Wait...what?!

Hold the phone....

I have a blog?!

Yup, and it's about time I start using it.

Wednesday Weigh-in

yes, I know...it's not Wednesday anymore but I didn't have a chance to update yesterday.

I've been sick with a cough/runny nose/sore throat/headache for a week now. My little girl and husband both have it. We've just been a ball of snot around here. I thought I was on the mend Sunday but I woke up feeling worse than ever on Monday. Yuck. It's for the birds. Sickness combined with my daughter's refusal (mostly due to coughing while laying flat) to nap lead to a very occupied yesterday. I'm going to the Dr's this morning so I thought I would take a minute to update.

Being sick for an entire week has not given me the golden opportunity for exercise. I set my alarm last Wednesday for 5:30 a.m. with my running shoes, Ipod and jogging clothes laid out. I woke up at 5:30 a.m., not to run, however, but to down the coldest beverage I could find and pop a throat lozenge in my mouth. This past week has only allowed me to exercise once: a 3 mile walk in which the entire last half was spent hacking up my lung. If you drive by I'm sure it's still laying on the side of the road.

Barely any exercise combined with a loss of appetite (the ONE good thing about being sick) has led to a loss of....drumroll, please....

3 pounds!

While I have been conscious of my food intake and purposefully making better decisions, I didn't anticipate such a loss with ONLY my diet changing and NO exercise. Huh. Dually noted.

Well, I'm off the to the Docs. Hopefully I will recover from this funk and get my butt moving again soon. :)

Wednesday Weigh-in/Sabotage

Monday's post on freedom came a week late. I never "recovered" from vacation. In fact, my weight has increased, yet again, by

:wait for it:

.

.

.
.
.
.

+.4 pounds.

My action plan now? Stop talking and start doing! I make such great plans in my mind and create these goals that, when I don't achieve them, plunge me into a deep pit of self-pity and failure. I have yet to grasp the concept of picking myself up again. I start the race (weight loss journey) with a BANG! ...then fall...then stumble..crawl..lay there for awhile until I am utterly fed up with myself (and the amount of weight I've gained back after I fell in the first place) and I get back up again and...well, just refer to the start of the race.

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I have been reflecting on this past summer and a word for this weight loss journey/quest to be healthy/"stop eating & start moving you goober tard" journey came to mind.

sabotage

Consequently the song by the same name (Beastie Boys) has been stuck in my head, too. I just familiarized myself with the lyrics and they aren't 'PG' so beware if you listen to it.

Spring was great. I lost the bulk of the 30 pounds in spring. Jogging became enjoyable doable, and my longest jogging time peaked at 25 minutes. I still ate a lot of what I wanted, but I balanced it out with veggies, fruit and water. BUT Summer is another story. It's not even in the same book as Spring, that's how night and day these seasons have been for me in regards to weight-loss. The end result of summer is a weight gain of about 8-9 pounds and me jogging only a hand full of times. I let go of my grip on reality and decided not to care. Wow. How horrible is that written down in plain black and white? I sabotaged my previous efforts.

I have nothing further to write about it, however. I just thought I'd share the word that came to mind when I thought of summer.

Oh, who am I kidding? I do have one further thing to say and it can be summed up in one word also:

AUTUMN!

Freedom

Can I just say how I've been feeling?

Tired.
Like a failure.
Stuck.

This past week my 2 year old was sick and therefore kept me up at all odd hours of the night. Not joking. Sometimes I was up at EVERY odd numbered hour of the night with her. My priority was not what went into my body. Each bite was a conscious decision and I chose to eat what I knew my mind wanted not what my body needed. Do you understand me? My sleep deprived, food addicted mind wanted sugar, which it associates with comfort, while my body was pleading for fuel to combat the fatigue and renew me.

We've been in Hebrews 12 for the last 2 Sundays. "...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.." This verse is meant to be figurative but to me holds such a literal meaning. My sin is my weight-my lack of self control-my addiction and lust for food. I've struggled with it for so long and every time I "lay it aside" I turn around and, for whatever reason, pick it back up again. It is my "sin which so easily ensnares".

I've prayed for freedom. But what is freedom? And how am I truly expecting to see it? What examples of God's greatness am I going to use to TRUST that He is fully capable and willing to free me?

The Cross.

Oh, the cross. The wonderful cross. What happened at the cross? Jesus paid ALL debts of sin. ALL SIN! Including reoccurring ones. God became man and sacrificed Himself...

But it doesn't stop there. Oh, no.

The Grave.

God became man and sacrificed himself for my freedom. He paid my debt on the cross and he DEFEATED MY SIN, YOUR SIN AND DEATH when He rose again! He has the victory over sin! He has already CONQUERED this sin that I keep picking back up, if only I would just lay it down and leave it. He purchased my freedom on the cross and obliterated the power of sin by rising again.

I never really understood, the way I do right now, the POWER that came with the resurrection ...the power over death and sin-the power over my ensnaring sin.

Straight from my journal: Sin has no power where Jesus is. Jesus conquered the grave and the thing that leads to death-sin! Because Jesus has already bought my freedom with His blood am I, through Him, going to be able to conquer this. There is freedom!

Homekeeper's Journal: Home

My kitchen would be more inviting if ………….it was CLEAN! Dishes are like the thing that never goes away. There always seem to be a pile of dirty dishes, no matter how many times I wash them. I also would love to see more greenery in my kitchen.

My best tip for making a home seem more welcoming ….. sad, but I don't know that I have any "best tips". I suppose my best tip would be to wear a smile. Your attitude and personality make up a home--what's more welcoming than a smile?

To give the feeling of warmth in my home I often ….. crank up the heat. HA! I guess I don't really give the *feeling* of warmth, I just give warmth! I also like all sorts of scented candles (peppermint, apple pie, pumpkin pie, coffee)

In the cooler months, it is essential for me to ….. wear fun, cozy socks! Winter is great through the first snow but after that I'm ready to see green again. Little things like fun socks, festive undies (oh yeah, I went there) and lots of scarves are necessary to my sanity. Plus, when your feet are covered in plush frogs it's easier to forget about the joy of flip-flops.

Some favorite Autumn/Winter recipes are ….. pumpkin roll, veggie chili, loaded baked potatoes, chicken and dumplins, clam chowder, chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, lasagna...pretty much anything warm and, potentially, gooey

A Quick Tip for making your house more inviting …… pull back the curtains and let in the natural sunlight. To me, pulling back the curtains is like having an ever changing landscape canvas right in your room.

To join in go here: Christian Homekeeper's Network

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Sorry for the lack of weigh in this week and last. Vacation was last week (woot!) and I've got a super sick little girl at home so I'm focusing on her...that and I *jumped*, not fell, off the wagon again :(

I'm just having a bit of a hard time staying on the wagon..and staying motivated. But I don't want to depress or drag anyone else down so I'll leave it at that.