Poor "Those" People

Today, while at the gym, I saw a segment on something about obesity. I feel bad for "those" people. You know, the people whose anonymous bulging mid sections are filmed and use for such news segments. Often times, they are poor souls making their way down the street of some unnamed city, just going about their day. I feel bad for these poor people. I'm sure they are aware of their stoutness and I'm equally sure they wouldn't want their overweightness put on display for all the world to see. How violating!

Having said that....I have decided to do something a little more proactive about my own bulging midsection. It's always been difficult for me, but since having kids and being diagnosed with hypothyroidism (my metabolism is slower than a turtle in molasses), it's been even more difficult. I've tried almost everything out there, but lately, to no avail. I don't want to do any fad diets or anything where I can't eat real food, because I am a practical person. It's just not practical to drink your meals and it's equally unpractical to eat only boxed food sent to your house. Because, in the end, you WILL return to eating "normal" food and you'll be back to where you started from.

Anyway, I am back at the gym 3-4 days a week (perhaps more) and I have decided to keep a food journal. I have heard that people who keep them lose tons more weight than those who don't. So I found this website called NutriMirror. It's awesome, it's free, it's helpful, it's eye-opening. Not only can you track everything you eat, it keeps track of your calories, fat, vitamins, and lots of other stuff. It gives you estimates on where you should be as far as eating and your goal is to "be in the green" on your food analysis page. (Not in the red.) Although I've always known how to eat healthy, this website has opened my eyes to my eating trends and I've noticed perhaps I'm not eating the way I should be. There is community support, recipe ideas, and all sorts of good stuff included FREE!!!! So, if you are looking to change your own bulging midsection, I'd suggest keeping a journal. And I'd suggest keeping it at NutriMirror, it's awesome! Go me!
Click here to go to NutriMirror!

Potty Training

Talk about an adventure! Here we go again! This is take 2 of potty training for my older son Benjamin. This time around, he SAYS he's ready to be a big boy. He's got his superhero underwear on and he's all ready to go. We've got the frog potty in the living room and the Deigo potty seat in the bathroom. He's already tried once....WITH his underwear on. Hm. Sort of missed the point there.

I guess we, as adults, take for granted all the stuff we just "know" how to do. We are (hopefully!?) potty-trained, we know how to tie our shoes, we know how to feed ourselves (well, most of us....not sure how Josh survived before we got married!??!!), we know how to write a check and pay bills, we know how to drive and generally take care of ourselves. It's such a huge task when you think about how much our children rely on us to learn things. It's also a huge honor!

I can't help but parallel this to learning from our Heavenly Father. Not everyone does, but we need to lean on him and learn from Him. Not quite potty-training or tying our shoes, but it's equivalent to that spiritually speaking. Sure, people can survive without God, but I don't want to just "survive", I want to live life to it's fullest. I know I could get along without listening to God and living the way He would want me too, but why would I want to? I think about children who don't have parents who really take care of them - they always end up having issues. If I ignored my Father in Heaven, I would have a lot more issues than I do now!

I thank God for his endless supply of grace and mercy every day. I pray that I can have even an ounce of that great grace and mercy for Benjamin during potty training. It's been an hour and we are already on our third pair of superhero underpants. Oh Lord, help me!

Birthday Memories

Hmmmm...31 is the new....what? 20? I wish. So today is my birthday. I am now 31 years old. Wow, that SOUNDS old but I know it's not. I guess it's a matter of perspective, right? When my older sister turned 30, I thought she was SO OLD...even though I was only 3 1/2 years behind her. Now here i am....31. Wowzers.

Growing up, I LOVED my birthday. I would announce to EVERYONE that my birthday was coming and my birthday DAY would be filled with lots of happiness and joy for me. We would always go out to dinner as a family and even as an adult, my mom and dad would often drive up here to take me out to dinner. This year, it'll just be my mom. *sigh*
But my mom's got lots of love for me, so I'll TAKE IT! :)

Anyway, my sister would always be in charge of my birthday parties. I would always have rambunctious sleepovers with 5 or 6 girlfriends. Mind you, I grew up in a little cape. My room could never hold the amount of girlfriends, or the amount of energy and just plain craziness of 5 or 6 pre teen or teen girls. Therefore, we had to sleep in the not-so-spacious living room. We would spread out our sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, and various special stuffed animals and act like complete nuts. :) This, in turn, would often cause my parents to call me into their room (just around the corner) where they would BEG me to try to stay a little quieter. My friends were a little rowdy...just a little.... Oh God bless my parents, I'm sure they got next to no sleep at my sleepovers. I love them so much. :)

My sister would make up some awesome games, one of which was very popular and made a reappearance every year at my 'annual' sleepover party. It involved my sister writing out silly things to act out on little slips of paper and putting them into balloons. She would blow up the balloons and put them in a big garbage bag. Then, we'd take turns picking out a balloon and we had to pop it without using our hands. We got pretty creative and this often allowed hilarity to ensue. :) Then the person would have to act out the silly thing on the paper without using and words and the rest of us would have to guess. It was FUN-NY!!!! What a blast. Mucho props to my big sister Jen, she always made my birthday parties a hit.

Then we'd make stupid videos on my dad's video camera. One I remember in particular is of my friend Pearl. She was pretending to be a news anchor talking about O.J. Simpson getting away in his WHITE - FORD - BRONCO. Wow, if that doesn't date me, I don't know what does.

We would often eat pizza and ice cream cake...since ice cream is my most favoritest thing to nosh in the whole wide world, that certainly hasn't changed. Then we would watch some movies and yak yak yak the night away, and sometimes even tell ghost stories. Ah, the memories. Then my dad would make us all a yummy breakfast the next morning. Wow, I wish I could have another sleepover now. What fun!

So here I am, a good 20 years or so later. And I still remember those good times. For my birthday this year I am spending the day cleaning the house, doing laundry, and loving on my kiddos. Then I'm going to the movies with the hubby. Still good. Although I'm no longer proclaiming my birthday to every person I see. Perhaps I should, after all, I 31 is the new 20, right? Right.

I need a new nonstick pan.

While making grilled cheese for my 3 year old running circles around my house screaming and while holstering my 17 month old on my hip, a normal, run-of-the-mill lunch project turned into something more. I went to flip over the buttery, cheesy, yumminess and the sandwiches were sticking to the pan. That's odd. It's a non-stick pan that I usually have no problems with. Granted, it's a cheap-o version from IKea years ago, but still, I don't usually have a problem with things sticking. Well, today I had to get the cooking spray out so as not to turn the grilled cheese sandwiches into melted cheese mush-piles. I manages to save them (mostly) when God pointed something out to me. I need a new nonstick pan. This one is old and no longer helps me where I need it to help me out. So I need a new nonstick pan in this new year.

"So what?" you ask. That's weird. What I mean by all this is....I'm going through a rough spot spiritually and I need a fresh start in this new year. I need to throw out my old nonstick pan, I need to throw away all those things and feelings sticking to me about this past year and start new. I need a fresh dose of God's love. It's not going to come in church. It's going to come when I seek His face wholly. I need to delve in, I need to persevere....even when I feel alone. My spiritual life has been in such upheaval since my dad started to get really really sick. Yes, God helped me through the most difficult stretches....but the damage came after the dust settled. My nonstick pan is old and has lost its' usefulness - sort of like my faith. I hate to say it, but that's what I'm going through right now. I need to find it again.

I know God's there, he's there for me. I just have to look harder. After all, it's never Him that walks away from me, it's ME that's walks away from Him. I know I'm letting doubts, fears, anger, and sorrow corrode my pan to the point where the goop is sticking to my pan, rather than letting go to let God's Word in. There are so many people so upbeat for this new year, ready to make a fresh start. I just want a faith-freshener. And I know I'll get there. Because I won't give up. I KNOW God is good - ALL THE TIME.