Day 200 in my journey to Mickey
I’ve been on this quest for 200 days now. Wow! My plan for today was to weigh in and see where I am. I have now lost 40.8 pounds. I am so happy to reach the big 4-0 mark. Now to regroup and look back at what is working and what is not.
Things are amping up at work, so my posts may be brief for a bit. Thanks for hanging in there with me, dear readers.
Meet you at the Kingdom!
Day 199 in my quest to eat healthier on my way to meet Mickey (7 months and 20 days to go)
I am still emotionally exhausted from yesterday’s post, plus from hearing Aziz Abu Sarah speak. And it was may first day back at work today after 10 glorious days off. So I am pooped, wiped, tired, weary. So my plan for today was a basic one: make a simple, healthy dinner for Mike and I. Mission accomplished: we had baked salmon with a little sweet potato and lots of fresh veggies. My only garnish was a bit of oil-free garlic hummus. Then for a real treat, we had a couple of pickled asparagus each. We are full, sated, content and feeling very blessed.
Meet you at the Kingdom!
Day 197 in my meditating my way back into the world and toward Mickey
Well, it is the Saturday evening after a week’s vacation. I keep telling myself, “I have one more day of vacation; then it’s back to work on Monday morning.” But…I will go to worship tomorrow morning AND I will even go early to hear a guest speaker. His name is Aziz Abu Sarah, and he is a Palestinian living his life as a tour guide in the Holy Land, working for peace. See his bio below:
Impressive, right? He led a tour group from our church last October in Israel and Palestine. If you live in the area, come on over to St. James tomorrow at 9:30 am or 3:00 pm to hear Aziz. He is quite a guy, I’m told.
Anyway, that aside, I will be back at the church tomorrow, which just happens to be where I work. But I am ready. I really needed this week away. A week of rest and taking care of home/personal business. So my task for today is meditation and preparing myself to re-enter the world. I had 8 blissful days in which I didn’t even leave my house. I had all the down time I needed, and now I can go back to work and the world refreshed and ready to re-engage.
Meet you at the Kingdom!
BTW: The Discovery Channel is showing Disney programs again today. More opportunities to get fired up for our trip.
Day 195 in my fight to stay alive to meet up with Mickey
Survival of the fittest. It’s a reality in the wild, right? Those in the best shape survive; those less fit are devoured or meet their demise in some fashion. As an aging, obese woman, with some health issues, I come down on the losing side of the battle. I’m NOT the fittest. So my plan for today is to survive. We are in the throes of the coldest February 19 in recorded history here in the Chicago area. Our high temperature today is expected to be 4 degrees, our overnight low was 8 degrees below zero. Both of those figures are record breaking for February 19th in this area. Wind chills brought it into the 20’s below last night. That’s why my plan for today is to survive to fight to become a healthier me another day.
I can just hear my Yooper friends and family saying, “Cry me a river. It’s in the 40’s below here.” And they’re right. I know it’s worse north of here. I know it’s even colder than that in Canada. But I’m still shivering, and I won’t stop until the temps start to climb. (BTW: shivering is exercise, right?)
So am I dreaming about Walt Disney World today? You betcha! Even though it’s only in the 50’s there, it still sounds like paradise to me.
Meet you at the Kingdom!
Day 194 in my trudging toward Mickey
My plan for today is again…taking care of business. Three days later, I am still getting my taxes together. Two days later, I am still fighting a dodgy stomach. And I still have more laundry to do. Yesterday I spent most of the day sleeping, (or in the bathroom), between watching The Discovery Channel’s Disney programming. If I am struggling to get anything done when I’m on a “stay-cation,” then how do I get things done during a work week? Argh!
So I’m a little frustrated today, and I am hoping tomorrow is more productive.
Meet you at the Kingdom!
Day 193 in my trek toward Mickey
Today’s plan was decided for me. There were several hours of programs on TV about Walt Disney World and Disneyland to day. I consider it research for ideas for our trip in October. I had some other things planned for today, but after dinner last night I became ill. My stomach is upset. So today is a good day to be home, watch The Discovery Channel’s Disney programs, and eat very carefully.
Meet you at the Kingdom!
Day 192 in my ambling toward the Magic Kingdom to meet up with Mickey (7 months and 27 days to go)
There is nothing quite as delightful as sleeping in on a Monday morning of vacation. I had that pleasure this morning.
Today’s plan is to take care of business and to thoroughly enjoy NOT going out into the cold day.
Shower…check. Breakfast…check. Write bills for the month…check. Relax and watch a Disney movie with a sugar-free pumpkin flavored coffee…check. (I watched Bears on one of the movie channels. So good!) What a blissful day! Still to come: get our 2014 taxes together, do some laundry, and prepare a delicious, nutritious dinner for my man and me. Oh, yeah, and one more cup of piping-hot coffee in front of the TV with my feet up. (Take that , sore toe!)
Meet you at the Kingdom!
Day 191 in my seeking to be a healthier me when I meet Mickey (7 months and 28 days to go)
As an obese overeater, I have learned some very self-destructive behaviors. I learned early on to isolate myself, so that I could hide my poor eating habits. Alone, I could binge on my sugary treats to my heart’s content. Only my heart was never content, and I was always filled with self-loathing after I binged.
Now looking back I can see how strange that must sound. When your drug of choice is food (sugar and salty carbs in particular), it should be pretty obvious that you are going to gain weight and people who see you will pretty much be aware of your drug of choice. But at the time I felt I had to hide my poor eating habits from the public at large. (Excuse the pun.)
So part of my strategy, to break out of old patterns, is to become more sociable, to bring what I have hidden in darkness, out into the light. It’s a terrifying process, but it is a healthy process.
So today I got up and went to church. I worshipped the God that loves me and sees the beauty in me that I cannot truly yet see myself, and I visited with some other church family members. It was wonderful to share and to listen to these dear ladies share with me. There was First Communion today, and 12 fourth and fifth graders took their First Communion with their families. Beautiful! They used chalices that they had painted themselves and shared their cup with their family. (My favorite chalice was the one with the Cubs symbol on one side and a cross on the other side. LOL) BTW: I passed up the amazing looking cake that was there to celebrate with the kids today. Victory!
Then rather than going home and holing up for the rest of the day, I went and visited with my dear sister-friend, Joan. She is a bit homebound because of health issues and winter-itis. I had a wonderful, long visit Jo. We chatted about everything. She is my barefoot friend. The kind of friend that you can share anything with. Nothing is off limits. We’ve been through Curves together. We’ve been to Overeaters Anonymous together. We have seen so much together. She has seen me at my best and at my worst, and she loves me just the same. She is a living, breathing example of the love of God in my life. I came home feeling very blessed.
That’s it for today, dear readers. I pray that all is well with you and yours, and that you are able to spend time with the living God who loves you today. Meet you at the Kingdom!
Day 190 in my quest to be a better me when I meet Mickey
My Valentine is taking me out for dinner tonight, so today’s plan is to not overdo it. I plan to make the best choices possible. It is a holiday, so I will thoroughly enjoy our date. BUT I won’t use it as an excuse to overeat. Instead I want to concentrate on my man, our conversation, and just our quality time together. A simple enough plan for a simple enough me on a simple enough date.
Meet you at the Kingdom!
Day 189 in my journey to meet Mickey
Today is all about VD.
What? I only mean Valentine’s Day. My Valentine has been conscripted to spend tomorrow night and Sunday night housesitting. So tonight I made him the meal that helped him to fall in love with me. Meatloaf, baked potato, and lots of fresh veggies with his favorite, Ranch dip. Seriously, he LOVES my meatloaf. 🙂
I have adapted my recipe as follows: I now use 90% lean ground beef, onion, garlic, reduced-sugar catsup, yellow mustard, one egg, salt, pepper and moistened whole grain bread. It is such a satisfying meal on a cold winter’s night.
Tonight is all about pampering my main squeeze. (I made sure to run out and pick up a card for him for tomorrow morning.) He still makes my heart pitty-patter. He is the love of my life, second only to Jesus. 🙂
I am wishing you love for this holiday. And if you don’t have a Valentine this year, then treat yourself special. After all if we are supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves, then we’d better learn to love ourselves, right? Happy VD!
Meet you at the Kingdom!
donnasdestinationdisney 