YIKES! Where's the will power???!!

I've always known that around sugar I'm a weak person. I can resist almost anything else but something sweet gets me every time. This time it was Braum's. And I didn't have 10% less!! My husband might have because after I finished mine I started on HIS. Oh, well, it didn't cause me too much grief, I'll just do better today. And tomorrow. I know that I'm going to slip up but it won't cause me to throw in the towel.

I LOVE snow, I think it's one of the most beautiful things on earth. I love to watch it fall, I love to see it on the ground, I just love it. My daughter Lucy has the gift of being able to "smell snow", she can actually smell the air and tell if it's going to snow. She is always correct in this too. It's an amazing gift I think. She loves snow too, she's like a snowbunny--she's always out in it playing. She has a great gift for playing too. Not everyone has that gift. I think I have it, I love to play--and will drop everything I NEED to do to go play. That is the best gift of all--the ability to play and enjoy life. True, my house is a mess, but my husband likes to play too so we're ok with it.

And the last thing I want to say is...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Resolutions!!

I am not one for New Year's Resolutions as a rule, and this one is not one of those either, but I guess, a New Lifestyle Resolution. As is very common for many people, I have gained weight and need to remove it. So I'm going to blog about that for a while and see if it helps me. Since I found out that I have Celiac I have gained weight. Don't know if it's from "comfort eating" or because food "replacements" made without gluten have more fat and sugar in them to make them taste good, or a combination. I'm NOT going to weigh myself--I'm going to take it from what I weighed the last time I went to the dr. and see if I can go from there. Hopefully my clothes will get looser. I'm going to take Dr. Joe Murray's advice--he's the director of the gastroenterology department at the Mayo Clinic and evidently the top guy on Celiac in the world. His advice is what he calls 10-10-10--eat 10% less, no eating after 10 at night, and walk 10,000 steps a day. I can do the 10% pretty easily, and I don't eat late at night as a rule, it's the 10,000 steps a day that's going to be tough one. I plan on getting a pedometer, and then watch out AMOS!!! He's going to have to join me in SOME of those 10,000!!! He could use a little reduction himself although he's not chubby. I know that I will feel so much better both from exercise and weight loss. Wish there were an indoor pool here in Glenpool, I hate to drive to Tulsa to swim, but that may happen. Or I may wait till summer and use the community center pool. We'll see. Wish me luck!!!!

The kindness of relative strangers!!

I mentioned to a very nice young lady a couple of weeks ago that I was gluten-intolerant--she's a sales rep for a natural foods distributor. She brought me some WONDERFUL gluten-free items--made by Shabtai-Gourmet--and they are FABULOUS!!! You cannot tell that they have no wheat or gluten in them. I am going to work hard to get them distributed in Oklahoma--principally at Akin's. They are THAT good that it is worthwhile trying to get them locally. So...hence the title Kindness of Relative Strangers. It is also inspiring me to come up with some more random acts of kindness--I LOVE those!!! It is pretty easy to do kind things for those you love and know...and also easy to not do them for those you love and know. So I'm going to make an effort to be kinder to my family and friends as well as people I don't know. And I'm going to try to blog every day!!! That's going to be my random act of kindness to myself.

Where does the time go???

Oh, MAN!! It's been TWO months since I've blogged. Well, some things have been going on and I just feel like doing it. We went to Rochester Minnesota to the Mayo Clinic to get Lucy checked out. She's had "stuff" going on all her life. She still has a little going on but all in all, she's in pretty good shape IF IF IF she takes care of herself--but then, that's true most likely of all of us. I've just been diagnosed with Celiac Disease--which means I can nothing made from wheat, rye or barley, no beer, no rye whiskey, no donuts, no bread, no onion rings etc. LOTS of stuff has gluten in it, which is the thing in wheat/rye/barley that my body has an autoimmune reaction to. But i haven't found it too awful so far. I FEEL sooooo much better!!! I'm no longer immensely tired, my stomach no longer aches, I no longer have to know where every bathroom in the country is (unless that is, I eat...GLUTEN!!!). Lucy is most likely gluten-sensitive--she does not have celiac NOW but does carry the genes for it.

After getting back from the cool weather in Minnesota to the hot hot hot summer heat/humidity of Oklahoma we had to get her ready to move to Stillwater to go to college. That has been AWFUL. It's time for her to get out and have a place of her own, but it's hard to let 'er go!! I'll miss her, I've had kiddoes for 35 years so this is something way new for me. She's been snarling at me, I've been snarling at her, her dad has just stayed away from it all but it's been AWFUL. I'm sure we have all kinds of emotions going on, she's ready to get out there, I'm ready to get her out there, but I'm also going to miss her a lot!! It seems like just YESTERDAY that she was running around in a diaper with my nightgown draped over her like a little princess. I keep telling myself that just a few generations ago a "girl" ("woman"???) her age would have been married for several years and most likely would have kids of her own. BIZARRO!!! I cannot imagine that for her. And she told me that when she got out of college she's going to move to San Francisco!!! My gawd--that's a LONG way off!!! That made me even sadder. OH, well, time flies and then you grow up, and your kids grow up. It's not sad... not really...I keep telling myself that...it's natural, but I'm still sad. Where is my baby??? She was just here a few minutes ago...or was that really a few years??? Wow. Anyway, I love ya baby, I love all my babies.... and their babies. Time...where does it go?

Fergie--the Duchess of York

I've just finished reading a great book by the Duchess of York. It's called What I know Now and really really spoke to me. Each chapter is short--mostly about 3 pages but each is filled with lots of wisdom and caring. She has learned a lot in her life--she's made many mistakes but has benefitted from them--she took her mistakes and made them into a learning experience, she didn't blame others for her errors, somehow she realized that mistakes are human and that it is important to learn from them so you don't keep making them over and over. She looks within herself, changes that which needs to be changed and has evolved into a very caring woman of depth.

I would love to have an opportunity to meet her and get to know her, but of course, that is not going to happen. But her books can give me a glimpse, and I do plan to read her other ones too.

VIVA LA CHANGE!!!

I've found letting go of some things to be hard, but it's sooooooo nice to have some clearing going on too. I've been watching "Clean House" and I've learned some tips from them although I do find that they MAKE people get rid of some things that it would be "ok" to keep--such as pieces of NICER furniture. My house is nowhere near the houses they show on Clean House so I'm luckier there!!

Letting go is sometimes about more than letting go of things, it's also about letting go of some memories and some people. That's the really hard thing. There are some people I've needed to back away from for my own peace of mind and health. Not all things and people are good for you, just like anything that is edible is not always good for you. And of course, you don't have to give them up for good, just back away for a while and re-evaluate and then taste/see them in small but good quality ways. I let go of my "career" when I retired--and let go of a lot of people there, but I do see SOME of them occasionally. I've found a new wonderful career for myself now, that I love and cherish. So change IS good!! VIVA LA CHANGE!!!!!

Yikes, yikes and YIKES!!!!

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since I've blogged!! And I FORGOT how to log in also!! I had to really work at it to get logged on. Well, several things have been going on, I've been trying to declutter my house and get it clean--and I ALWAYS seem to fall short on that. I have no organization skills and I have too much stuff!! But I'm letting a lot of it go.

Also my daughter and I are going to the Mayo Clinic next month--we're excited about that. She's had some health "issues" all of her life and we've been trying to get to the bottom of them, and I think we'll get there now. It's been a powerful struggle to get to this point. We're going to try to make it a fun trip too, have some side trips planned--the Mall of America for starters. Then I'd like to go to Mankato to see the Betsy-Tacy houses. If you've not read the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace, you need to. They are great. I was also born in Minnesota so would like to make a "pilgrimage" to my birthplace. (should take a bronze marker and put it on the spot too!!!).

I'm also mulling over a "mission" in my mind. I need one. And i have a couple in mind. It might keep me out of the casino!! NOT!!!

Well, Have fun!!!