A Lovely Spring Day

I had a wonderful two mile walk this morning. The temperature was a brisk sixty degrees this morning, a beautiful overcast day. I saw heavy pollen falling from a tree all over the road. My stamina and breathing during walks is still improving! I can't wait to bump up my walks to the 2.5 mile then 3 mile levels because I get to see more beautiful scenery and really lose weight when I do this.

I had lunch with my parents and made grilled wild salmon. My mother liked the way I fixed it. I was glad because I've been encouraging her to eat salmon for the great health benefits.

I fixed some delicous healthy brownies, with organic wheat flour and honey, this afternoon. I'd been eating a little Lindt 85% cocoa dark chocolate everyday, but decided to try something less expensive. I know dark chocolate has health benefits and I'm hoping that these brownies, made with three-fourths a cup of cocoa, will be just as good for me. I had to learn how to have self-control in eating dark chocolate, and now I want to exercise the same self-control with these brownies. I cut the brownies into 200 calorie servings and ate one a few minutes after they came out of the oven. For supper I ate two brownies. From now on though, I just want to eat one each day. I froze the brownies in convenient individual servings.

I had wanted to jump in on housecleaning after I cooked the brownies but I was tired. I got on the computer for a while. After I was rested I cleaned the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink, vanity area and mirror. This wasn't a whole lot of housecleaning, but each little bit that I do lessens the number of chores that need to be done, which encourages me.

My Heart and Housecleaning

I was glad to have a day without anything planned except to do laundry and housecleaning. I got a lot accomplished today and plan on working on the rest of the things on my "to do" list tomorrow. It wasn't a struggle at all, as it often is, to nudge myself to start housecleaning today. I'm still saying a lot of scriptures I've memorized to help me with this. What greatly motivated me today was a commentary I read on Proverbs 17:3 last night.

Proverbs 17:3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts. (KJV)

I was really thinking about all the effort I had put into memorizing scripture, for the purpose of becoming diligent in caring for my home, realizing that God was going to try my heart after I got up and had breakfast to see if I actually would be diligent. I got a lot of things completed that I had been wanting to do and I even had fun doing it.

I took a one mile walk this evening and I'm glad that, even though I didn't walk two miles, at least I got in both housecleaning and a walk today. If I keep at it I think my stamina will improve and then will be able to take more two mile walks. I want to be sure I work at keeping a clean home home and not just on exercising.

Great Warm Weather

I've enjoyed my day inspite of problems I'm having. Taking a walk in the bright warm sunshine was nice. The warmth lifted my spirits and has me happily anticipating spring. I would have liked it even better if I didn't have to pause fairly often due to getting winded. I still enjoyed being outside and the sunshine was beautiful. I'm not out of the woods with my back yet. I enjoyed spending about an hour neatening up my home. It looks so much better. I can tell my attitude towards housework is majorly improving. I'm quite happy about this. The time I spend doing housework adds up and I see the beginnings of the progress I want so much. My latest Scripture acrostic is really changing my outlook for the better. I love the effect God's word has on me.

This evening I went out to eat catfish with my mom, stepfather, aunt, uncle and his sister and brother-in-law. The catfish was really good. The golden glow of the sun setting through the woodsey country side was so pretty. They were talking about eating cake after returning to my mom's home. I thought about it but came home and had a no sugar added popsicle. I've found that if I want my diet to continue, I can't resume my dieting fast enough. Most of the time when I eat something out of the ordinary I'm careful to make sure I count calories to make it fit into my daily calorie allowance.

I Got Motivated

Lately I've been getting sleepy at about 6pm every evening. I'm glad I'm not even sleepy yet at almost 8pm so maybe I'll sleep through the night. In the middle of the night last night I was wide awake and wrote the Scripture acrostic in the previous post. God brought to my mind several of these Scriptures right before I wrote the acrostic. I got more Scriptures from previous acrostics that I had written. I made this acrostic to inspire me to be better at taking care of my home. Years ago I used to be pretty good at this. I want to do my best and be consistent in it. I memorized the Scriptures that make up the first word in the acrostic tonight. I got so motivated after reciting these scriptures that I did some cleaning I'd been procrastinating over a long time. This builds my hope.

I'm really glad my diet is going well. I'm doing great at getting this diet tailored perfectly to fit my needs. This is really nice because I get to eat things I really like, even dark chocolate. On another post I might describe my diet to you. I really want to burn calories exercising, plus exercise makes you feel great. I didn't get to walk this afternoon due to wheezing. This is from a drug side effect. It seems like anything that really helps my joints causes wheezing.

I'm looking forward to my Aunt and Uncle's visit. They'll get here tomorrow afternoon. My youngest sister and I didn't get together yet this week like we'd planned, but we might tomorrow.

Back Home

I had to be hospitalized for a few days this month and then stayed with my mom and stepfather for a few days. I sure enjoyed the hospitality. While I was in the hospital my mom started spring cleaning my apartment, getting rid of clutter and getting it organized beautifully. My sister helped her and I helped some too after I got out of the hospital.

My mom is so precious to me. She has golden character! I love seeing her purposefully carrying out her plans. She's humble and winsome. I love her so much! It means so much to me that she is my mom. Now she is getting ready for my stepfathers family to be houseguests. She cooked gumbo today and I cut up some vegetables to go in the gumbo.

I've been getting some home health therapy and had to rest for about three hours today after having to do thirty chair push ups! I took a two mile walk this evening--so glad to be able to do this again and hopeful about getting to go swimming soon!

It seems like God is pouring His grace out on me in various ways, and I'm so thankful and truly want to live in a way that glorifies Him. God has helped me to recuperate quickly from a serious health issue. I'm so glad I'm really on a good track with my eating and am losing weight. I'm so glad my apartment is really clean, including my walk in closet and I'm looking forward to inviting some friends over --probably for some homemade sushi.

Springing Into Action

I'm in a good decluttering-organizing-cleaning mode. I'm pretty happy with what I've gotten done today but there's still plenty to be done. At least the more I get done the better I feel about it and I'm even getting kind of excited about it. I want to get it to where I'll be able to whizz through and clean without so much decluttering. Often decluttering involves a lot of deciding what to do with your stuff, which my brain cells can be very hesitant to do, even though I'm a smart person. I'm glad I sprung into action today and it makes a difference. I took lots of breaks because my stamina isn't that great. During my breaks I played Parcheesi on the computer, which I love. I didn't get on the internet though, because it always seems like there's always something else I want to see on the internet which can keep me from getting things done.

I discovered a really great way to wash shower curtains. Take the shower curtain outside and lie the curtain on it's unprinted side or on it's dirtiest side. If someone can assist you with this folding of the shower curtain (described next), it will be a lot easier and quicker. Turn down the top third of the shower curtain, then fold the the top fold of the shower curtain to the bottom of the shower curtain (kind of like you would fold a letter to go into an envelope). This exposes the dirtiest part of the shower curtain and protects the printed side. It also makes it fit into the washer really well. Before putting the shower curtain in the washer, add about 1 cup of white vinegar and and let the water agitate to disperse the vinegar. Put shower curtain in the washer. Let it agitate for about five minutes, then soak for about 2 hours. Then let agitate some more and finish washing cycle. My shower curtain got really clean.

Cleaning Can Be Fun

Today I actually enjoyed cleaning my apartment. I did some re-organizing while I was cleaning and worked for about two and a half hours. Plenty is left to be done but I'm excited to have a wonderful new attitude. Hopefully this will have such a positive affect that my whole apartment will get really cleaned well and stay in good shape. I rejoice that God is helping me to be successful where I've been having a struggle. This has been one of the things I pray about most.

There is a lot that has to happen right in order to obtain a clean home. You have put your claim on the time and make wise use of it for cleaning ever to take place. I seem to be getting on the war path with things that waste time. You have to decide on the things you want to focus on and choose strategies that will accomplish your priorities. Cleaning and organizing are really skills. I think it's really cool to put these neat skills into practice. I like accepting the challenge of accomplishing chores worthwhile for a clean home, rather than having nothing to show for my time. It makes me enthusiastic to jump in there and get things clean. Thank you God for helping me so much in my attitude and ability to to keep a clean home.

Heat Wave

My mom is good about telling me gifts that my stepfather would like. For Father's day though she suggested a card and said there's not really anything he needs. I thought he might enjoy a book though. He's 87 years old and hasn't been quite as active recently. I got him a book of a private history of the White House for the last two years. He said "that sounds interesting!"

We are having such hot weather here and we sure need some rain. I love being inside in the air conditioning but I need more sunlight to help me get my days and nights straightened out. I can't stand the limbo caused by things like: having my days and nights mixed up; straying from the track of eating healthy; and procrastination instead of keeping my apartment clean and neat. I seem to get out of balance easily. The dishes are all washed though and I just straightened up my dressing room. I'm going to persistently try to keep getting a little bit more done so I can make progress instead of repeatedly putting things off. I think God is trying to teach me to make sure my choices are prudent and to not procrastinate.

The Hourglass and House Cleaning

I was really set on catching up on housecleaning today. Suffice it to say that I didn't have any pep this morning. I went to the gym because I thought this would help and I needed to exercise anyway. I had a great workout. I've swum for the past two days too. When I got home I was tired and needed a nap. I got some vacuuming and laundry late this afternoon. This seems to be the most productive time of the day for me to do housework; there's just not as long a period of time to do it! I was pretty exasperated about being behind on housework, but while vacuuming I started thinking about how nice it will be that my carpet is vacuumed. Sometimes little things like this can change your whole perspective and I'm grateful for this. As much as I would like to, I don't know if I'll ever be able to spend my morning hours whizzing around and getting everything spotless. I'm uncomfortable wasting useful time, so I atleast need to find something worthwhile to do in the morning. Well I did make a helpful spreadsheet for keeping up with Dr. Horner's Bible reading system, after I couldn't access the website where I've been reading all the scripture. The problem is I keep forgetting to do my Bible reading.

I did a Bible study on lust this week after hearing my sister talk about the things of the world-- the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh & the pride of life (1st John 2:16) and the need to renew your mind (Ephesians 4:22-24 & Romans 12:2) . About a week prior to this, while we were talking about the Bible, my sister mentioned something about lust and I remembered what one of my memory scriptures said about this and quoted it to my sister. It was Ephesians 4:22-24 and my sister reflectively said "yeah, I see that". My interest was piqued after hearing my sister relate this to 1st John 2:16 and I decided to find out all I could of what the Bible says about lust. I'm hoping to be sharing this Bible study with you soon. It consists of about fourteen scriptures in an outline; the Bible has so much to say about lust. It's great to immerse yourself in God's Word; I especially love finding out all I can of what God's Word says about a given topic.