Hi All! Though I don't know if "all" is just one person or several. Since, AHEM, nobody makes any comments. I am a little curious if anyone besides Jim ever reads, and if so, whether they are strangers or good friends or acquaintances. I guess it doesn't really matter, but I've always been a curious person. Inquiring minds want to know. ;-) So please if you do visit, leave me a comment. If you don't have anything to say about the post itself, just say hi.
So here's the scoop on my progress with some of my joy enhancers. My daily bliss today might not sound like much to most people, but we all have different things that bring a smile to our face. One thing I enjoy is finding ways to bless others. I know that might sound kind of sappy, but honest and truly, I LIKE doing that. It's fun for me. So today I decided to start the morning with a big smile and an enthusiastic hug and cheerful good morning greeting to Jim. Not a huge deal, but I'm not really a first thing in the morning person. It takes me a while to merge into wakefulness. So Jim doesn't usually get much of a morning greeting from me. In fact, it's not uncommon for the first words out of my mouth to be, "Where's the truck?" as in the truck that ran me over. Not exactly the most pleasant way to start the day. So I decided I could set a happier tone for both of us just by exuding a more enthusiastic, glad to see you morning greeting. While, it's a small thing, I believe that the small things add up, both positive and negative, and sometimes when a marriage seems to have lost its luster, it's at least partly because we stopped doing the little kindnesses and pleasantries. It doesn't always take a huge overhaul to improve your marriage. A small tweak or two can often go a long way. And there are so many different things you can say or do to bless your spouse, kids, family, friends, associates, or even strangers. It doesn't always require money or much time, effort, or sacrifice. And it can be fun!
Ive made a little more progress on getting my house cleaned up. Right now, my kitchen, bedroom, main bathroom, living room, and basement stairs are at least reasonably picked up. Dishes get done each day; sinks and counters are wiped; tables get cleared and wiped, trash gets emptied before it overflows (usually), toilet gets swished with brush and wiped, and floors get swept. We are also working on leveling our laundry mountains.
Still waiting for Jim to finish the chandelier.
I've lost 5 lbs so far. Woo hoo! Just 95 more to go. ;-0. Well, it's a start. I just have greatly reduced the amount of junk/processed/sugar foods and added in some healthier ones. Not following any specific diet or food plan at this point. Nor am I saying treats are 100% off limits, but I'm attempting only to have them if I plan for it ahead of time rather than just spontaneously partaking at every opportunity. I haven't exercised in a few months, but yesterday I walked with my daughter for 30 minutes. Not exactly a super mega fat burning shred workout, but I'm not in good enough shape to try something like that. Maybe down the road. Or NOT. I'm not exactly a sports nut fitness fanatic by nature. For now, just 30 mins of moderate walking is enough for me. It's a slight challenge but not overwhelming.
I did talk to Jim about wanting to at least start on the road toward weight loss surgery, and he's willing to support me on some of the first steps. It's actually not something you can jump right into. There are several steps you have to complete before going under the knife, and it takes a minimum of a few months from your your first appointment until you are cleared for surgery. I did take the first step of filling out the 17 page intake form. The next thing to do is to make an appointment with the bariatric nurse. In the meantime, I'm already starting to incorporate some healthier habits because I would like to lose some weight even before the surgery since it will be at LEAST 3 to 4 months, and I'd rather be going in the right direction in the meantime.
Right now I'm reading a novel called The Book of Hours by Davis Bunn. It's an intriguing story about an young American widower who inherits a deteriorating castle in England. I'd love some other reading suggestions. This is a list of the types of books/subjects that interest me:
1. Classics
2. Clean fiction
3. Christian living
4. Clean humor
5. Christian marriage
6. Christian parenting
7. Christian homemaking
8. Christian writing
9. Organization and time management
10. Health
11. Beauty and Fashion
12. Travel
13. Christian Womens Interests
14. Christian counseling
15. Relationships
16. Homeschooling
17. Decorating
Would love to hear any recommendations you might have! Reading is such a joy!
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Movies, Cleaning, Chandelier Joy, and Morbid Obesity
How's that for a unique title? Hard to believe it's been over six weeks since I posted! Time sure flies when you're doing life! And I'm not even all that busy compared to the "norm". Neither my kids nor I are involved in many activities, which is how I like it because normal life in the twenty first century is, in my opinion, completely insane. And I refuse to follow cultural norms that don't flow with who God created me to be. That's one nice thing about being a little older. I don't care all that much what other people think of me, which definitely was NOT the case when I was a younger woman. But even without adding in all the extra stuff that many have deemed necessary in today's fast paced world, things still get busy. Just being a wife and mom and homeschooling and feeding people and going to church and appointments for my daughter with chronic health issues and doing laundry and taking a shower and all those millions of little things add up. And, of course, I have to have my weekly date with Jim as well as getting my daily bliss (though there have been a few times when the bliss didn't happen, but I really try to get it in most days because it just helps my joy quotient so much.)
Speaking of dates and daily bliss, yesterday I covered both by going to a movie with Jim. We both wanted to see Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo. Yes, we went without our kids! They can see it another time or when it comes out on DVD. Why would we do such an unthinkable thing???!!! Well, if we took the kids, that would have cost another $21 in movie tickets. Plus, we would have been more likely to end up buying snacks and drinks, and by then could easily have spent enough to feed half the world. Ok that's a little exaggeration, but seriously, have you SEEN what they charge for popcorn and drinks or how much two teens and a tween can eat? With just Jim and me we opted to skip the snacks and save our money for other things, like the mortgage. ;-) Besides, Jim had just taken the kids to the carnival the night before, so it's not like they didn't get to do anything this week. And a date means no kids. Jim and I liked the movie. How can anyone NOT like a Pixar film? But we didn't think it was as good as the first one. Then again, sequels usually aren't. I guess I don't really expect them to be. It's kind of a tall order to fill. The first is new and fresh. The second is just more of the story. The short before it was adorable too. But I pretty much like every Pixar short.
I'm working on getting my very messy, cluttered house clean. But it's too overwhelming to tackle at once. So I've been working on little bits as I can. It's a work in progress and will most likely take several weeks to get it up to speed. But that's OK. We just don't have people over. That way there's no pressure to do a maniacal 12 hour cleaning marathon. I can work at a saner pace. I'm doing pretty well on maintaining the things I've already started before tackling a new project. Not perfectly maintained, but well enough. I don't let anything go too long that I've already worked on. Today's project was picking up the living room, which was a huge undertaking. I didn't do any deep cleaning. Just picked up the surface areas. But even that made a big difference. It's nice to be able to walk through the room without tripping on stuff.
Last week we bought a new chandelier for the dining room. It's so pretty. It's clear plastic, but looks like crystal. I would love real crystal but don't have several hundred dollars available to spend, and this one is surprisingly nice looking with all it's faux crystal beads. Jim has it almost all put together. I'm hoping he can put on the final touches tomorrow, but I won't bug him too much since it IS Father's Day.
I also have decided I'm going to commit to losing approx 100 lbs. That's a lot of weight, but that's what it will take to get to the top of my ideal weight range. I would really like to get the gastric sleeve surgery since research shows that's the best option for both losing the weight and keeping it off for morbidly obese people like me. Morbidly obese. Isn't that just an awful sounding term? When I think of someone being morbidly obese, I picture them weighing like 700 lbs or something. I'm definitely a fat chick, but I can still walk through doors. I don't even have a double chin. Just one. Well, maybe like one and a half. But I guess that has more to do with the bone structure of my face being more angled than round. Cuz I seriously have seen thin girls with more face pudge than I have. But the funny thing is when I do start to lose weight, guess where the first place is. Yep, my face. I don't mind having a bit more slimness to my face, but it's really not my problem area. Why can't the fat on the belly or butt or hips or thighs go first? That's where 99 of those extra 100 lbs are sitting. But no, my face and chest shrink first. Go figure.
Anyway, so many people are anti surgery (right now that includes Jim) and want to tell me all the horror stories of people they know who had awful side effects or who gained the weight back. But I'm not looking at the surgery as an easy out. I get that I have to dramatically alter my diet and exercise patterns in order for the surgery to work. Yes, removing more then three quarters of your stomach is radical, but less so than needing brain surgery because of a stroke or quadruple bypass from heart disease. I think what a lot of people don't get is that morbid obesity is a disease, not just a lack of self discipline. Of course, food choices are a huge contributing factor. (Sorry couldn't resist the pun), but research is now showing it's a complex condition. Not all obese people are gigantic gluttons who eat constant boatloads of junk food all day long. Though we aren't paragons of nutritional virtue, a lot of us eat fairly close to what an average person who may be only somewhat overweight eats. But our body chemistry and physiology doesn't handle the food, especially carbs, as efficiently as a "normally" functioning system does, and we become insulin resistant, which leads to weight gain, which leads to further insulin resistance and packing on more pounds in a crazy vicious cycle. One which is very very hard to break through diet and exercise alone. The surgery helps to break that cycle by altering both the amount of food we can consume AND some of the physiology that makes our metabolism so inefficient.
So I'm planning to talk to Jim about taking just the next step, which is to meet with a bariatric nurse. It doesn't mean I have to get the surgery, though I do want to. I can say no at any step along the way up until they put me under, but I'm convinced this is most likely my best chance for success, and I think if I start the long process of working toward it, Jim will realize that as well.
Health matters and for me that means losing lots of weight, but whatever good health looks like in your case, I hope you make getting and maintaining it a high priority in your life and become as healthy as you can. Not crazy obsessed with some impossible standard, just being in good health so you can experience your own joyful second half.
Speaking of dates and daily bliss, yesterday I covered both by going to a movie with Jim. We both wanted to see Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo. Yes, we went without our kids! They can see it another time or when it comes out on DVD. Why would we do such an unthinkable thing???!!! Well, if we took the kids, that would have cost another $21 in movie tickets. Plus, we would have been more likely to end up buying snacks and drinks, and by then could easily have spent enough to feed half the world. Ok that's a little exaggeration, but seriously, have you SEEN what they charge for popcorn and drinks or how much two teens and a tween can eat? With just Jim and me we opted to skip the snacks and save our money for other things, like the mortgage. ;-) Besides, Jim had just taken the kids to the carnival the night before, so it's not like they didn't get to do anything this week. And a date means no kids. Jim and I liked the movie. How can anyone NOT like a Pixar film? But we didn't think it was as good as the first one. Then again, sequels usually aren't. I guess I don't really expect them to be. It's kind of a tall order to fill. The first is new and fresh. The second is just more of the story. The short before it was adorable too. But I pretty much like every Pixar short.
I'm working on getting my very messy, cluttered house clean. But it's too overwhelming to tackle at once. So I've been working on little bits as I can. It's a work in progress and will most likely take several weeks to get it up to speed. But that's OK. We just don't have people over. That way there's no pressure to do a maniacal 12 hour cleaning marathon. I can work at a saner pace. I'm doing pretty well on maintaining the things I've already started before tackling a new project. Not perfectly maintained, but well enough. I don't let anything go too long that I've already worked on. Today's project was picking up the living room, which was a huge undertaking. I didn't do any deep cleaning. Just picked up the surface areas. But even that made a big difference. It's nice to be able to walk through the room without tripping on stuff.
Last week we bought a new chandelier for the dining room. It's so pretty. It's clear plastic, but looks like crystal. I would love real crystal but don't have several hundred dollars available to spend, and this one is surprisingly nice looking with all it's faux crystal beads. Jim has it almost all put together. I'm hoping he can put on the final touches tomorrow, but I won't bug him too much since it IS Father's Day.
I also have decided I'm going to commit to losing approx 100 lbs. That's a lot of weight, but that's what it will take to get to the top of my ideal weight range. I would really like to get the gastric sleeve surgery since research shows that's the best option for both losing the weight and keeping it off for morbidly obese people like me. Morbidly obese. Isn't that just an awful sounding term? When I think of someone being morbidly obese, I picture them weighing like 700 lbs or something. I'm definitely a fat chick, but I can still walk through doors. I don't even have a double chin. Just one. Well, maybe like one and a half. But I guess that has more to do with the bone structure of my face being more angled than round. Cuz I seriously have seen thin girls with more face pudge than I have. But the funny thing is when I do start to lose weight, guess where the first place is. Yep, my face. I don't mind having a bit more slimness to my face, but it's really not my problem area. Why can't the fat on the belly or butt or hips or thighs go first? That's where 99 of those extra 100 lbs are sitting. But no, my face and chest shrink first. Go figure.
Anyway, so many people are anti surgery (right now that includes Jim) and want to tell me all the horror stories of people they know who had awful side effects or who gained the weight back. But I'm not looking at the surgery as an easy out. I get that I have to dramatically alter my diet and exercise patterns in order for the surgery to work. Yes, removing more then three quarters of your stomach is radical, but less so than needing brain surgery because of a stroke or quadruple bypass from heart disease. I think what a lot of people don't get is that morbid obesity is a disease, not just a lack of self discipline. Of course, food choices are a huge contributing factor. (Sorry couldn't resist the pun), but research is now showing it's a complex condition. Not all obese people are gigantic gluttons who eat constant boatloads of junk food all day long. Though we aren't paragons of nutritional virtue, a lot of us eat fairly close to what an average person who may be only somewhat overweight eats. But our body chemistry and physiology doesn't handle the food, especially carbs, as efficiently as a "normally" functioning system does, and we become insulin resistant, which leads to weight gain, which leads to further insulin resistance and packing on more pounds in a crazy vicious cycle. One which is very very hard to break through diet and exercise alone. The surgery helps to break that cycle by altering both the amount of food we can consume AND some of the physiology that makes our metabolism so inefficient.
So I'm planning to talk to Jim about taking just the next step, which is to meet with a bariatric nurse. It doesn't mean I have to get the surgery, though I do want to. I can say no at any step along the way up until they put me under, but I'm convinced this is most likely my best chance for success, and I think if I start the long process of working toward it, Jim will realize that as well.
Health matters and for me that means losing lots of weight, but whatever good health looks like in your case, I hope you make getting and maintaining it a high priority in your life and become as healthy as you can. Not crazy obsessed with some impossible standard, just being in good health so you can experience your own joyful second half.
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