rec center to report the fight and the coppers came and some kids almost got arrested, YOUR middle schooler would be the scapegoat the next day.  However, if you use The Jedi Mind Trick and remind him that cell phones are pretty popular and ANYONE could have called as well as blaming the honking on a mother– reminding him to remind his friends that their parents are embarrassing sometimes, too….suddenly the scapegoat is freed and the mob are again little kittens eating out of his hands.  And he wouldn’t be mad at his mother anymore either.  Hypothetically true fact.  Of course.

Lesson 5.  If you call your friend to chat and her 2 toddlers answer taking turns regaling you of tales of nausea and vomiting  and “Mama in the shower”…she probably isn’t going to get that message.  True fact.

Lesson 6.  If one is tempted off their healthy eating focus by a son’s birthday it most definitely is a force to be reckoned with to get back on track.  4 1/2 days later I think I broke the spell with a 40 minute power walk, abs and arms workout followed by a healthy dinner!  The fact is, “we can start our day over at any time….even if it’s 5:30 p.m.”  True fact.

Lesson 7.  Open house at the girls elementary school was eye-opening as our district introduces “standard based grading” and implementing all steps at the same time.  And…..it’s not fully ready yet.  All I can say is, holy crap.  These teachers are getting the shaft.  The tediousness in grading in this manner is ridic beyond words.  Not to mention I am going to need a ruler, reading glasses and a freakin’ LEGEND to interpret the grades when this thing is finally up and running.  I am seriously drafting a letter (sans text lingo and cussing) to the school board, because apparently someone with way too much alphabet soup behind their name decided a nice complicated system would make them look like they are earning their grotesque salaries!  Well, guess what…I have alphabet soup, too….(BS)(RT)(R)(CT).  This  IS putting a teacher’s day far beyond the 8 hours required for their job and I honestly believe… 3 months off for summer isn’t enough.  True fact.

That’s all folks.   Hope you learned a thing or two from my own experiences.  Have a great weekend!  Be sure to check in with the MANY awesome peeps @Conversion Diary with Jen (Reality star).  There’s a bunch so a beverage and snack come in handy when reading through…it’s a great Saturday morning distraction for me 🙂

When you can’t fix it….

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I came to a revelation of sorts yesterday while I was home with our sick kiddo.  First of all, I am not really a patient mother/wife/person when it comes to dealing with sick people,  perhaps it comes from dealing with sick people all day; I have no compassion.  It’s awful. I know.  I try to be kind, but it is forced.  The same thing happens if someone is going through a really difficult mental issue.  No compassion.  I try.  Again, it’s forced and impatient.  Last night, in talking with Hubby I realized that when it comes to my family and friends and their sickness and struggles I harden because I’m angry.  I’m not angry with THEM, I’m angry with the fact that there is NOTHING I can do to “fix it”.  I might be able to lessen the symptoms and make them more comfortable, however, for me…..that’s not enough, I want it fixed.  Over, done and move on. It is why I am calm in the middle of a crisis (mostly), I focus on the end, the solution and what I can do to get there.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with this information.  Mentally, I KNOW I can’t fix anything…and it is a work on growing my faith to do what I CAN do in loving on my friends and family during their times of sickness and struggle and to trust in Him, the Great Physician to take care of the rest.  So, I suppose now that I’ve identified my issue I can pray on it and listen for direction and perhaps maybe, just maybe, be a little more compassionate when those times come.

Mark 16:18 “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Sick days bite!

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Our youngest had another little sore throat sneak up this weekend and being a veteran of strep throat for far too many episodes, I absolutely believe her self diagnosis as she is SPOT ON.  EVERY.  TIME.

I went ahead and called in to my work yesterday so they’d have time to get coverage and hopefully not shaft my friend and co-worker in my absence..I think it worked out and was far less stressful on me having to jump ship to get our girl to her doctor appointment AND figure out who’d watch her today.  It all worked out.  In the end, her appointment was at 2 in the afternoon so I had a lot of free time on my hands as a result.  Sadly I can’t just chill, nap and read (though I’d LIKE to!) so I tackled some tedious little tasks I’ve been “meaning to get to” forEVAH…

And the cat was truly enjoying snuggling up on humans all day….after he slept off his all-night out and about the neighborhood, that is…

Sleeping off his big night out

he’s snuggling me or my laptop…either way it’s really hard to type like this.

 

  • We had several bags of clothes to donate to our churches thrift store, so I went through my closet and dresser and added several more  bags AND….delivered them.  To the thrift store.  I know, right?  The delivery is key to purging, otherwise it’s just moving it all around.
  • I had so much room on my side of the closet so…….I reorganized and color grouped my shirts and blouses.  I’m a nerd.  I know.  However, it looks really good.  I might actually be able to FIND something when I need it!!
  • I did my Abs and Arms routine, 3 sets each.  I’ll be walking while our oldest daughter has soccer practice, therefore that makes a good start to Week 2 for Peak 313‘s 5 week challenge.  And I DID eat and log my food today which, BTW, is a huge struggle, especially while at home tempted by all the choices.  Add a little restlessness in and it’s a potential recipe for disaster.  I made it through.  Phew!
  • A month ago we had to cut down a magnolia tree in our backyard (it was diseased and dying) and had to replace it with a new tree.  We did that yesterday with an elm in the front yard.  I called the city to come inspect it and check us off the list.  I hate those silly phone calls.  It’s done.
  • Deleted MANY, MANY duplicate albums clogging up my iPhoto library.  Still lots more to do, but I made a HUGE dent today.  Tedious, tedious, tedious..Don’t even ask how it happened…it’s still a mystery!!
  • Then I took the girl to the office and dropped off her antibiotics and then since I was home….the taxi was in full motion…pick up older daughter, pick up youngest son, pick up antibiotics, now to get dinner going and then off to soccer…dang, I need a nap!!
  • I did manage to give myself and my girl a pedicure….garnet and gold toes for my ‘Noles and pink for her.

Peace out, peeps.  We’re off to soccer!