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.
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