MARBLES

Now, what is this all about???!!!

I am quoting here from Connie's blog His Will And Not My Will  because this is there I got this great idea several weeks ago:  "I found an idea that I think might help encourage me and hopefully you also. Something that I can see from day to day. I put some colored Marbles in a glass. I put one for each pound that I still have to lose. I chose one color for these. "


Thank you Connie for posting this!  The minute I read it I thought: "Now that will work for me!"  I'm such a visual person and I just instantly connected with this idea.  You can just imagine the look on Mickey's face when I told him I wanted to buy some marbles!!  What??!!  So I explained the above.  For your information, finding marbles today is not that easy.  I did find some, not very pretty ones, at Dollar General but they'll work.


So I decided to set my goal at losing 20 lbs.  I need to lose more, but wanted to set a realistic goal that I truly believe I can reach.  So I got these two little canning jars.  Marked one: "To lose" and the other one: "Victory!".  I weighed on Saturday, May 12th, which was my starting weight and day.

One of the "rules" is you can only weigh once a week.  This has almost been as hard for me as watching what I'm eating!!!  My first week, Saturday the 19th I had lost 2 lbs.  YEAH!!!!  This past Saturday, the 26th, another 2 lbs.  YEAH!!!!!  So here are my two little jars, with my 16 lbs to go and my 4 lbs VICTORY!!  I think this will really work for me, because if I can'ts move a marble one week it'll jar me to "get with the program" and I am determined NOT to have to move a marble from my "Victory!" jar to my "To lose" jar.  That would be awful :o(

I am not actually doing any kind of "diet" just watching what I eat, eating more salads, cutting down on my breads, and mostly eating hardly ANY sweets, although I do allow myself a bit once in awhile!!  My biggest weight problem is snacking on cookies, sweets, chips, etc. during the day.  NO MORE on this losing this 20 lbs. 

I'm excited about this, because I know for me it is doable - One of the ladies in my Monday Bible Study I attend has lost 50 lbs the past year.  Seeing her has been a BIG encouragement to me.    

I got a great recipe for a Fat Loss Soup which I'll post the recipe later.

Accountability:  I not only have made myself accountable first of all to Mickey, but also to my WOW woman Tuesday night Bible Study at my house.  Even my son yesterday came in and looked to see how many marbles were in my Victory! jar.

Anyone want to join me????  If you do let me know and we'll keep each other accountable!! 

HAPPY WEIGHT LOSS~~~~~~~

WEIGHT REPORT & This and That

Well, I have to say I gained back one of the three lost lbs. from last week. The Lady Bug now sits on 10! I did absolutely NO exercising and I had the Chocolate Cheesecake with Chocolate icing at the Agape Cafe. So what did I expect!!! This week is a BAD report.
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THIS however is a GOOD report!!! One of the members of our church is currently serving in Afghanistan. He has become acquainted and doing some work, in his off hours, with an orphanage there that has both girls and boys.

There are about 250 children in this orphanage.



70 of them are girls.

They have "school", then are feed an evening meal, and are sent to foster homes for the night for safety.

Jerry contacted our Pastor and asked if the church would gather up various toys, hats, gloves, scarves, etc. and CHOCOLATE, and send to him & his Captain to distribute to these children.

In addition they have been giving candy to children they see. This is an except from Jerry's request:
"every time our convoys roll down the road the local kids come running from as for away as 200 yards to meet our trucks alongside the road giving us a thumbs up and hoping we thow out candy as we pass by. some of these kid are as small as 2 years old its funny watching them run across the field.thank you jerry"

Pastor sent this request out to all of us and $1,900 was given for this project.

(I know the picture is dark and bad but click to enlarge and it can be seen a little better)

This picture shows $1,200 worth of these items that have been purchased. Pastor did not want us to just send "things" but we want to send the Love of Christ and our Prayers to these youngsters receiving these items. These purchased items were set up in front of our church and Pastor has asked us to come up and pray over these items the last 3 services. Since there is a language barrier it was decided to spend $500 buying Christian coloring books that "show" and "tell" the story of Jesus to these children . The other $200 will pay for the postage to ship these items.

I am so happy to belong to a Body that gives and shares The Good News and Love and Compassion in so many different ways. This just being another example. We (the Church Body) always do something nice and special for each returning Serviceman in our Congregation when they return home from serving.

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Marc & Aric recently attended the Sport & Boat Show. He forwarded us several pictures and I just had to share this one so you could see the look of pure joy in experiencing this kayak ride.

My weight & interviews

Did you SEE it???? That lady bug moved from 8 to 11 lbs lost THIS WEEK!!! Yeepee!! Can anyone tell I am happy?

Soooo I FINALLY lost those pesty 3 lbs in one week......well actually you know it has taken me MONTHS. I am now back down to where I was before we began the saga of Mickey's surgery. Wheeeeee

I've finally got that "mind set" again. Even had just vegetarian vegtable soup and a small dinner salad at our birthday celebration last week at Mi*mi's. Now, if any of you have eaten there you know what an accomplishment THAT was. Okay, so I'm patting myself on the back this week. I was getting so flustrated with having to come here each week with BAD I gained a lbs and INDIFFERENT I stayed the same.

No, this week I get to say GOOD I lost 3 lbs. So yes, I'm shouting it!!!!!!

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I didn't post about my weight yesterday, on Monday, as I was suppose to do because of introducing our new BLOG Hands & Hearts.....for Him. If you haven't already come by to welcome us, please do. Those of you who have, "Thank You" so very much. Be patient with us as we develop this site.....we are really believing it will be a blessing to all of us as we face the difficult days we are experiencing.

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On the Interview Me project 2 more who allowed me to interview them have just posted. Please go read Barbara and The Young Artist interview. Thank you 2 for allowing me the privilege of interviewing you. By the way, this Young Artist just won an Essay Contest put on by her local newspaper. You go girl!!! Proud of you.

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A FUN BUSY DAY & WEIGH-IN

Well, as you can see, and I'm sorry to say, the little lady bug seems to be stuck!!!! Or rather, I am stuck. So this was a INDIFFERENT week AGAIN on my weight. One good thing I did walk 6 days this past week. Monday & Saturday we did our 30 minute walk around the outer edge of We*lm*art. On Monday we bought a DVD by Les*lie San*sone called Wa*lk A*way the Pou*nds a 5-day fit walk for indoor walking. I had owned a VCR by her a number of years ago and had given it away. It has 5 different workouts on it but so far I'm still working on the first one which is a 1 mile walk and lasts about 30 minutes. Mickey & I are doing it together.

My daughter, Suzette, had the day off and called me to have lunch with her and do go with her while she did some shopping. I always enjoy the time we get to spend together like that.

Then this evening Marc & Aric came over for dinner and Marc helped me with some computer questions and issues I had. We always enjoy having them and Marc has been so busy lately we've seen very little of him.

The temps have been in the 50's & 60's and all the ice is gone. YEAH!!!

That's it for today!!!

MOTIVATION

I love a brand New Year......

Even though the Lord gives us a clean sheet to write on every day.... "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23 ....a New Year with 365 of those clean sheets is always motivating to me.

In preparation for getting back to losing the pounds I need to lose I decided it was time to take inventory of, and straighten out, all the food that is stashed in various places in this house. We have an extra refrigerator and freezer in the garage, and in addition to my kitchen cupboards I have "extra" food stored in a 2 closets.

Mickey helped me take the inventory, which was no small chore. Then I decided that this NEW YEAR I was going to put, and maintain, this inventory on an Ex*cel worksheet. I love Ex*cel!!! So we worked some on the inventory Sunday between church services, and finished up yesterday. I built my worksheets (yes plural!!) and I am so excited and feel so good about this project for this NEW YEAR. Now I will have to daily make adjustment by deleting what I use that day and adding in new items we buy at the grocery store.

The surprise benefit of this project, after realizing how very much we had, is we are not going to buy any new groceries this month, except for perishables like fresh vegtables, milk, eggs, etc. I am hoping to save enough to make an additional principal payment on our mortgage. As my blog friend, Brenda, would say, "It's a Good Thing"!

Another added benefit, I am doing more meal planning and using up things that I need to use and had forgotten about. After supper, I made an Apricot-Walnut bread because I found the dried apricots that needed to be used. Sure is good......now what does this do to the weight loss?!!!!!

Another of my goals for this NEW YEAR is to de-clutter this house and have a big yard sale this spring. God has really been speaking to my about de-cluttering in every area of our lives, mentally, as well as physically. As my header reads, "If you keep things simple, they'll stay pure."

What new motivation has God given you this NEW YEAR?

GETTING HONEST - Back to the weight!

We'll I can't "wait" any longer to deal with the "weight" I need to lose.

(click to enlarge)

This comic strip was mailed to me by my dear friend, Don!!!

It's time to get honest and time to get back to the task. As you can see I've changed my "Ticker" to read the 38 lbs I truly need to lose. When I posted the ticker before I only put up 20 lbs because I was afraid if I looked at the real amount I needed to lose I'd get discouraged......but that wasn't being totally honest with myself.

I had managed to lose 11 of those pounds and then.........well, no excuses.......I didn't stay with the challenge and so I begin this New Year with a weight loss of 7 pounds and 31 to go.

As before, I will weigh in each Monday and report if I've done good, bad or indifferent. So this Monday I have to report a really big BAD!!! But, this is a New Year and a new week.......so here goes!!

38 pounds is what I truly need to lose to look like I'd like to look, weight wise.

MY WEIGHT LOSS WEEKLY UPDATE

I began this weight loss journey on August 4th

Thanks to Sarah I now have a ticker where the lady bug moved.

My little lady bug (which has turned into a butterfly??) moved 2 lbs the wrong direction!!!

Holding myself accountable and posting every week on Monday...

good, bad or indifferent.

Monday 8/11/08 - Weight Loss 4 lbs - Exercise 6 days walking 15-20 minutes

Monday 8/18/08 - Weight Loss 0 lbs. - Exercise 5 days walking 15- 20 minutes

Monday 8/25/08-Weight Loss 2 lbs-Exercise 4 days walking 15-30 minutes

Monday 9/1/08-Weight Loss 1 lbs-Exercise 3 days walking +added weight exercises

Monday 9/8/08-Weight Loss 1 lb-Exercise 6 days walking most 30 minutes

Monday 9/15/08-Weight Gain 1 lb-Exercise 2 days walking 30 & 39 minutes.

Monday 9/22/08-Weight Loss 2 lbs - Some walking.

Monday 9/29/08-Weight Loss 0 lbs - No walking.

Monday 10/20/08-Weight Loss 2 lbs - Much driving!!

Monday 11/10-weight Gain 2 lbs-Much stress!!

Weight Loss after 12 weeks - 9 lbs and 11 to go!!

Waist measurement down 1 inch.

We do not plan to walk on Sunday, the Sabbath and a day of rest.

The walking is so much easier since Mickey has joined me. He certainly does not have any weight to lose but the exercise is good for him, too.

This process is SLOW, but as long as I can lose 1# a week, or at least not gain anything I consider it successful. After all 1# a week is 52# in a year!!!!

Well, I am reporting about 3 very challenging weeks here. As you know, we have been through one of the most stressful times of our lives and I AM A STRESS EATER! Anyway, I am determined to get back with the program beginning today. Back to actually planning our meals and I am going to begin by making some whole wheat bread today.

I am not VERY happy about the backward movement but it is what it is.

I said Good, Bad or Indifferent

This one counts as BAD - But it is not going to way-lay me from pressing on.

Have a blessed week!!!

I measure my waist the 1st of each month, and since I won't be by a computer on October 1st or on schedule November 1st but I measured today. My waist it the same.....a total of 1 inch in the waist. I am very happy about that!!!