Working from the inside out: finance

I have several members of my family who are fabulous shoppers.  They say "I need a new pair of shoes," go to the store and they pick up a pair and not only are they on sale but an extra 90% has been knocked off the price.  I pick up an eyeliner and it costs more than the Manolo shoes!

January has been deemed my "no shopping" month.  I hate to admit but my spending is getting close to the national debt.  I know it is a symptom of my problem so I'm getting it in check and not with the checkbook!

Since declaring January a no spending month, I am sickly aware of how many emails I get every hour announcing they have the best sale on the planet.  I am a marketing major and know all the tricks and I fall for them every time! I am my own worst enemy when it comes to shopping.

I just want to say, Grainiacs, it is going very well with this no spending in January....yes, I am keenly aware it is only January 3rd.  Party Poopers!

What self-best resolutions have you made?  I'd love to hear about it.

Happy New Year!!

and that's all I have to say!

BeAtitudes: Working from the INside Out

What needs to be worked on from the inside out?  My devotion time. It has been non-existent of late and that will change.

This picture was taken over Christmas. Calvin the Cat (man, she is mean....I guess she truly is a Calvin!) was posing by her name-sake.

That got me thinking:

A thought from above!

God, is that you?

I'm not telling you to read Calvin; I'm telling you to FEED ME!!

Well, last night I picked the book out of the box and started reading it. Let me tell you the Introduction is a real snoozer.  I guess I shouldn't say that....there might be people interested in when he preached, why he preached, why he didn't preach, why he did not want to preach, why he did want to preach, where he preached, how the book was organized, why the book wasn't organized in a different manner, yawn, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


This little book is a compilation of Calvin's sermons on The Beatitudes. Walk along with me if you dare.  Each Saturday, I'll (hopefully) share my insights (if I remember!). 

I love snapchat faces!!  just saying, er, barking! woof

In Matthew 5, Jesus "went up the mountain" and  began teaching:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Do we see ourselves in any of these scenarios?  I see myself acting in the opposite way too much of the time, so this 2017 I will be a work in progress.  I will be working to improve myself from the inside out....beginning with my spiritual life with the help of the The Beatitudes and John Calvin.

Have a Happy and Safe New Year's Eve tonight, Grainiacs; and I will see you next year.

From my computer screen to yours, Happy New Year, Grainiacs.  Be safe.

A New Year; A New Blog

Good morning, Grainiacs! Be forewarned....this post is a scramble of thoughts and emotions.

I have been silent for too long.  Truth be told, I was a little blue.  I wasn't feeling like myself because I really didn't know who "myself" was anymore.

I knew my "before" self.  Raising children, working as a Christian educator for my church, a student.  I felt like I had a purpose.  Then the kids grew up and are succeeding and thriving.  I graduated (with honors, I might add) and I haven't been able to find a job in my field for over a decade.  I am super busy with plenty of volunteer activities.  And I cannot forget that I'm my Mom's medical proxy and that is Very Important.

I have been feeling stuck, Grainiacs, and I don't like the feeling one little bit.

So it is time to take action.  We are coming up on a new year. New goals. New opportunities to redefine myself and my life.  Time to prioritize and decide what is important (family) and what can be postponed for the time being or totally dropped.

I am de-cluttering my life, my cabinets and closets, my body, and my brain.

Years ago, I picked up Dr. Phil's "The Ultimate Weight Solution" and read part of it and promptly boxed it up.  I am reacquainting myself with his philosophy and marked a page to read everyday.  I will share it with you because I think it describes whatever blockage we possess...whether weight, social, mental, etc.

"You have generated and adopted a lifestyle to sustain it" (referring to being overweight). You have set up that lifestyle, based upon numerous self-destructive behaviors such as overeating, bingeing, not exercising, and self-defeating internal dialogue, that have contributed to and sustained your weight problem.  You have set up your world to keep yourself overweight, even though you consciously confess that you want to be fit, energetic, and of normal weight.  You make sure your life revolves around food. If you are chronically overweight, I know that your manner of living can be characterized as inert, harried, and chaotic."

I have become inert, harried, and chaotic.  A friend recently pointed this out to me.  I get a call and I go.  I don't think twice that I haven't eaten breakfast and will be famished by the time I arrive. I forget to bring things to do while we wait at the dr. office.  I'm just "harried and chaotic."

So my blog posts for a while will be about changing my ways of doing things.  I've tried in the past but then my excuse is "life gets in the way."  No more excuses.  No more running out the door.  No more!

Starting today I will organize and redesign myself from the inside out.  I have some skeletons in my closet that need pushing out.  Moana is a BIG skeleton...my inner child wants to sabotage any good thought or action I want to take.  It's time to take charge of Moana.

Walk along with me if you will.  It might get sticky...and I don't mean caramel sticky...okay..maybe a little caramel sticky.

Peace out, Grainiacs.  Love you, Strawberry. 

A Place for Strawberry

The internet and specifically Pinterest and Instagram are very dangerous places for this strawberry.  I love looking and dreaming and wishing and hoping....oops, I've also been listening to oldies music!

HGTV and all those remodeling shows really get to me too.  As a child, I wanted to be an interior designer, but I am lousy at art and when I looked into I.D. degrees...well, let's just say it is a hobby and not a career.  Poor Hubby would come home from work and the whole house would be turned upside down.  I'm that way; I have to start with a clean slate which usually means pull everything out and start over.

That type of designing happened again. 

Two days ago.  

I had ordered a very basic desk.  I wanted to place it in the living room so I could get away from distractions (mostly the TV, but also cats, dogs, people...you know every one and every thing!) and get some computer/ reading/ writing work done. I didn't want anything large that could hold a bunch of papers and writing paraphernalia (another weakness of mine....oooh, an office supply store!).  I know myself and it would be another cluttered area.  My eldest son is living at home so I find odd jobs for him to do and my new disassembled desk was a perfect odd job.  He put it together and we set it in the living room in front of a window.  I wasn't "feeling" it; you know when you room arrange and think "Oh sh!t, what the h$ll is THAT!"  I didn't exactly have that kind of a thought, but I wasn't satisfied with it.

That afternoon, I had an epiphany (yes, it does happen!) and opened up this puppy.  What a mess!

what's a little sharing amongst friends, eh?

Remember my clean slate mentality?  I pulled all this crap out of the closet and started weeding out things I didn't want to deal with long ago which is why they got dumped in this closet to begin with.  We no longer have a VCR player so we really don't need VHS tapes.  I did keep all the VHSes with personal family stuff on them, though; I'm hoping to convert them to DVDs....yeah, right! LOL

I still have some working to do in the TV room, thanks to cleaning out this closet but now I have....

In my own little corner, in my own little room....

I love it!  I would prefer to have painted it a nice bright color but for now, it is perfect and the best news is I can close the doors and my little "cloffice" will wait and keep clean.

P.S. the kitchen is still clutter-free....now the kitchen table (out of picture view?)....shhhhh.....it is next.  Of course after the TV room-it is still full of the stuff vomited out of my new cloffice.  So I have my work cut out and the holidays are coming up.  Yes, Grainiacs, my life is a mess, but it is getting there.

Happy Wednesday, Grainiacs.  What projects are YOU working on?

The Big Squeeze Ended

Good Morning, Grainiacs!

The BS ended and unfortunately I gained weight.  As per Strawberry mojo, I started out great.  Drank my water, tracked what I ate, even got in some exercise.... and then.....I got sick.  Doggone it; it gets me every time.  It seems our local farmers are burning sugar cane and my head/ body/ nose/ sinuses DO.NOT.LIKE.IT!!!! not one little bit.  Man, sugar is biting me in the butt one way or another!!!!  Although sugar is not my comfort food of choice when I'm sick, ooey, gooey, creamy things are!  We have a church member who makes chicken and homemade noodles.  You read it right;    h.o.m.e.m.a.d.e. noodles.  Come to me, baby!   Now that is some kind of good. 

Yes, officer, there were left-overs.

Yes, officer, I took them.

Yes, officer, the whole pot!

So....although I did gain this past week, I am ever so grateful it wasn't a 10 pound gain!

Yep, that's that.  It is done; it is over; it is time to get back on track.

In other news, I read somewhere (probably on the internet so you know it is true) that women tend to gain if they have a cluttered kitchen.  For the past two days I have soldiered on and cleaned up that puppy.  The rest of the house might be a pig's sty, but my kitchen shall be a clutter-free zone!

Ain't I purty??

My goal is to see this beautiful sight each day.  You might notice that my decorative plates are missing from the photo.  I'm still looking for them since the big electric-turn-your-house-upside-down fiasco last year.  Can you believe one year ago I was packing up the fragile stuff so the workpeople didn't break anything?  One year ago our lives were turned upside down and we were street people again living out of HEB bags and sleeping at the church or in friends' homes.  One year!

I guess I'm feeling melancholy because another year has almost passed and I'm still fighting the weight game.  Will I be feeling this way even when I lose?  Will I ever be happy with myself?  These are the things I ponder Like sands through the hour glass so are the days of our lives.  Talk about The Big Squeeze!!!!

Happy Tuesday, Grainiacs. Time to put the big squeeze on another room in the house!
 

Feeling lazy

Would it be okay to share my WW blog with you today, Grainiacs?  I have the blahs.  Farmers are burning sugar cane and my head is achy and my throat is achy and I am achy.  I wanted to share this recipe with my WW peeps and thought: why not share it with my Grainiac peeps?

Hope your day is going better than mine.  I DID, however, get dinner in the crockpot so....Win!

Here you go....

It's Okay to Point

Have a great Grainiac day.

Strawberry