Tag Archives: Facebook

2017 Goals, Uncategorized

Waiting for Weight

8 Comments

I heard on one of the doctor TV shows last week that a study shows that it is a good idea to weigh yourself every day. Apparently this way you keep honest with yourself about your eating habits and your exercise regime. I think this is a great idea for those who are at or near their healthy weight.

However, for those of us who are big girls (boys), it may not be the very best idea. Case in point, I have been scared straight (no disrespect to the Scared Straight program) by my last visit to my family physician and by my recent diagnosis of diabetes. So a week ago today, I began paying very close attention to the variety of healthy foods that I am eating and especially to the portions of said food. I bought a Fitbit Alta HR which let’s me know by vibrating on my wrist, when I’ve been sitting too long. So to make a long story short (I know, too late. 😉 My habits have changed drastically for the better.

Because I heard that it would be good to weigh myself every day, I did so.  First five day? Down, down, down more than ten pounds, which may give you an idea of how very much I have to lose. News flash: well over 100 pounds to get to a healthy weight.

Yesterday, my weight stayed the same. Today I am up six tenths of a pound. Now my usual reaction to a gain has been to say, “Well, crap, what use is it to even try!” Then I would go to the nearest sweets outlet and gorge on cakes and candies. Since I have been scared straight, that is no longer an option. Now I am faced with a conundrum. Do I keep weighing myself every day, and find a new coping mechanism for dealing with temporary weight gains? Or do I weigh myself less often, weekly or monthly, so I’m not faced with that possible problem daily? I’d really like to check in with friend Wayno. He is a family physician/general practitioner (I don’t know the difference.) I might just have to give him a jingle this week. If I do, I’ll let you know what he thinks. In the meantime, please weigh in (excuse the pun, with a nod to Linda Vallier who tickles us everyday on Facebook with a new pun) with your weighing habits. Every day? Or somewhat less often?

Thank you faithful Readers! It means a lot that you read these.

Donna     PS: Thank you to my son Jake and daughter-in-love Eliza for the iPhone accessories for early Mother’s Day. How fun! A personal fan that connects to my phone, which is gonna be so great in church this summer and a karaoke mic that works with my phone. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! I already sent my daughter Emi and grandbaby Ida a video of me singing Happy Little Working Song from the movie Everlasting. This thing is a blast!

Advertisement
Uncategorized

Fangirl

Leave a comment

Day 286 on my way to hug Mickey in October

Today’s goal was to be as productive as possible during my four hours at work while trying to listen to my body and slow down as necessary.  I did work very hard today, but I pushed it a bit too far again.  I’m starting to wonder, if I’m ever going to be able to work a full day.  I am exhausted!  Yet I am encouraged, too.  It feels good to do normal things a bit more.  I will keep praying for patience and for strength to see me through.

I want to share about some absolutely fun greeting cards that I found.  There was a blurb on Facebook about them, so I clicked to take a look.  They are by Emily McDonald.  Google her to take a look.  Some are a bit too racy for me, but some I love!  For example:

  1. One more chemo down! Let’s celebrate with whatever doesn’t taste disgusting.
  2. You’re like a sister to me. Except I never hate you.
  3. I promise never to refer to your illness as a journey. Unless someone takes you on a cruise.
  4. Well, this just sucks.  I wish I had a better way to say it, but my brain feels totally stuck right now.  But I just want you to know that even though I might not always have exactly the right words, you will always have me.  I’m not going anywhere.  So I hope you’re cool with that.  Because I love you.

Fun, right?  She sells bags and other things, too.  I’m a fan!

Meet you at the Kingdom!

Uncategorized

What a Pollyanna!

2 Comments

Day 282 in my attitude adjustment, as I try to grow, while I wait to meet up with Mickey Mouse at Magic Kingdom in October

Today my plan was to get up and go to church. I planned to open my heart to whatever God had for me there; whatever healing, whatever mercy, whatever message, whatever.  I went; God showed up, as he promises to do every time.  I am feeling blessed.

I want to share a saying I saw on FaceBook and Pinterest today: “I really just want to be the warm yellow light that pours out all over everyone I love.”  It is credited to Melissa Garcia from her Pinterest site called Quotes and Things.  Check it out.  I looked at her Pinterest site for 20 seconds and I was hooked.  I am now a follower.

“I really just want to be the warm yellow light that pours out all over everyone I love.”  I love this!  I hope and pray to be that for those I love.  I have some GREAT examples in my life: my brother Gene and his lovely wife Patsy, my cousin Lyn, my daughter Emi, my friend Shelly and many more. They have a gift for seeing the positive side of things, of seeing the good beyond the bad.  They are real silver lining, glass half-full people in my life and I am so grateful for them!

I know there are those who would say, “What a Pollyanna attitude!  What a bunch of Pollyannas!”  Have you every seen the Disney movie, Pollyanna?  It’s such a great portrait of what a positive attitude can do in life.  Here’s what Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has to say about it: “A young girl comes to an embittered town and confronts its attitude with her determination to see the best in life.”  Holy wah!  Is that cool, or what?  The movie has a great cast including: Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman and Richard Egan.  Check it out, if you can find it.  I love it, and will watch it again soon.

So I have decided to own being a Pollyanna.  I am going to revel in it.  I am going to wallow in it.  From now on, I choose to believe the best about people and about situations.  God can use every person and every situation to His glory.  I claim it, and I believe it.

Jump on this bandwagon with me, dear readers.  Let’s let God be the light that shines through us to others.  Woop woop!

Meet you at the Kingdom!

Uncategorized

Addictive Sugar

2 Comments

Day 281 in my sugar battle on my way to Mickey

Today I want to think about my personal addiction: sugar. I came across something on FaceBook and Pinterest today.  It said, “FOOD is the most abused anxiety drug. EXERCISE is the most underutilized antidepressant.”  That one hit me right between the eyes. That has been my life-song in a nutshell.  God is walking me through this painful process of withdrawal from my addiction.  280 days ago when I began making a conscious effort to eliminate (as much as possible) sugar from my diet, I went through a week of headaches, fuzzy-headedness and some mild nausea.  It was not fun facing daily life without my drug, and for awhile I experienced some very scary lows.  Now I know chemically my blood sugar was trying to adjust, but at the time it felt like the lows of depression.  I wondered if I could gut it out.  But by the grace of God and with his help, I got through those early days.  My sugar addiction truly is an addiction, because some days it’s even too hard to take it a day at a time.  Sometimes I have to tell myself, “For the next hour, I won’t eat any sugar,” or “For the next ten minutes, I won’t eat any sugar.”  And then I have to tell myself that again and again and again.

Last week on the Today Show, they said that Americans are eating three times the daily recommended amount of sugar.  We are consuming twice as much sugar in a day as we were in the 70’s.  They went on to say that too much sugar leads to heart disease in adults, and it leads to diabetes in kids.  And doctors are finding a large rise in non-alcoholic, fatty liver disease.  These statistics were from added sugars only, not fruit sugars.

Isn’t that astounding?!?  There is so much sugar being added to our foods to enhance the taste that it is making us sick.  Sheesh!

Those of you who have been following for a while now, know that my dad was a high-functioning alcoholic.  He did a terrible number on his liver, because of his alcohol consumption.  I was so determined not to do the same, and so to this day I rarely take a drink. I have seen what alcohol can do to a home, and I was determined to not raise my kids in that environment.  YET, I did exactly that.  My liver numbers are good, but I was basically doing my best to destroy it with sugar.  And my household was just as affected by addiction.  My dad hid booze; I hid candy.  My dad would look for ways to drink in private; I would look for ways to eat massive quantities of sugary foods in private.  Same thing all over again.  I was so busy trying to avoid his addiction, that I ignored my own to my body’s detriment.

Whew!  Kinda heavy today.  But it’s all cathartic, and I always feel better when I get these thoughts out and quit harboring them.

Thanks for reading! Meet you at the Kingdom!

Uncategorized

Resources for Disney Research

Leave a comment

Day 45 in my travels toward all things Theme Park, but especially Mickey

Today’s plan was to do some more research.  There was a really interesting post on Facebook today by TouringPlans, called “A Guide to Walt Disney World Attraction Vehicles and Seating: Magic Kingdom.”  It describes all the seating at all the attractions in the Magic Kingdom Park.  It makes it easier to decide which attractions to try and which to pass.

I highly recommend TouringPlans.  It costs to subscribe, however, you can check on historical attendance dates.  So say I want to go to EPCOT on the 5th of October.  It will show how busy EPCOT has been on October 5th for several years back.  And it shows the same info for the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  And there is a lot more information there, too.

Also, Disneyphiles, I super-highly recommend WDW Magazine which is available as an app.  Again there is a subscription fee, but it is amazing!  I just watched the entire train ride for Hogwarts Express at Universal Studios, and the Mickey’s-Not-So-Scary Halloween Party Parade.  Just the best!

That’s is for today.  But I am still off sugar, moving more and making the best, healthiest food choices that I can.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

Uncategorized

NO MORE FEAR!

4 Comments

Day 43 in my charge to meet Mickey

Confession time again.  There’s just something about Sunday’s that bring out the confessions.  Hmmm…  I did pull off yesterday’s three phase plan and even added some extra minutes on my feet at Walgreens.  It felt good.  However, what I wanted to do yesterday was to go and work at the AJ Katzenmaier Back to School Carnival in North Chicago.  St. James pairs with some other churches to bring some support to the staff and kids at a school in North Chicago, which is an economically challenged town.  I was determined to go and work the carnival this year.  But when it came time to go and do it, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to stand up long enough to be of any help.  Sad, but true.  My fear stopped me.  That makes me downright angry!  I let my fear stop me.  NO MORE.  The next time I want to try to do something, dang it, I’m going for it!  If I run out of steam in the middle of something, then that’s just too bad.  I’ll stand there and sweat and pant until I recover, and then I’ll keep on keeping on.  I’m done being afraid.  The bible says, “Perfect love casts out all fear.”  I know Him.  I know that perfect love, and I claim it right now in my life.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Now today’s plan: I planned my weekly menu and went and shopped for the ingredients.  BTW: Have you seen the Roasted Cauliflower recipe going around on Facebook?  It looks amazing!  That is definitely in my future.  Emi, let’s try it when you’re here, OK?  And I might try to squeeze in a little walk today, just to get out there and   breathe some fresh air.  (20 minutes a day walking in the sun for vitamin D, right Wayno?)

Love to you all, dear readers.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

 

Uncategorized

Magic Band Mayhem

2 Comments

Day 40 in my dance toward Mickey

Forty days, wow!  I can hardly believe it’s been 40 days/posts already!  To celebrate, I did something fun today.  My plan for today was to research the Magic Band.  This is the latest thing in Disney World. When you make your reservation to stay on property, each person in your reservation gets a Magic Band.  You wear it on your wrist like a watch.  Then when you hold it up to certain things, magic happens.  Here’s what it does:

  1. Unlocks the door of your Disney Resort hotel room
  2. Let’s you enter Disney Theme Parks
  3. Checks you in at FastPass+ entrances
  4. Charges food and merchandise purchases to your Disney Resort hotel room.

And you can:

  1. Choose your color (pink, blue, red, green, orange, gray, yellow)
  2. Accessorize it with MagicSliders, MagicBandits, CoverBands  (I have to research this a little more)
  3. Seek specialty bands (like Mickey’s-Not-So-Scary-Halloween bands)
  4. Attach it to Memory Maker, so any photos taken at the parks are linked to it.

How cool is that?  Now I have to figure out how to make our 3 FastPass+ selections for each day we are there.  And all six of us won’t necessarily want to do the same rides/parades/fireworks/meals, so how does that work?  There is still much to discover.  I will keep reading up on it all.

Thank you to Disney Vacation Tips on Pinterest and Facebook for the info shared above.

Meet you at the Kingdom!