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Reading Hope Clark’s article about setting goals made me realize that I need to write about my weight loss goal to “make it real”. I’m also hoping that writing about it will make me feel more accountability than I might feel if I try to do it on my own. So, here it is…
My 25th HS Reunion is next summer (2010). Before then, I need and want to lose at least 25 pounds. As of May 1, 2009, I am starting my 25 BY 25 campaign. NOT because I need to make a good impression on people from HS but because I weigh too much; I’m not as healthy as I should be; and my clothes don’t fit!
I promise this blog won’t become a daily whine session accounting of every bite that goes in my mouth and how guilty I feel when I eat too much and exercise too little. What it will be is a place to share my experiences and thoughts about this time in my life.
Using Clark’s 7 Steps, here is what my “plan” looks like…
1. Where do I want to be in 5 years? I’d like to be within the healthy weight range for someone of my age (40 something) and height (5′2″). If I remember correctly, that will be something between 112 – 130 pounds.
2. Break it down into a yearly plan…Since my reunion is next summer (2010), I am arbitrarily choosing May 1, 2010 as a target for losing at least 25 pounds. If I lose more than that, it will be great.
3. Set up quarterly goals…lose 6.5 pounds each quarter (May-July, 2009 — August-October, 2009 — November, 2009 – January, 2010 — February-April, 2010).
4. Divide quarterly goals into 4 monthly sets of goals…Math is not my best subject but 25 divided by 12 is 2.1. That means I need to lose at least 2.1 pounds every month (approximately .5 pound each week).
Stay tuned for the specifics of these last 3 steps. They are the pieces of this puzzle that will be put together as I go along.
5. Set weekly goals…
6. Create a daily action plan…
7. Take action…
If you have weight loss tales to tell, please share them with me. I’d love to hear from other people that have already traveled this same road.
I don’t understand why there is such celebration hype surrounding the President’s 100th day in office. Even so, I am willing to play along. To commemorate the 100th day of the Obama Administration, I’m conducting a COUNTDOWN TO SUMMER. Based on my calendar, here’s what’s left to get us (myself, my husband and 2 children) from today until the 1st day of summer vacation…
School Days – 17
Field Trips – 1
Doctor’s Appointments – 2
Piano Lessons – 3
Ballet Classes – 2
End of Year Functions – 4
Book Group Meetings – 2
Baseball Games – 3 regular season + the tournament
Soccer Games – 1
Awards Ceremonies/Team Parties – 2
Dress Rehearsals – 2
Recitals – 2
Volunteer Commitments at School – 1
Birthday Parties – 1 to attend, 2 to host
Nursery Duty at Church – 1
Days with NOTHING on the calendar – 8
Mornings until I am standing with sand between my toes – 25
Happy Wednesday!!!!
Shannon Hale – Bloomsbury, 2007
When does an interest in or love for a book and/or character in a book cross the line to obsession? After it does, how is it possible to exist and function in reality? Is it ever possible to overcome such an obsession? How?
These are the questions that Jane Hayes must answer for herself in Shannon Hale’s “Austenland”. When Hayes realizes her obsession with Colin Firth (and the PBS “Pride & Predjudice” mini-series) is affecting her real life, specifically her love life, she receives the most unusual bequest. In her will, Jane’s great aunt Carolyn provides for Jane to take a vacation to the ultra-exclusive, expensive Pembrook Park, a resort in England designed for woman to experience, first hand, the world Jane Austen lived and wrote in.
Upon her arrival, Jane Hayes is transported to the world of England in the 1800’s. She is schooled in the history and social customs of the day, outfitted in a wardrobe appropriate for the time and assigned a corresponding role to play during her 3 week stay.
The rest of the book is devoted to her experiences at Pembrook Park and how those experiences allow her to deal with previous disappointments in her love life. Like Jane, the reader isn’t always sure what is real and what is not. All of it, though, is enjoyable!
Hale always does a good job of allowing Jane to be frustrated and conflicted, even skeptical at times, without making her neurotic and immature. For Jane Austen fans, this book is a well-rounded view of the world she existed in. For all other readers, it is a totally pleasant journey to a much earlier time.
Ultimately, Jane Hayes finds the answers to her questions. Is there a happy ending for her love life? Make your way to Austenland and discover it for yourself.
1. The house is empty…kids at school, husband at work.
2. Fresh sheets
3. Clean laundry (by the end of the day)
4. Having the house to myself.
5. Being rested after the weekend
6. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want…” – Psalm 23:1
7. I am the only one in the house.
8. The refrigerator is full since I made it to the store on Saturday.
9. There’s nothing on the calendar for later today.
10. Did I mention that the HOUSE IS EMPTY? Only 18 more school days left so I need to enjoy the quiet while I can!
Reading Never Gets Old - Jeannie Keaver, The Houston Chronicle
Leadership Lessons To Be Learned from John Madden - John Baldoni
Why Susan Boyle Inspires Us - Maria Puente, USA Today
We Need More Boy Scouts - Rebecca Hagelin
Snacking Nation Loves “Hungry Girl” – Hank Steuver, Washington Post
I didn’t watch the Miss USA Pageant on Sunday night, but that has not kept me from hearing LOTS about what happened between Miss California, Carrie Prejean and Judge/Blogger Perez Hilton. Yesterday, I also happened to see the actual clip of Prejean’s answer to Hilton’s question as well as some interviews with both of them regarding the controversy.
Best I can tell, a national controversy has broken out because Perez Hilton, an openly gay man and popular blogger, asked Carrie Prejean, a beauty pageant contestant, a question and, then, threw a temper tantrum acted like an immature child when she gave an answer he didn’t like. Everyone involved acknowledges, unofficially of course, that her answer, which also happened to be her HONEST opinion, cost her the crown.
Here’s what I’d like to know:
Was she supposed to be following a politically correct “script” instead of answering honestly?
Is it not possible for someone living in and competing as a representative of the state of California to honestly disagree with marriage between 2 people of the same sex?
Did the staff of the California MISS USA organization not know Prejean had these views? Did they expect her to say something else regarding this issue?
Is it OK to discriminate against someone that doesn’t agree with your opinion? Isn’t that what happened if she lost the competition because she didn’t answer the question in a certain (i.e. popular and/or politically correct) way?
Did I miss the memo saying that free speech is no longer protected in America?
I happen to agree with Miss Prejean where marriage is concerned. I believe that marriage should be between 1 man and 1 woman. In this situation, however, I don’t think the most serious issue is the definition of marriage. What’s more important alarming is that we (Americans, in general and liberals, in particular) are so anxious to achieve conformity and consensus that we are smothering individuality, personal expression and thinking for ourselves. Regardless of the substance of her answer (opinion), I admire Miss Prejean for speakly honestly, knowing that it would likely affect the outcome of the pageant.
This whole thing started because Carrie Prejean answered a random question in a beauty pageant with her honest opinion. Isn’t that what the question(er) asked her to do?
This past weekend, it was my turn to be the “official scorekeeper” at my son’s baseball game. Keeping the baseball scorebook is one of those things that can, potentially, be VERY detailed and involved. Depending on the type of scorebook being used, there are spots to track balls and strikes, hits, outs, assists, put-outs, RBI’s, errors, substitutions and any other number of statistics that make baseball the great game that it is.
At some point during a break between innings, I noticed the posted job description for the scorekeeper. It read as follows:
“Don’t worry about all the nuances of keeping score. All we care about is the number of runs.”
Thankfully, the officials for the 8 year old league don’t want the amateurs moms trying to keep track of all the potential details of the game!
The more I have thought about those instructions for keeping score, the more I have thought about all the details and nuances that I allow to distract me. I think Christ understood that too many options and too many possibilities would be a problem for us. Otherwise, why would he have only given TWO MAIN COMMANDMENTS.
True, in the Old Testament, God gave the 10 Commandments which were part of the Law. Certainly, Jesus provided some details for how His followers were to live (sermon on the mount, the Lord’s Prayer, etc.). Often, however, He gave few details about how to handle the numerous sets of circumstances and situations we would find ourselves in throughout our lives. He gave us plenty of examples in His interactions with others and He promised to always be with us.
In the end, though, He doesn’t demand that we navigate every nuance in a certain way. Basically, the number of runs are what counts. So let’s play ball!
Lloyd Jones – The Dial Press, 2006
There is 1 white man left when the island is torn apart by war. In Mr. Pip, that man, with no teaching background, begins to teach the children of the island about what he knows, Dickens’ Great Expectations. As he carefully reads and rereads the text to the children, he becomes Pip to himself and the people of the island. When not reading Dickens, he invites all island residents to come to the school and share what they know, about anything. From those guests, the children learn about cooking, spirits and God, himself.
Through the power of literature, Mr. Watts forges significant relationships with his students as they seek to unravel the writing of Dickens. Those relationships are tested, however, when the war gets closer to the village and a sacrifice is required. Perhaps his most loyal student, Matilda, faces losing Mr. Watts and her mother, both of whom make a choice that sets her free.
Ultimately, Matilda learns more about Mr. Watts and the life he lived before coming to the island. What she learns is quite unexpected and somewhat disturbing. She must deal with this truth and use what she has learned to forge a relationship with her father in another country. She is freed from the war-torn island but not from her experiences there.
I don’t think I have ever read anything quite like Mr. Pip. It’s part Lord of the Flies and part Great Expectations with something of all the best teachers you have ever had (or read about) thrown in. There are also aspects of family, fantasy and spirituality sown in its pages also. It deals with some difficult, real-life issues like war, abandonment, sacrifice and loyalty. Even so, it’s the kind of book you DON’T want to put down. Jones’ language and descriptions let the reader know they are “witnessing” terrible things without making them feel the need to turn their heads or cover their eyes. Easily readable in 1 or 2 sittings but certainly not forgettable in an entire lifetime!
It was a short “reading” week for me because I spent some time out of town with my family for Easter. Here are a few things I did manage to read between traveling, dance, piano and baseball!
Grocery store lessons - Melanie @ This Ain’t New York
Save The One That’s Drowning - Bev @ Life of GRITS
The Day After Easter - Stephen Nichols @Reformation 21
100 Things to Do Before Kindergarten
Fierce Tears - Tina @ Antique Mommy
Working Out vs. Eating Out - Allison Abel Schwartz
My husband and children and I spent a long Easter weekend with my family in Tennessee. Other than a little cold weather and some rain, it was a wonderful time to take a break from our routine (baseball, soccer, piano & dance lessons) and celebrate Christ’s resurrection. We returned home last night. Then came RE-ENTRY and the fleeting thought that maybe that long weekend took more out of us than we first realized…
You know that feeling you have when you oversleep and you rush around and skip drying your hair and drive too fast and, somehow, manage to arrive at work/school on time? When you make it, it takes a few minutes to realize that you don’t have to rush through the whole day. Not to mention that noone else understand why you seem so frantic since they didn’t oversleep! Today Re-entry felt a lot like that. Here’s why…
First, there was the vacation time shift. When we are not operating on “school time”, we stay up late and sleep late. We eat whenever we get around to it and not according to the clock. When those alarm clocks went off this morning, it was brutal.
Then, we I faced a mountain of laundry. Even though I washed 3 loads of laundry the day before we left my parents, we managed to fill a 30 gallon garbage bag with dirty laundry before arriving home. My odds should have been pretty good that I would NOT have to pull my daughter’s class t-shirt out of the dirty clothes for her class program today. If I had laid money on that, I would have lost!
Unusually cold weather continued through this morning. While, I have seen snow in Alabama in April, that’s not the norm. This year, we have had enough warm weather to be ready for the cold to disappear until fall. I have lost count of how many times I have put winter clothes away only to have to go back and dig something long-sleeved out for a cold day.
Catching up on email has taken most of my day, off and on. While I was reading through that and the articles in my news reader, I found an article by Stephen Nichols about The Day After Easter. Reading that made me see that the early Christians faced the same issues of “re-entry” then that I dealt with today.
Think about it…after the celebration (and the surprise) of seeing the risen Christ, they had to return to their regular, routine lives. In other words, they had to realize that they didn’t have to rush through their whole day! Obviously, they didn’t face laundry and email but they did have to work their regular lives around the amazing events they had witnessed just days before. They had children to care for, food to prepare and homes to clean. They had a church to build and a living, breathing gospel to spread. Very easily, their ordinary, daily concerns survival could have overshadowed the extraordinary person of Christ that was in their presence.
It’s 3 days after Easter. Is “re-entry” my highest priority? I sincerely hope not.
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