Fabulous Friday

Success!!!  I went the whole day yesterday counting calories and stayed under my target amount in order to "lose" weight.  I didn't get hungry and snack.  I talked myself out of those "you want to eat ________"....(I will not fill in the blanks because one Grainiac said she starts craving whatever item I post....so for you- fill in your own blanks! LOL).  I drank water when "something else" was calling me.  Since I have kicked my diet coke habit (I really have!  I don't crave it at all and since I've been without since July 23, I don't want to break it.), I am drinking Sonic's diet cherry limeade. Oh yum.  Now that I'm counting calories I went to their website and found out a small diet cherry limeade has 14 calories....a route 44--  26 calories!!!!!  So I will start packing my own afternoon drinks from now on, thank you very much, Sonic for making a great alternative to my diet coke addiction and adding a bajillion calories to it!!!!! 

Note: it's calorie free and sparkling!!!

 I'm running late....what's new....so I'll post more about my calorie counting later.  I survived the time-warp Thursday.  Have a fabulous Friday, Grainiacs!

Time-Warp Thursday

I remember a time long years ago when a (wo)man wanted to lose weight they counted calories.  Do you remember that?  It got me to thinking this morning while I was showering:  have we lost something now that diet programs are too easy and we don't have to work as hard at losing weight?  For some reason putting ON the weight is super easy.  Taking it off?  Not so much.

So for today and for the rest of the week (hopefully, Grainiacs) I will go back to the archaic way of counting calories AND writing down what I eat.  Wish me luck.  Traveling in my time machine will be dangerous.  If you don't hear from me again it's because I'm stuck in the 60's and we didn't have home computers and internet and blogs back then OR I'm curled up in the corner with a box of chocolates!

Oliver prefers to receive the attention!

A book to read on my journey.  Not as exciting as 50 shades of grey- which I haven't read-  yet!

Wonderful Wednesday morning

In keeping with the alliteration, it WILL be a Wonderful Wednesday.  Today our ladies are having their Christmas in August brunch.  The whole fellowship hall is decorated in red and green and evergreens and Christmas plates and decorations.  It isn't quite up to the wonderful winter wonderland we have during Advent and Christmas but it does knock down the temperature a notch looking at Christmas things.

Every year, a speaker comes to give us an update on a community program called SoleMates. Not to toot our own horn but our church ladies have matched dollar for dollar what the SoleMates group collects.  When it first started we donated about $250 or $300.  Last year it was over $550!!!  This program was started at least 10 years ago...maybe even during the land run when folks wore out their shoes, who knows?  But today's SoleMates collects money and then takes children in need to buy a brand new pair of shoes so they can start out the school year on an even footing with the rest of the kids.  Teachers had noticed that children were coming to school barefoot or in shoes 10 times too big for their little feet.  Sometimes they had mix-matched shoes on.  The poverty in my little rural town is huge.  Children on assisted lunch program is astronomical.  The majority of children take backpack lunches (provided by the school) home on the weekends.  During the summer the schools open for breakfasts and lunches so the children will be able to eat during the summertime.

Every community has its poor.  Its biblical.  Jesus says the poor will always be with us.  What wonderful Wednesday wishlist do we have for Christmas that will bless others?  Why wait till Christmas?  It's Christmas in August!

P.S.  I got about 5 minutes of exercise in yesterday so today I am walking to the church for the ladies brunch.

Terrific Tuesday Morning

Well our temp is not exactly 66* like yesterday but 75* is terrific too....way better than 115* let me tell you!  Yesterday was a good day- I stayed on track with the eating, came home from work, and fell asleep on the couch.  So much for exercising!  Today there are no excuses.  I WILL get some movement in my day.  I don't have to block out 30 or 45 minutes or an hour.  I can just start with 10 minutes walking around the house if that's what it takes.  I can do a few crunches on the floor while watching TV or jogging in place.  Whatever it is, it will be moving my body.

In their book Body Clutter, Marla Cilley (The FlyLady) and Leanne Ely (The Dinner Diva) have a chapter called "Excuses, Excuses!!"    By saying "My weight hasn't changed in 15 years"--that is an excuse AND perfectionism, because by saying that, [you're] really saying, I'm not willing to change.  And being unwilling to change is simply another way of being paralyzed by perfectionism because if you can't do it right, you're not going to do it [at] all.  

This really spoke to me.  Wow.  I have yo-yo-ed up and down for OVER 15 years.  I lose 10 or 20 and boom, it's back on.  This time I lost but haven't put it (all) back on and then some.  I'm proud of that fact but I can't stop there.

So today is a Terrific Tuesday.  Hope you have a terrific day too.

Kitzilla is definitely planning for a terrific day:

Good Monday Morning!

What a great day today is.  The temperature here in Rural, USA is 66*!!!!!!  I opened the door to let the furmily out and a gust of cool breeze swept right by my face.  I'm wearing short sleeves in honor of the wonderful weather God has sent.  Thank you, Lord.

It is also a good day because I had a wonderful weekend.  Rat Mom is home and I spent time with all my little ones in the strawberry patch this weekend....even the bigger one too.  Saturday I picked up Rat Mom and Career Girl met us to go shopping.  Retail therapy-- just what the Dr. ordered.  I also picked this great find.  I've been needing a laundry hamper for me.  In the past I bought generic looking ones and somehow on some certain day I seem to lose possession of my laundry hamper.  Well, no more, Boys!!!!  This is MY hamper.  Can't you tell???!!!!

Oliver has to check it out first. That's one big strawberry!!!

He moved so I could capture the cuteness of it!

 Cute, cute, cute, strawberry hamper.  Only problem is it is so small--2 bras and 3 undies fit in this thing!  Not really, but yes, it is small.  The good news is I can't put off doing my laundry.  Bad news is the floor space for throwing dirty clothes on is immense!  LOL  This going against the grain can really suck, you know?

Rip it and die, Cat!!!!!

 Oliver decided it would make a nice punching bag. 

It is also a great day because I have been diet coke or any caffeinated dark cola FREE since July 23rd.  My new favorite drink is diet cherry limeade from Sonic.  Hubby found an alternate at the store.  I found a convenience store that sells a sort of "crunchy ice" that I like and now I can have an inexpensive bubbly fix.  Life is good (isn't that a brand name too?)!  While shopping with my girlies this past weekend, Career Girl introduced me to 2 new items.  One will help keep me hydrated.  I love the taste of this water.  It isn't cheap, though, but it will help increase my water consumption because it has a great taste.

This next item will tame my chocolate crave and help keep me regular!

This is delicious--just don't eat more than one!

 Some of you know what I'm talking about!  Don't eat too many Fiber One products in a day.  Oh boy, not a good feeling, sound, or smell!  Nuff said (well, probably too much said to begin with, but now I'm stopping.).

If the small box is good, the BIG box is BETTER!!!!!  Thanks, Dad.

 Grainiacs, I hope you are having or will have a great Monday morning!  It's a beautiful day and a new start for any projects or goals we might have today.  Now go tackle the day.

Another manic Friday

Tomorrow Rat Mom is coming home!  She has been gone all summer.  Unfortunately that has given me a whole summer to "junk" up her abode while "straightening" up the rest of the place.  LOL  Poor kid is going to be tired and ready to relax.  I guess I know what I'm doing today after work.

Speaking of work, yesterday after work I turned on the sprinkler and watered our poor dry crunchy grass.  I think I mentioned my spoiled pets are so spoiled that they have begun peeing and pooping on the back patio because they don't want to hurt their precious paws by walking in the dead hard grass.  Sheesh, what divas...now where do they get that?!?  But look what's overhead...

Oh I hope those clouds send us rain.  As I was taking the picture a few drops of rain fell on me.  Yipee!!

Our poor plants and grass really need it.

Crunchy Grass!  Hurts little paws.  Hey I wouldn't want to sit on a cactus feeling potty either!

Did I tell you the boys went for a grooming?

Here they are in all their splendor...

Brooks is getting cataracts.  That is not the red eye or rather green eye of the camera!

Garbage Gut looks a tad possessed

I bet you thought I was talking about the human boys, right Mom?  Well, they are next in line for the grooming.  Their long hair is not getting in the way of their toilet hygiene....well?.......No just kidding.

TGIF, Grainiacs!!!! 

AFV

We don't have a Chick-Fil-A here in Rural, USA, but if we did I would not have gone there yesterday. (I bet you thought this would be about America's Funniest home Videos????)  I don't like waiting in line for 1/2 an hour much less 2 hours!  No sandwich is worth that hassle.  Now before you send emails telling me about the mission, I have my own thoughts about it.

#1- what a great marketing ploy!  Make a controversial statement; get the American Family religious groups on your side and send out mass marketing telling ALL your Christian friends to go make a stand and buy a chicken sandwich!!!  Genius!  It's for Jesus or wait, I never heard anything about Jesus- just let's keep American family values.

When my children were young, we had weekly family nights.  We gathered together to eat, play, and to be a family.  Our rules were simple.

• listen to each other- which usually meant keep your mouth closed until the person talking was finished with their sentence, thought, or story!
• value what each one had to say--whether we agreed or not.  
• no name-calling--ever
• in anything and everything- LOVE first

Right now there is much fear in our country.  The world is changing and we want to keep the same pre-WWII ideas on what the Bible says (literally, of course!) and what a family should look like and be.  Who am I to tell you?  I remember a time when NO ONE talked openly about divorce, getting pregnant out of wedlock,  HAVING pre-marital sex, smoking marijuana/ growing weed, the list could go on.  Shhhhh, don't discuss it.  God bless that first in the family member who went home and told The Fam one of these things....or now, Mom/Dad, I'm gay.  God bless them because it is a hard cruel world.  But my how the world has changed.  Would you want to imagine a church who would not accept divorcees?  What about an unwed pregnant girl or woman being denied full membership?  What about an unmarried couple living together?  These things are spoken against in the Bible.  Not so long ago, they were taboo and hidden.  Champions of the cause spoke in love.  We began to listen and read the Bible with new eyes.  Jesus is Love; not condemnation.  We should be creatures of love too.  "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."  Can I do that while keeping my ears closed to another person trying to tell me Their Story?  Whether I agree with that person or not, I must look to a Higher Power.  Jesus spoke in parables-- stories; how can I follow Jesus if I'm not willing to hear others' stories?

If American Family Values include closing my ears to other people and their stories, shutting others out, excluding others, name-calling, and fear, then I guess I don't have any family values.