I Needed This

Irises (Van Gogh)

Great things are not done
by impulse,
but by a series of
small things brought together.
-- Vincent Van Gogh

Myra's carrying me right now.
When I get to the "other side" of this,
I hope I can carry others.

Now

Why wilt thou defer thy good purpose from day to day? 

ARISE! and beginin this very instant, and say 

Now is the time to be doing; 

Now is the time to be striving; 

Now is the fit time to amend myself! 

Unless thou dost earnestly force thyself,

thou shalt never get the victory over sin.

(Thomas a Kempis, born in 1379 or 1380; died 25 July, 1471.)

My Struggle...His Power

See those back two legs?  (Well, I guess the chair is blocking the view of the other one.)  That's one of the tasks I listed yesterday that was accomplished.  That wasn't so HARD now!  Yesterday--and already THIS morning--I've experienced the truth of Colossians 1:29:  "To this end I labor, struggling with all HIS energy, which so powerfully works in me."

Some notes I copied in my journal from The Red Sea Rules...

• Sometimes plodding is better than plotting.
• We can become paralyzed by procrastination! (I put a big red asterisk by this one.)
• "Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand."  (Sir William Oster)

Bored No More

Inertia has been a problem for me lately. I could blame it on painful joints.  I could blame it on some discouraging circumstances.  I could blame it on a lot of things, but basically I know from experience that inertia breeds inertia!

Then I read Myra.  You might want to read Myra, too!  It's a GOOD one!

I'm going to haul myself out to the flower beds and do some weeding & perennial division!  

Then there's a library book on hold for me at the library.  

I'll also spend some time in the garage painting the back legs of a table-desk my husband just assembled. 

No time for boredom today!

Fit

Me. Yesterday.

I have some work to do before warm weather sets in!  Circumstances have overridden my determination and passion to GET fit and BE fit.  And now, my summer clothes DON'T fit...

I was particularly inspired by Myra's post this morning.  I can't say that there was anything "new" there...just solid stuff to encourage me not to give up.

Vacation Walking Paths

Just a couple of the more interesting places where I've been walking the past few days!

I'm a black or white person.

When it comes to walking,
I either like taking different paths every day

OR

doing the same routine every day.

I go in streaks.  There are positives for both.

While on vacation this week, it's been different paths every day.

A Dieter's Best (Appliance) Friend?

I've been cleaning out the refrigerator in preparation for vacation. There were 11 or 12 strawberries left, so I hulled them, put them on a plate and stuck them in the freezer.

Later on, I popped them into the blender along with some 1% milk and (I sheepishly admit) a little sugar. Result? A thick and satisfying snack.

A blender just might be a dieter's best friend!

Even as I write this, I'm thinking of a few other Appliance Friends.

What Appliance Friends do YOU have?

Spring Fling Treat

I stayed within my calorie limit yesterday by sharing a Turtle Blizzard with my husband.  Yum!  A tasty combination of chocolate, caramel & pecans.  The only thing that would have made it tastier for me would have been to have it made with chocolate ice cream--but since we were sharing, I settled for vanilla.

Spring Fling

For the past 5 days, I've been spending 30 minutes alternating a walking routine with jumping on my mini-tramp.  Don't know why I always wait for a hint of spring to get serious about getting off the winter pounds!  Why do those pounds accumulate ANYhow?  Late winter was particularly challenging for me this year since I had a case of shingles.  That was NO fun.

It's in the past now. 

I've started my personal Spring Fling.

For Sure--Good'n Hearty!

I found this product last week  at our local Big Lots store.  I should have bought a dozen boxes!  It's delicious!  I believe it is much more hearty than the better known brands (which I have come to avoid).  And look at the price - $1.00!  I added raisins and microwaved it only a minute and a half instead of the suggested two minutes.  If I can think of a few more errands to make the trip into town worthwhile, I think I'll buy some more before they are out of stock.

A Week of Soups

I picked up this book at our public library yesterday.  Having visited a monastery last spring, I was curious when I saw this on the shelf of recent additions to our library.  I was happy to find some interesting, healthy, and relatively easy recipes.  I found several soup recipes that I will make this week.  The Soup Section began with this quote:

"For the sake of losing a few pounds, accumulated during those endless agapes and festivities of the year's end, without having to fast or die of hunger, there is no better remedy than a good soup.  All it takes is a quick stop at the supermarket, some preparation, and then promptly the fresh aromas begin to emerge from the soup kettle."  (Isabelle Delaleu, French chef and dietician) 

After church this morning, we'll dine on a slow-cooker bean soup.  Then I'll make a QUICK STOP at the supermarket to purchase the ingredients for our week of soups!

Hearty Hamburger Soup I made earlier this week.  Yum!

Time to Get Serious About It!

Thankful--Not Just FULL!

As the "feast day" approaches, I've fortified our food supply with many fresh fruits and vegetables.  For breakfast his morning I cut up fresh oranges (particularly tasty), bananas, and fresh pineapple.  I really like this combination.

I can't credit any one person for this reminder, but it's a good one, I think!

"Don't forget to be THANKful--not just FULL."

Act As If

I read this "Act As If" post and decided if I can do this for the next 30 days, I will have accomplished a MAJOR goal.

You can see that I've "jumped the gun" a bit as far as Christmas decorating goes.  While my husband was still on vacation, I had him pulling boxes out of the attic.  I have put up a couple of small trees, but won't DeCK tHeM OuT until after Thanksgiving.

By Christmas, I hope to be able to fit into a few of the clothes that I carelessly outgrew over the past few months.  I will accomplish this by Acting As If.

If you're challenged by some unwanted pounds, I think you'll be encouraged by this great post!

Traveling Mercies

We made a 529 mile journey, leaving immediately after church yesterday.  I packed food--pineapple, black grapes, bananas, carrot strips, some whole wheat wraps, peanut butter, raisins, and some Chex snack mix. 

It helped me empty the refrigerator, saved $$ potentially spent on restaurant meals, and helped us get to our destination earlier.

There will be time for restaurant eating later.

I spent the morning at 3 thrift stores located right downtown AND across from this tempting sign.
Since I still had 37 minutes in the parking meter, I crossed the street and purchased 1/2 pounds of chocolates.  It was hard to decide which ones to pick, but I tried to limit my selections to those healthy dark chocolate ones!

The chocolates are made on the premises and you can order on-line.  I highly recommend them! Did I mention that in a second room, all they had were truffles?