I promised to post a few milestones on this journey - what I'm calling my "Last Chance Diet". My first milestone was giving up three food groups for Lent: bread, candy and alcohol. [What? Those aren't food groups?] This has been easier than I thought it would be - only with God's grace I know. Then, DH and I joined a fitness center at our church. Since both of us have been off this treadmill, so to speak, for a while now, it has been somewhat painful to start exercising again, to be sure. I also wanted to be diligent about writing down everything I ate, but hey, two out of three isn't bad, right?
The result: I've lost 12 lb. since the beginning of Lent. Now that's what I call a motivation! My next challenge is continuing my Lenten diet restrictions even after Easter. I plan on continuing at least until the fall family wedding, but I guess the real question is, can I make this a life-long commitment and should I? Specifically I'm asking, can I give up bread, candy and alcohol for the rest of my life? Should I? I can make arguments both for and against. If I can give them up for a season, surely I could learn to live without them forever, but do I need to be legalistic about it? I'm sure there are other things I should give up eating too.
One consideration is whether I can simply limit my intake of these things. For example, I knew when I gave up smoking in 1979 that I could not ever smoke even one cigarette again. I knew how addictive that habit was and that I would never be able to stop at one cigarette. I'm afraid the same might be true for at least two of the things I've given up for Lent! [Can you guess which two? Ha!]
One more thing that I will put in the "motivation" category - I was riding in the car with one of my grandsons about a month ago when I told him that I was giving up alcohol, among other things, for Lent. He immediately looked up at me with the biggest smile on his face and said, "That's what I've been praying for Gran."
Really? Really? How can I disappoint that boy? Sigh!
Friday, March 23, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Life's Lists
I've posted on the topic of "lists" before - in relation to New Year's resolutions and bucket lists for example. But lists aren't just something we make once a year are they? My DH keeps a running list of groceries to buy on a small post-it note next to the coffee maker. Certainly when I have a big event to plan [can you say "wedding"?] I really start making lists! But even when I'm just feeling overwhelmed with the number of things I need to do, I make a list and then try to prioritize my "to-dos" to help motivate me to start somewhere!
The reason I bring this up again is I just found the most wonderful website: Lists of Note. It is a website devoted to lists made by notable people and it is funny, profound, surprising, mundane - depending on the list and the list-maker. Here are a couple of examples:
Now unless we're famous our lists probably won't make it onto this website, but if you keep a journal and if you are in the habit of including lists in said journal, someone someday will probably read them. Don't you wonder what they will think?
A currently best-selling book called One Thousand Gifts [and the website by the same name], is described as "a celebration of grace and a recognition of the power of gratitude" and has inspired many people to contribute to online collaborative lists or to make their own. There is even an "App" for it! At the recent funeral for a good friend I learned that she was inspired by this book, and in the last few months of her life kept a list of all of the things for which she was grateful. Truly inspiring and as you might imagine humbling to hear the simple, everyday things that she knew were really important. And don't you know that her family is grateful to have this list and to be able to pass it down to children and grandchildren to help them remember an amazing woman?
If you don't need to make any lists at the moment, go check out the websites above for some inspiration, and happy list-making!
The reason I bring this up again is I just found the most wonderful website: Lists of Note. It is a website devoted to lists made by notable people and it is funny, profound, surprising, mundane - depending on the list and the list-maker. Here are a couple of examples:
- William Safire's Fumblerules of Grammar - rules of writing which are humorously self-contradictory.
- Woody Guthrie's illustrated New Years Rulin's for 1942.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald's list of Things to Worry About [and things not to worry about] written to his 11 year old daughter Scottie.
- Wartime Golf Rules - an incredible list of rules at the Richmond Golf Club in England during the Battle of Britain. The first rule is "Players are asked to collect Bomb and Shrapnel splinters to save these causing damage to the mowing machines." They get better!
Now unless we're famous our lists probably won't make it onto this website, but if you keep a journal and if you are in the habit of including lists in said journal, someone someday will probably read them. Don't you wonder what they will think?
A currently best-selling book called One Thousand Gifts [and the website by the same name], is described as "a celebration of grace and a recognition of the power of gratitude" and has inspired many people to contribute to online collaborative lists or to make their own. There is even an "App" for it! At the recent funeral for a good friend I learned that she was inspired by this book, and in the last few months of her life kept a list of all of the things for which she was grateful. Truly inspiring and as you might imagine humbling to hear the simple, everyday things that she knew were really important. And don't you know that her family is grateful to have this list and to be able to pass it down to children and grandchildren to help them remember an amazing woman?
If you don't need to make any lists at the moment, go check out the websites above for some inspiration, and happy list-making!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
There's Never Enough Time
We say it all the time, "There are just not enough hours in the day," or "Where did the time go," or my personal favorite "I'm sorry, I'd love to help you but I just don't have the time right now." Time is money, time is fleeting, time is a human construction, well not time so much as clocks.
So what if you had more time? What would you do with it? I thought about that a lot last year when I retired. So much more time. What would I do with all that extra time? Ha! Well, do you know what today is? It represents 24 hours more in 2012 than you had in 2011, and you've already wasted seven hours of that! [Speaking for myself, of course.]
I saw a reference to this the other day on the Internet, but I can't remember where. Something about people planning to do some one special thing on this day, February 29, 2012 that they might not have done yesterday, something they had been meaning to do and just hadn't gotten around to doing. I think in this case it was about driving to an old home place that they remembered from their childhood but had not visited in decades.
It did get me thinking about time and more specifically this day in time. I feel like I should do something special. I don't want to let this extra day slip away. I don't want to treat it like a normal day, like yesterday or tomorrow. This day is special; it's a gift that we only get once every four years after all.
What should I do? Should I call a friend that I haven't spoken to in months or one I haven't touched base with in years? Should I go to a park, take some time to smell the roses, so to speak? Should I make a special meal or bake some bread for a neighbor? Should I make a pledge not to turn on the TV today, to read a book instead; or practice the piano, or tackle a big project I've been putting off?
So many choices. And then I thought - I have those choices to make every day, not just today. Every morning that I wake up in this world, I have the choice to do the same thing I did yesterday or to do something different, something special. Something that, if I didn't do it, I might regret it.
We know that our days on the earth are numbered, and, if you believe the Bible, that God knows the span of our lives. I'm pretty sure that He has even taken into account all those February 29ths, no matter what His calendar looks like.
But I still think today would be a good day to do something different - then again, so would tomorrow!
I saw a reference to this the other day on the Internet, but I can't remember where. Something about people planning to do some one special thing on this day, February 29, 2012 that they might not have done yesterday, something they had been meaning to do and just hadn't gotten around to doing. I think in this case it was about driving to an old home place that they remembered from their childhood but had not visited in decades.
It did get me thinking about time and more specifically this day in time. I feel like I should do something special. I don't want to let this extra day slip away. I don't want to treat it like a normal day, like yesterday or tomorrow. This day is special; it's a gift that we only get once every four years after all.
What should I do? Should I call a friend that I haven't spoken to in months or one I haven't touched base with in years? Should I go to a park, take some time to smell the roses, so to speak? Should I make a special meal or bake some bread for a neighbor? Should I make a pledge not to turn on the TV today, to read a book instead; or practice the piano, or tackle a big project I've been putting off?
So many choices. And then I thought - I have those choices to make every day, not just today. Every morning that I wake up in this world, I have the choice to do the same thing I did yesterday or to do something different, something special. Something that, if I didn't do it, I might regret it.
We know that our days on the earth are numbered, and, if you believe the Bible, that God knows the span of our lives. I'm pretty sure that He has even taken into account all those February 29ths, no matter what His calendar looks like.
But I still think today would be a good day to do something different - then again, so would tomorrow!
Friday, February 24, 2012
The Diet - Motivations and Milestones
Ok, so I've posted about my need and desire to lose weight and the fact that my son is getting married in October being my prime motivation - this year anyway! I figured out that I have 33 weeks until the big day.
I was also motivated in the short-run by the fact that the season of Lent started this week. A perfect time to start a diet. I couldn't decide what to give up for Lent - alcohol, bread, candy - so I gave up all three! A bit of an over-reach, maybe, but it speaks to my seriousness about this diet! Instead of alcohol, I try to reach for water or diet iced tea; instead of bread, vegetables or salad; and instead of candy, fruit. So far - almost 3 days - and I've stuck with it! Now, that doesn't mean I have eaten only things that are good for me. I did eat some Girl Scout cookies and a few corn chips, but . . . NO alcohol, NO bread, NO candy. Woo hoo!!
If, and this is a big if, I can get through six weeks of Lent sticking to this diet, it will be a huge jump-start to the other 27 weeks. In the meantime, I'm spending a lot of time looking for recipes and menu ideas that I know I will eat. You can actually find a lot of great recipes - even healthy ones - on Pinterest. I'm also seeing a lot of beautiful people and beautiful clothes there which is definitely motivating me to stay on this diet.
UPDATE: This post on my diet mentions in passing the practice of giving up things, in this case food, for Lent. I've actually only done this a few times in my life, almost always it was for a very 'temporal' reason, such as a diet. As an adult Christian I've become more aware of the 'spiritual' reasons behind this practice. In addition to giving up certain food items, I am also trying to pray more often, to meditate on the ultimate sacrifice of our Lord and to recognize that it is only with God's help that I will be successful in this and all other endeavors. I'm no theologian and my understanding of the season of Lent may be simplistic but I think the ultimate goal of these six weeks for me is to focus on God not self. Do you observe Lent? If so, how?
I was also motivated in the short-run by the fact that the season of Lent started this week. A perfect time to start a diet. I couldn't decide what to give up for Lent - alcohol, bread, candy - so I gave up all three! A bit of an over-reach, maybe, but it speaks to my seriousness about this diet! Instead of alcohol, I try to reach for water or diet iced tea; instead of bread, vegetables or salad; and instead of candy, fruit. So far - almost 3 days - and I've stuck with it! Now, that doesn't mean I have eaten only things that are good for me. I did eat some Girl Scout cookies and a few corn chips, but . . . NO alcohol, NO bread, NO candy. Woo hoo!!
If, and this is a big if, I can get through six weeks of Lent sticking to this diet, it will be a huge jump-start to the other 27 weeks. In the meantime, I'm spending a lot of time looking for recipes and menu ideas that I know I will eat. You can actually find a lot of great recipes - even healthy ones - on Pinterest. I'm also seeing a lot of beautiful people and beautiful clothes there which is definitely motivating me to stay on this diet.
UPDATE: This post on my diet mentions in passing the practice of giving up things, in this case food, for Lent. I've actually only done this a few times in my life, almost always it was for a very 'temporal' reason, such as a diet. As an adult Christian I've become more aware of the 'spiritual' reasons behind this practice. In addition to giving up certain food items, I am also trying to pray more often, to meditate on the ultimate sacrifice of our Lord and to recognize that it is only with God's help that I will be successful in this and all other endeavors. I'm no theologian and my understanding of the season of Lent may be simplistic but I think the ultimate goal of these six weeks for me is to focus on God not self. Do you observe Lent? If so, how?
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
It Is Written
So does anyone ever actually write anything anymore? Not type, but write - in longhand? I believe I read recently that some educators were recommending that cursive writing no longer be taught in school. Could that be true?
I "wrote" [actually I "typed"] a letter to a friend the other day. I knew it was going to be a long letter and I didn't feel like writing it out. I hate to make mistakes and then have to cross out words. You don't have to do that with word processors. So, we tweet, text, post on Facebook and comment on blogs; we email, communicate online with people we know and people we don't know. Handwritten notes, even thank you notes? Please! An email will do. Some people even have their names printed on Christmas cards. They don't even include a personal handwritten "Merry Christmas".
I thought about this recently because I'm in a Bible study on the New Testament book of James and one of our assignments over the course of the study is to write out in longhand the entire book of James. Now it's only 5 relatively short chapters. It's not like we were asked to do this exercise with the Psalms or anything! I do a little bit each week. I'm not rushing, but I'm not exactly being meticulous either, and yes, I have crossed out one mistake already! Rats!!
What has made this exercise especially interesting is the fact that there is an exhibit in town called "Passages". Coinciding with the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, this is an exhibit tracing the history of the Bible as it exists today. It includes such antiquities as Torah scrolls, early Biblical papyri and manuscripts. Highlights of the exhibit are a fragment of the Dead Sea Scroll, some of the earliest surviving scriptures in Greek manuscripts, a Wycliffe New Testament and early rare translations from many countries prior to the presence of movable typeset printing in the west. There is a full-scale reproduction of Gutenberg's printing press, a first edition of "Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, a handwritten letter by Martin Luther, and many other manuscripts, rare books and first edition Bibles.
Equally fascinating is the fact that the exhibit includes interactive rooms from many different periods of history where young and old alike can try their hand at scribal writing, copying scripture by candlelight; and typesetting. [This is a brief overview of the Passages exhibit and I encourage you to check it out on-line if you would like to know more.]
I'm looking forward to seeing the exhibit and I'm even more excited for my grandchildren to see it. I want them to know the painstaking effort and commitment that went into recording and preserving the spoken word before there was such a thing as a printing press, much less a computer. With any luck, maybe cursive writing will be taught and practiced for at least another generation or two.
Friday, January 20, 2012
About Those New Year's Resolutions
No, I haven't broken any of my resolutions - yet, but I have had to re-think them. It's amazing how much life can change in just a few weeks. What seemed so important just before Christmas, now takes a backseat to other more pressing concerns. One child gets sick, one loses his job and another almost loses his as well. Lots of reasons to be on my knees these days. But in the midst of bad news comes happiness too as I learn that I am finally going to be the "Mother of the Groom" sometime later this year!! So back to those New Year's Resolutions . . .
One of them was to "spend less". That will be important right up until the time we start having to help pay for a wedding!! Another was to "eat less". Now can I just say that this particular resolution has become, as it must, my only real goal for 2012! If a son's wedding can't motivate me nothing can, right?
I'm sharing this, not because I intend to keep a weight loss journal here. [I know you're relieved about that.] But I do need all the encouragement I can get - even if it's just from my imaginary friends out there on the Internet. Writing about this just might be the one way I can be accountable to, well, to myself. So I may share some insights and some milestones, some stumbling blocks and some tips. Who knows, I may even share some recipes! But don't worry, the one thing I won't share - pictures!!
One of them was to "spend less". That will be important right up until the time we start having to help pay for a wedding!! Another was to "eat less". Now can I just say that this particular resolution has become, as it must, my only real goal for 2012! If a son's wedding can't motivate me nothing can, right?
I'm sharing this, not because I intend to keep a weight loss journal here. [I know you're relieved about that.] But I do need all the encouragement I can get - even if it's just from my imaginary friends out there on the Internet. Writing about this just might be the one way I can be accountable to, well, to myself. So I may share some insights and some milestones, some stumbling blocks and some tips. Who knows, I may even share some recipes! But don't worry, the one thing I won't share - pictures!!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Resolved . . .
Have you made any New Year's resolutions yet? I know, it's not even Christmas, but I have to spend at least as much time pondering what resolutions I want to make as it takes me to break those resolutions - about a week.
Last year I had a three page list of resolutions. I remember exactly 3 of them: read more, call my good friends regularly and get more sleep. I do think I've worked on that last one most diligently.
I'm pretty sure that another one had to do with losing weight and getting in better shape. After all, what self-respecting American woman doesn't have that on her to-do list every year? This year I'm paring down my list considerably: spend less, eat less and get more sleep - hey, I've heard that the sleep thing is really important!
Along the same lines as a list of resolutions for the New Year is another list that has become popular in the last few years, a "Bucket List." Have you made one of those? I only have one recommendation, make this list when you are young and stand a better than even chance of accomplishing the things on your list. It's not that there aren't some wild and crazy things I'd like to do at my advanced age, but I realize that the chance of doing most of them is rapidly decreasing.
But I'll share a couple of mine with you. I'd like to go on a cruise - my DH wants to go to Alaska, but I don't care where the boat is going as long as it brings me back to dry land eventually. I'd also like to drive across the USofA, and I'd like to take my grandchildren someplace they've never been before - an adventure for all of us. See, those things aren't too wild and crazy. Once upon a time I did want to parachute out of an airplane but not so much now. I consider that one definite advantage of getting older - getting wiser!
Last year I had a three page list of resolutions. I remember exactly 3 of them: read more, call my good friends regularly and get more sleep. I do think I've worked on that last one most diligently.
I'm pretty sure that another one had to do with losing weight and getting in better shape. After all, what self-respecting American woman doesn't have that on her to-do list every year? This year I'm paring down my list considerably: spend less, eat less and get more sleep - hey, I've heard that the sleep thing is really important!
Along the same lines as a list of resolutions for the New Year is another list that has become popular in the last few years, a "Bucket List." Have you made one of those? I only have one recommendation, make this list when you are young and stand a better than even chance of accomplishing the things on your list. It's not that there aren't some wild and crazy things I'd like to do at my advanced age, but I realize that the chance of doing most of them is rapidly decreasing.
But I'll share a couple of mine with you. I'd like to go on a cruise - my DH wants to go to Alaska, but I don't care where the boat is going as long as it brings me back to dry land eventually. I'd also like to drive across the USofA, and I'd like to take my grandchildren someplace they've never been before - an adventure for all of us. See, those things aren't too wild and crazy. Once upon a time I did want to parachute out of an airplane but not so much now. I consider that one definite advantage of getting older - getting wiser!
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