HELLO DECEMBER!

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

HELLO!

Welcome to the First of December!

First day of the last month of another crazy year!

First of nine straight 5-digit palindromic dates:

12-1-21

12-2-21 ~ this day is also an 8-digit palindrome: 12022021

12-3-21 ~ 12-4-21 ~ 12-5-21 ~ 12-6-21 ~ 12-7-21 ~ 12-8-21 ~ 12-9-21

If you want to read more about palindromic dates, check this out:

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/what-palindrome-28106

NEW MONTH

NEW BEGINNING

NEW START

NEW MINDSET

NEW FOCUS

NEW INTENTIONS

NEW RESULTS

We began today with an icy, wintry mix of precipitation and temps in the 30s; but we are looking forward to sunny skies and 40s this afternoon!

Today I am beginning a new schedule or agenda for my day-to-day life! I’ve been playing around with various ideas for most of 2021. You could say it has been my project for the year! It’s still not easy. My ideal is a set routine that get things done before the need is too great. Reducing stress is the primary reason, as it’s been for years now. I am making progress. 😉

No matter

how stressed 

you are,

remember

how blessed 

you are.

No matter how stressed you are, remember how blessed you are.

When stress levels are reduced many people find losing weight happens easier. My quest for improved health has ALWAYS involved losing weight! This has been an issue for me since I was very young. Most of my life though, I did not put much focus on it. There were far too many more important things going on in my life! For the last 5 or 6 years now, I have raised it higher in my daily priorities. In the last year I’ve found something I like, that works, is simple, and it’s free! It’s called R3!

Reset! Reintroduce! Real Life! ~~~ R3

It’s like the “Three R’s” of Personal Food Management!

I have learned so much in the last 11 months about how my body uniquely responds to various foods! It’s not just allergies & intolerances, which I’ve lived with for decades! There’s so much more going on inside us! It’s so important to really know what it is you are putting in your mouth!

You are what you eat!

I’ll be back to share more on this!

 

See you soon!

Our Kind of Crazy

 

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Last day of November

Tuesday

Windy and chilly with a little bit of snow on the ground

 

“I’m not going down without a ~ FIGHT ~ one spoon at a time

 

What a day it's been!

Here's just a little part of it...

One daughter slipped on the ice right next to her car... twisted her ankle and bruised her arm and her back as she fell into the car door. She & her sister were heading out for their appointments with their chiropractor.

After the chiropractor visit, her twin had a panic attack while driving... SO THANKFUL for cars with bluetooth connections to cell phones!!! She was able to call me and I was able to talk her into the nearest parking lot and park the car while we worked through the steps to calm her enough to drive to my place.

Once they arrived at my place I got one some arnica, and a bed full of pillows to rest; and left with the other to help resolve the issue that triggered the panic attack. We got most of that resolved, but would have to wait on the finale. That came only an hour later, so all is well with that, for now.

Things will get better.

One day it will be a funny story for her. One day.

For now, not so much.

But I can share it here with you.

She worked a 1-day temp job for a nearby construction office last week. When finished she was to deposit a large padded envelope with the key to the building in it into their mailbox. The office is in a rural area with a few other similar commercial buildings nearby. Many of the mailboxes aren't that clearly marked and she put it the one that seemed closest. It is a locked mailbox, so once something is put into the slot it can only be taken out by someone with a key to that mailbox. Today the temp agency called her because the construction company called them to ask about the key since it was not in their mailbox as expected.

So she & I retraced her steps and began checking with the other businesses that had buildings nearby. She found someone who had received the envelope in their mail who told her it was then given to the mail-lady since it didn't seem to be anything for them. That person was going to talk to the mail-lady when she stopped by today. 

We then went over to the construction company and she explained it all, adding that either the person at the other company or the mail-lady would be in touch soon with the key. Within the hour the mail-lady came around with her daily delivery of mail for all these little companies. Hearing the story from the first business (where the key was mistakenly in their mailbox), the mail-lady informed her she still had that padded envelope in her truck & was happy to know where it should go & would take it there directly. Before long the temp agency was calling my daughter to let her know the key was back where it belonged and everyone was happy and all were finding the humor in the process. It wasn't the first time someone got confused with the mailboxes there, and it won't be the last. LOL

It's still not so funny for my daughter, but someday, maybe, she will. 😉

For many years now I’ve had a great circle of people that share similar aspects of this type of life!

Life is all about finding people who are your Kind of Crazy!

 

As the day ended we realized the daughter that fell must have fallen hard enough to shake up her brain. She’s showing signs of a mild concussion now. She has had several in the past, so we’re very familiar with it.

What a life we’ve had! This one is not my only child with a history of TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). When they are little we believe these sorts of things will be gone once they’ve grown up. For those of you with ‘littles’ now, sorry to burst that bubble! Learn early to roll with the punches and look for the best in everything!

 

See you soon!

SPARKLE APPRECIATION

 Friday, November 26, 2021

May your Friday SPARKLE!

Don’t you just love the SPARKLE of sunlight on the ocean?

I miss the ocean. As a kid, we always lived within about an hour’s drive from the ocean. The beach was a frequent and regular part of growing up.

When I graduated high school Mom moved us (her & 5 kids) from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast, almost. That move put us closer to 2 hours from the nearest beach on the gulf. We didn’t get to the beach too often there. I don’t know if it was distance, or how much time it took, or maybe it was that we kept comparing gulf beaches with the ones we grew up with and just didn’t enjoy them as much.

Still… the SPARKLE on the water when the sun catches it just right is TOTALLY AMAZING! <3

I LOVE THE OCEAN!

It offers so much.

It gives us so much.

Advice from the OCEAN

Be SHORE of yourself

Come out of your SHELL

Take time to COAST

Avoid PIER pressure

SEA LIFE’S beauty

Don’t get TIDE down

MAKE WAVES!

 With that in mind…

When you are confined to a small space for a prolonged period,

You begin to notice much more about your companions.

Make a point to notice and appreciate the good things.

It will make everyone’s life happier.

 

Something we all should keep in mind!

What have you noticed, or come to appreciate recently?

 

See you soon!

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

 

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

It’s one of those days…

…When nothing goes right

GO LEFT!

LOL

The ducks really aren’t relevant to this blog…unless you might wonder if they found themselves wandering on this sidewalk instead of going to the lake. 😉

 

My day has been anything but what was planned!

One of my girls was supposed to pick me up at 7:00 AM. That turned into 7:30, then 8:00, and kept getting changed until I was finally picked up about 9:30 AM. Good thing I didn’t have to be anywhere by a specific time. Today, I’m just being their driver. 😉 So I drove to where they needed to be, dropped them off with plans to return about noon. My drive home from there should be about 5 to 6 minutes, but ended up being more like 30 minutes! Option A is taking surface streets home. Option B is taking the highway/freeway. Option B is usually faster. As I went thru the intersection that could have been Option A my mind went to, “that would be faster today” but I ignored the thought and proceeded to the highway on-ramp. At this location I must cross 2 “exit-only” traffic lanes to get to my choice of exits. Today, I cannot merge due to a long semi in the next lane. We must be thinking alike – when I speed up, so does the semi; when I slow down, so does the semi. Time runs out – I must follow the lane and exit to the ramp connecting to another highway. It is 3 miles down that highway to the next exit anywhere. I got off there and stayed on the surface streets making my way back home.

It would have been so much faster if I could have gone left two lanes as soon as I entered the highway!

But I learned at a very early age that you always give the semi the right of way! ALWAYS!

“If you stumble, make it part of the dance.”

Not that conflicts on the highway with a semi are a “stumble,” but more like a “stumble” is an unplanned change in events or plans for that day. And today my conflicts with semis on the highway changed my plans more than once today! Still, I have to give those semi drivers today a huge shout-out! It’s too much to share it all here right now. Those guys today were AWESOME! I wish I could say the same for some of the other drivers on the road with us today. I wish I could say the same about the rest of my day! One thing after another went ‘off plan’ all day long. It happens. I kept adjusting and moving on, going forward in whatever way possible.

My day might have been completely different had it not been for some very aware semi drivers!

For ALL of those semi drivers on the roads now…

You are special

YES

YOU

The one reading this!

So,

Jump up,

Wiggle your hips,

Wave your arms,

Squeeze your nose,

& have a Giggley kind of day!

May we all remember to find ways to make the best of things when nothing goes according to plan!

 

See you soon!

HAPPY SUNDAY!

 Sunday, November 21, 2021

HAPPY SUNDAY!

Happy

Sunday

Hugs & Kisses

HELLO!

 

It’s been 3 months since SparkPeople shut down their website! THREE MONTHS!!!

Moving forward these last few months, if I’m totally honest, has not been easy. It’s really been a huge struggle for me! A struggle I was not expecting. I have signed up with a number of other websites that can help track nutrition, calories, meals, activity, exercise and so on. Some do allow for some form of personal journaling and some of those can be made public to other members of the website. A few of them have forums where members can discuss various subjects. All of these are aspects of what SparkPeople offered, at no charge. These other websites don’t offer ALL of these functions. Some will allow for some of these features only if you pay for the premium membership. So after months of trying to cobble together something similar to what I had in my 15 years at SparkPeople, I’ve finally accepted there will never be anything to replace it.

If Plan A fails,

remember there are

25 MORE LETTERS.

~ Claire Cook

Now, I’m moving forward with a totally different way of dealing with all those things!

Food-wise, no more counting calories! I’ve been learning exactly how my body responds to every food I want to eat. This has resulted in a more refined list of foods I avoid. I feel better & weight is steadily coming down.

Activity/Exercise-wise, no specific program. Now, I just MOVE! It’s a little of T-Tapp, a little of Pilates, a little of all the many physical therapy exercises I’ve been taught over the years, and walking whenever possible.

Community-wise, is still a work-in-progress! So much is affected by pandemic restrictions still. With the increase of online video interactions I’ve become worn out with online connections for people. So, I guess I’m coming back now. I feel ready to have more online connections with real people again. I’m ready to write again! WOO HOO!!!

Never let a 

STUMBLE IN THE ROAD 

be the end of the 

JOURNEY

You'll never change

your life until you

change something

you do daily. The

secret of your

success is found in

your daily routine

~ John C. Maxwell

See you soon!

I CHOOSE ~ ~ ~

 Friday, July 23, 2021 at 1:53PM

Have a FABULOUS FRIDAY!
May your cup overflow with
PEACE,
LOVE,
JOY,
and
Pure AWESOMENESS!!!

We are less than 4 weeks away...
Or just a little over 3 weeks away...
Does it seem real to you yet?
That SparkPeople will no longer BE?
August 17th is looming closer & closer by the day!

I'm leaning very much toward blogging back at Blogger aka Blogspot dot com again!
Some years back I was blogging there... first one main blog for everything; then spin-offs for just things that were focused on ECO-friendly stuff, or my SparkPeopley stuff, and for a 365 daily challenge thing --- I didn't quite get to finishing that. They all pretty much stopped in the fall of 2011. Why?

At first I could not even remember!
Then...

December 2, 2011
Two things happened that day that remain significant in my life.
The first was me getting my very first cellular phone account! I still have that number! I resisted for so long... but life with 6 adult kids was making having only a landline phone more and more challenging; plus I was more actively growing my business away from home. Having a cell phone had become a necessity! And now, in 2021, I don't even have a landline phone & neither do most of the people I know.

 

My how life changes... in barely 10 years!

The second thing... happened while I was on the phone, making a legal contract with Verizon, so the call was being recorded. The phone I was on had call-waiting, but I kept ignoring the incoming calls. I had one of my daughters with me at the time. She had her own phone then, so I told her to call one of her sisters and find out what was going on. She did.
As I finished the recorded part of my call, I paused it long enough to ask her about what her sister said. Then I calmly asked the person I was talking to if we could finish up the remainder of tasks later - agreed - I hung up that call.
Then I took my daughter's phone and listened to a very dear friend who was with my other daughters tell me that ...

...

...my only surviving son...

...was in an accident...

...he was being life-flighted to a hospital in the city...

...I should just go straight there NOW ...

... and she would work out everything with my girls, my niece & my sister (they lived with us then) and meet us at the hospital as soon as they could!

It was a LONG NIGHT,
a LONG WEEK,
a LONG MONTH,
and a very long year of many, many changes!
And I never went back to those blogs...until now.

So you're not left hanging:
My son, in his little Ford Taurus, was T-Boned by a DUMP-TRUCK (not loaded) estimated to be moving at 45MPH on impact. The little car was shoved over 100 yards into a nearby field.
We lived in a very small town of less than 10,000 people & almost everyone knew everyone.
Over the next few days we heard about the crash from everyone, all stating in one way or another that they didn't see how anyone would have survived it - the car was unrecognizable, just a bunch of crumpled metal. Even the tow-truck owner said that. EMTs extricated the driver with the jaws of life & he was transported to the local hospital where efforts to stabilize him for air-transport began; then they waited for the chopper to come get him.
In the city - at the Level 1 Trauma Center - he was 1 of 2 choppers coming in at the same time - literally one hovering while the other landed & unloaded.
Both were from truck vs car accidents
Both were males
Both had first names that began with the same letter & had just 1 syllable & sounded similar
Both had last names with same initial too!
Both had family members in the same waiting area!
And NO ONE realized this until a staff member came out asking for the family of M--- D. AND EVERYONE STOOD UP!
It was confusing & frustrating at the time, but one of the lighter moments of the next week or so... for both families.

For my son - he arrived - was quickly assessed & we got a few minutes with him before the first of many surgeries began.
For the other young man - it was similar for his family. He was able to go home 4 or 5 days later.
My son had 3 surgeries lasting into the early morning hours and was in a coma for the next 5 days. A week in ICU. A week in a regular room. A week & a half in rehab. 4 days home. Another week & a half back in the hospital in a regular room - due to blood clots in his lungs. From January to April he was home and we were driving twice each week into the city for more rehab therapies.
When he was first awake he had very little memory - struggled to recall his own name. But in time that improved - to a point. A year later he still could not recall much beyond age 10 or 11. He was 20 - had graduated high school with honors - loved playing football & was really good at it - excelled in math & all things related to numbers - and loved cooking & experimenting with foods. This accident left him devastated & depressed. From May to August we worked at finding the right program to continue his healing.
The more we sought help for him, the more we realized we did not have the means to pay for it! The brain injury also left him dealing with hard to control emotions, which made life at home even more challenging. Ultimately we decided on a program at the University of Wisconsin in Green Bay (about 3 hours driving, from home) that was willing to take him in as a regular student based on grades prior to the accident and work with him remedially to see if he could "catch up" again. That first year was "touch & go" by anyone's standards! More than once, we ALL wanted to quit - and just bring him back home as he was! But we didn't - we all worked together to help him stay involved.
He spent 5 years there - went from C's & D's in the first semester to all A's in his last semester. He was able to do a season with the GB Packers, working with the team's nutritionist. He advanced through various levels of Student Ambassador ~ Advisor ~ Counselor ~ and so on. He earned 2 degrees (Dietitic Nutrition & Physical Therapy)!!! Went on to post-grad studies in Ohio for 2 years! And he is now working full-time as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist where he also provides guidance on physical fitness.
Oh, and he's married now too! 
There are still years of his childhood he does not remember & returning to the area he grew up can still be traumatic as he can run into old friends who remember him but he has no clue who they are.

One of the lessons here is this: LIFE GOES ON

We can either choose to mourn the changes & losses ~ perhaps indefinitely
Or we can choose to GO ON and see what exciting things could be happening in the future!
Change is hard!
Loss is hard!
Moving on is hard!
We all do HARD THINGS all the time, really! It's just some things are harder for others than for us; and some things are harder for us than for others.
We can choose!
We can choose to do the hard things now & see what we can turn those into in our future!
We can choose to just sit it out; wait until there is no choice left & see what happens.

Doing nothing is easy,
That's why so many people do it.

BUT ~ ~ ~

Marriage is hard, Divorce is hard, Choose your hard.

Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard.

Being in debt is hard, Being financially disciplined is hard, Choose your hard.

Communication is hard, Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard.

LIFE will NEVER be EASY.

IT will ALWAYS be HARD.

BUT we can choose our hard!

CHOOSE WISELY!!!  

New Beginnings Soon To Come ~~~ Last Month of SP

Today is Sunday, July 18, 2021

It's a beautiful, warm, breezy, summer day here in North Central Wisconsin!

IF you followed my blog in the past, well, it's been a long while since I've posted anything here. That's changing in the next few weeks!

My beloved SparkPeople website is shutting down on August 17, 2021. I've been with SP since April of 2006. For 15 years I've shared my regaining-health (aka, weight-loss) journey with the 25-million users there! I've come to know so many people around the world, also on similar journeys. Many of us are searching for ways to keep going with what we have come to rely on at SP. There truly is no other website that will do ALL that we have enjoyed doing at SP!

For my journaling, or blogging, I'm returning here to Blogger/Blogspot. It's familiar and fairly simple. In the next few weeks I hope to help some of my fellow SP refugees find their way here. At some point I want to create a list of all of us that will be simple to access so we can all find each other.

Meanwhile I'm keeping up with R3 as my lifestyle for regaining health. It's simple! No counting calories. No counting servings. Just learning what is right for your body!

I was going to consider doing the same blog here and over at MyFitnessPal, but there seems to be some kind of weird server issue today. So for now blogging is just here. I'm still torn on where to do my food tracking and logging various activities and/or exercise: MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, FatSecret, MyNetDiary, or LoseIt ~~~