Good Rainy Day

I loved being in God's Word today while waiting at the doctor's office two different times today! This made it a great day in spite of not being able to plan my day like I wanted to. There were some sweet spirited people at the doctor's office (and this is also true of the guy who put air in my tires this morning).

It's been a rainy day today. It was dark and overcast and I got a little wet walking to my car after my doctor's appointment. It's been raining pretty often lately but sometimes I wish we got more rain when it does rain. I can't believe winter is going by so fast. We usually have plenty of cold weather in February but see some spring weather late in February often with blossoming azaleas, which are one of the first sweet harbingers of spring, and so beautiful. I love the seasons. I'm thrilled with different things about each season and praise God's majestic handiwork.

I just started on a 1,500 calorie diet and I'm excited about it. This is phenomenal because in the past I've always wanted a heartier diet than 1,500 calories. Now I welcome petite portions and the awareness of a low level of hunger because I'm anxious for the demise of my excess fat. I planned a diet based on things I really like. I can manage to get some variety but basically eat a lot ot the same things each day --which eliminates meal planning which can be stressful when you're on a diet. I heard that if you have a starting and ending point for doing something it makes it easier to be disciplined. So every two weeks I'm going to take a couple of days off and maybe go out to eat or cook a great meal that I don't usually eat because of the diet. Preparing a light dessert is also going to be a part of my break from my diet every two weeks. I'll just eat one portion and give the rest away. I want to do a Youtube video about starting my diet and to keep up with my progress but I need to get someone to film me because I don't have a video camera.

I was reading Job 39 today where God is asking Job if by Job's wisdom certain animals get their characteristics, some of which are stunning. Job had asked God a lot of questions about why his circumstances turned out the way they did and about God's dealings with him. Job 39 puts light on why God lets things happen that we don't understand, because we don't know significant things about God's creation, illustrating how much more God knows than we know. We can be secure in the fact that God lets things happen because of the divine plan of our loving creator.

Spring Weather!

We've been having some absolutely wonderful spring weather. I've been enjoying it so much, especially being that it's right on the heels of some very cold winter weather. I've really been enjoying taking walks and am walking about 33% farther each time-- four laps around the park instead of three, which is about a mile. I really want to keep walking farther and work up to two miles or more. With this weather I think I'll try walking twice a day. Today was real overcast and damp so I didn't walk. I find that my energy level is so vulnerable to rainy or overcast weather. I had plans to clean and grocery shop today but about all I could aspire to was a long nap and running an errand. Tomorrow it's supposed to be sunny with continued spring weather. I'm so glad that the warmer weather because now I won't be afraid that the indoor pool will be too cold to swim in. I can't wait to go swimming!

In the midst of trying to diet, I feel like I've gained a little weight. I do weigh but the scales usually really fluctuate a lot. It's been difficult to stay within 1,800 calories lately and I've been eating my mom's sugar free cake pretty often, which adds atleast 250 calories I can't afford. I think I'm not going to let myself have any of my mom's cake unless it's on the weekend. I'm going to make a renewed effort at counting calories.

I was so glad to write another post for my Scripture blog. After being hospitalized recently and being on medicine that elevated my blood sugar, I really didn't feel like myself at all for a week or so. It was frustrating to think that I might just be stalled in writing the Scripture blog, so I'm real happy to get it going again. I wrote a new post yesterday and am going to try to post every day if I can.

I really want to memorize some more Scripture acrostics. I'm going to try to work on this more and try to get on the internet less. I've been wanting to write a book which would contain my Scripture acrostics. I've decided to write an e-book! It will have my Scripture acrostics plus two or three more chapters related to God's Word, memorizing, and how to write Scripture acrostics. I plan to begin working on this soon and I can't wait for people to have access to it. I think it could really be helpful to people because the Scripture acrostics have helped me so much. Hopefully I will do a second edition of this e-book which will have exhortations for each Scripture acrostic.

September Mornings

I've been thoroughly enjoying these September mornings. A taste of cool weather is so nice. The sunlight is beginning to mellow a little bit and it's just lovely. I got dressed for church this morning and sat and visited with my mom on her porch. Hummingbirds are frequently at the feeders and sometimes fighting. Squirrels scamper around. I also heard a couple of loud "thwacks". Magnolia seed pods are starting to fall. These seed pods are so pretty when they are closed and when they are open the seeds look like red beans. I'd been anxiously awaiting September and I love it.

So Hot Now, Summer Starts Tomorrow

It seems like we've been in the height of summer for a few weeks. It was 100 degrees in the shade today. I'm so thankful for a good air conditioner!

I'd been eating too much fast food which has left me not feeling well. To counteract this I've been eating wild salmon sandwiches, asparagus & watermelon (I just love watermelon) and drinking blueberry walnut yogurt smoothies with flaxseeds, green tea and organic apple cider vinegar mixed in a glass of water. I'm beginning to feel much better. I'm so glad I've had energy this evening.

I'm getting back on track on Professor Horner's Bible Reading System. It's been working great to open an internet window that has all of the day's Bible reading each morning as soon as I get up. Then I make sure I get my Bible reading done as well as surfing on the internet whenever I get online. This seems to be a great approach but after doing today's reading I noticed that at the web address where I was reading it, it was replaced with a new website. When trying to find another option I found Dr. Horner's Bible Reading System supported on Youversion.com All I had to do after signing up was click on "Read Plans" and select Professor Horner's Bible Reading System. I've completed day 91 but this started me out on day 1. I clicked the "Next Day" button 91 times which brought me to day 92, which I've now got bookmarked. I'm relieved there's no longer a problem with finding my daily Bible reading online.

I'm glad I can still do my Bible reading online in the Bible version I prefer. I love reading the different versions of the Bible, but the New King James Version is my choice for reading my ten chapters everyday. There are many versions of the Bible available at YouVersion.com including some of the great new versions such as (ESV) and (NET)!

Pollen!

I was almost beside myself because I love to walk this time of the year but wind, heavy pollen and contact lenses just don't mix. Ouch! One year I lost a contact lens when pollen got in my eye. It was almost impossible to resolve to go walk indoors at the gym or the mall during this lovely spring weather! I decided to go shopping and see what kind of goggles I could find. I'm so glad I found a pair of tinted swim goggles that look like regular glasses, because the plastic around the eyes is clear. These are great because they keep all the pollen out of my eyes! Problem solved.

I've been busy in the kitchen. I made some more of my healthy brownies. I've had good self-control and have been limiting myself to two brownies a day, which is included in my daily alotted calories. I froze the brownies and some red beans and rice in single servings. I made a wonderful green salad which I ate with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

My mom trimmed my hair today. I was so glad to get it trimmed. I've been using shampoo for redheads. It covers gray but seems to be damaging my hair. The shampoo smells like hair color so it must have some of the same chemicals. At the roots my hair is salt and pepper gray and I think I'm just going to let my hair turn this color naturally by stopping using the shampoo for redheads.

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.

Spring has Sprung

A two mile walk and shopping has taken all the steam from me today. I had to get a skinny vanilla latte while I was at Abertson's, getting a prescription filled and picking up some asparagus and a cantaloupe, so I'd have the strength to go to Walmart. We're having really nice spring weather and I've been wearing shorts and t-shirts. I'm loving this warm weather.

My diet is still going well. Most days I hit the target of 1,500 calories and on other days I don't go over 1,800 calories. The scales are being very stubborn but I've noticed when I'm getting the phone book off the top of the refrigerator my stomach is a lot less in the way now. I just can't wait until it's obvious that I have a smaller body. I want to keep doing as well as I can on my diet to do my best at slimming. It's full steam ahead for me, for maximum accomplishment.

There was a beautiful sunset this evening. There is always a great view of the sunset when I shop at Walmart in the evening. This evening there were so many colors in the sky. I saw powder blue, cornflower blue, robin's egg blue, pale pink, pale golden yellow and the clouds were outlined in a bright golden pink.

Sunny Cold Day

We didn't get any snow last night and it's been a cold, kind of windy day with nice sunshine. I slept really late this morning but I got plenty of sunshine today so this should help me to wake up earlier in the morning. I've tried setting alarm clocks to get up earlier but they really don't do any good unless there's somewhere I have to be. I walked about a mile and was pleased with how well I did. There's still a lot of improvement I'd like to make. My perspective is that I'm happy I'm doing as well as I am now; progress is welcome and will make me even happier.

I had a nice nap after my walk. Then I got up showered, cooked supper, cleaned the kitchen and began working on memorizing more Scriptures. While I'm memorizing the Scriptures I surf the internet too.

I like quinoa and just tried it for the first time yesterday. It's classified as a grain but it's really a seed of a spinach like plant. I like it cooked in the microwave with just a little salt, Splenda and cinnamon. I was eating it last night without drinking water along with it and it got stuck in my esophagus. This was really scarey and painful but thankfully didn't last very long.

I'm about to turn in for the night. Sweet dreams everyone.

Better Now!

I'm feeling so much better today and eating pretty normally too. I'm so thankful for this. It's a marvel of creation how food is digested and nourishes our bodies, instead of just sitting in our stomachs and spoiling, unless we're sick. There are so many things about our bodies' function that are wonderful-- which we take for granted.

The weather has been chilly again today with 1-3 inches of snow predicted for tonight. It's doubtful that the snow will stick since the overnight low is 35 degrees and tomorrow's high is in the fifties.

Mom visited for a little while this morning, which is kind of rare since I usually visit her. We both want warm weather again. I said that it's nice Spring isn't too far away, atleast for people like us living in the deep South.

About all I've accomplished today is grocery shopping. I enjoyed this. I ate at Subway at Walmart. I got a oven roasted chicken sandwich with lots of veggies and no cheese. I love these!

My Mom's Terriers

It's been an overcast day today but really nice and 70 degrees. I took a walk in the park and my breathing is doing better. I'm really thankful for this. I haven't had much energy today but it seems like my energy is on the increase now. I was sick yesterday and my mom really helped me a lot. My mom's two dogs, a Scottish Terrier and a Welsh Terrier, used to bark at me like everybody else. Now they recognize me from afar and don't bark. I always walk to the gate and talk to them. They didn't even walk to the gate today. They like me though. When they see me in the house they are very friendly.

An Early Start to the Morning

I woke up at about 1am this morning. I went to bed at 7pm because I was tired. Six hours of sleep is a decent amout of sleep for me. One thing nice about to waking up really early like this is that it helps you get a nice early start to the day. I woke up thinking about Philippians 4:8, which is one of my current memory verses.

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things. (NIV)

It struck me that I should really start doing this. I did this while I lied in the bed until about 3am and it was great.

When I got up I got some pinto beans on to soaking. Beans cook so much faster when they're soaked and I'm going to try to make chalupa soup. I want the beans to cook up nice and tender. I've eaten my aunt's chalupas before and they're really good. I started thinking about this yesterday and called her to get the recipe, but I thought chalupa soup would be really good. I don't know if anyone has ever made chalupa soup before! If it turns out good I'll post the recipe.

We got lots of snow Friday and it stayed on the ground for over 24 hours, which is so rare in the deep south. Yesterday I went to look at the park and a lively snowball fight was going on. I didn't get to see much of the action because most of the commotion stopped when they saw me. I heard the action begin again when I was walking back to my apartment.

When I lived on the Gulf coast, I could count on spring to make it's glorious arrival by the end of February. All the azaleas would be beautifully in bloom. Now I live a little farther north, but it's still the deep south. I keep looking at the ten day weather forcasts hoping to see a warming trend. Instead the opposite has been occurring, so I'm quite curious as to when we'll see some spring. I love the four seasons though. Winter used to be my favorite season because I loved walking in the bracing cold air. I'm a little more careful about exposing myself to the elements now. Really wind and dampness are more what I have to be careful of to try to avoid getting sick.

I'm about to do my morning Bible reading--now in the book of Exodus and 1st Samuel. I read chapters from 10 different books of the Bible. It's great.

It's Sleeting

I'm having a pretty productive day for not having slept last night. I had caffeine last night and I tried to get a little sleep in the wee hours of this morning but my back was just too uncomfortable. My back, hip, and shoulders have been giving me some problems. I'll be glad when the weather warms up. Right now it's too cool at the indoor pool for me, since I have to take rest breaks between swimming laps, and get chilled. I've taken a couple of short walks this week which I enjoyed. I've got to get out in the elements today--cold and light rain, to pay a bill.

I'm glad about what I've gotten done so far today. I'd gotten off track on my daily Bible reading. I try to read ten chapters from different books of the Bible each day, (Dr. Horner's Bible Reading System). Reading the ten chapters is no problem once I just start reading. I like to copy a few Bible verses, that really make me think, into my journal. I think it's great to take in so much of the Bible like this everyday if I can. I always seem to be reading things that really make an impact on me. Once I'd read all of the Bible, I never found a reading plan I was happy with-- until this one!

I balanced my checkbook and cooked a nice lunch and cleaned up the kitchen already. My mom just called and said I need to go pay my bill now even though I need to shower because I've been taking garlic. She said it's sleeting and the roads are going to start freezing over. Buh bye!

So Cold!

It's so cold today. I just about froze going to the gym today. I was planning on going grocery shopping but decided not to when the temperature dropped. The wind chill was 28 degrees! This is good sleeping weather. I took a long nap this afternoon, after a wonderful lunch with my mom and sister. My mom fixed beef stew, corn bread and sweet potatoes.

I walked on the indoor track at the gym for about a mile this morning. I took a walk a few days ago I had to stop every block or two to catch my breath; I have a lung condition that causes flare ups like this sometimes. Today I'm really proud to say I walked about a mile without stopping! It was a great work out! I love making progress in physical fitness. When I was swimming this week I thought it was great when I could tell my lungs were working better. I love it when I can surge though the water as fast as I want to-- so exhilarating. I still took a rest break after each half lap (only when swimming the crawl) but hopefully my fitness will keep improving. I'm excited thinking about all the calories I can burn walking and swimming now that I'm getting fitter.

Snow

It snowed yesterday! This morning my mom called me at eight a.m. to tell me to go look at the park across the street. I went to look and the park looked so pretty covered in snow! I was bringing groceries to my car yesterday when I first noticed snow flakes falling. Last night I made some minestrone to help celebrate the snowy weather. It turned out pretty good but I just added a can of tomato paste to it because I wanted it more tomatoey. I wonder if I have some Italian blood in me as much as I love tomatoes.

I just read my ten chapters of the Bible according to Dr. Horner's Bible reading system. I'm on my thirty-first day of reading but I notice I keep missing days. Now I'm trying to give myself incentive to read my ten chapters everyday by keeping track of it on my wall calendar. Here is a link to Prof. Horner's Bible-Reading Sysem.

It seems that I'm more inspired to achieve good use of my time. It occured to me that I really like self discipline. When I'm being careful to not waste time, to work toward doing something important to me, it reminds me of when I'm happily and busily getting ready for a family or social event. Practicing good self discipline is an important achievement and rewarding whether or not it's related to events.

Sometimes to help me get going I think about smaller goals I'd like to attain, which gives me enthusiasm. I've always been enthusiastic about beauty products, and I want to be as enthusiastic about cleaning something in my apartment as I am about reading beauty product reviews!

A Week of Thunderstorms

We had a week of rain forcasted. It is proving to be an accurate forecast. Late every afternoon, at about four o clock, the thunder begins and we get some rain. We also had thunderstorms late tonight with plenty of rain. Tonight the thunder started out being distant. It keeps seeming to subside then rumbling back to life, closer and louder. It seems like we've gotten more rain lately than in a long time. It's quiet now. I'll wait a few minutes and see if I can go take a shower. I just heard thunder again. I've done this three or four times. The thunder seems to be moving off in the distance though. I'm looking forward to sunnier weather because it seems to energize me but rainy weather makes me want to sleep.

Mid July Countdown

Today's been a nice day. I've been kind of tired from yesterday's swimming, shopping and busyness. Today my mom and I cooked lunch together. We had baked chicken, broccoflower with cheese, and baked potatoes. I love brocoflower but hadn't had it in years. After lunch I took a long nap. This evening I couldn't believe how hot it was when I walked to the laundry room. At least we're already almost halfway through the month of July. I'm always eager for September to arrive, not only because it's my birthday month, but also because sometime during the month of September it cools off, at least a little. My mom said she hopes we'll have a long mild autumn--me too and I'm praying for an early autumn like last year.

I made some liquid soap this evening. I have trouble finding liquid soap that won't dry my hands. I liked Dove hand soap but I can't find it anymore. So I grated two bars of Dove Cream Oil soap and melted it a gallon of heated distilled water. I hope it turns out good. It's quite thin and watery right now but it should thicken up in a day or so. The last time tried making liquid soap it solidified.

Liquid soap making instructions:

http://greenliving.suite101.com/article.cfm/diy_make_liquid_soap

Glowing Twilight

We got some much needed rain last night. The weather today has been nice and cool in comparison with the triple digit temperatures last week. There are things delightful about each season. The cool weather today whetted my appetite for brisk autumn weather.

I decided to go to the book store this evening. As I was driving home I noticed that it appeared half way between daylight and night and that there was such a pretty golden glow to everything. I didn't get any books today. I love books and buying new books always makes me happy. I can usually get access to any book that I want through the library though. I do have lots of books of my own. When I go to the library I wish I had a list to go by. I'd like to find some more mystery authors that I really like and I'm kind of picky. Most often in my free time at home I surf the internet and I don't even have television. Most of the time I really don't miss it. For some odd reason it's when I'm away from home that I tend to love perusing a book or magazine the most, unless it's a book so good that I can't put it down.

Storm

We had torrential wind and rain this morning. Walking into my mother's house for our family Bible study, I caught the worst of the storm. I had an umbrella, but the lower half of my dress, which was new, got soaking wet, though no harm was done to the dress. After drying off with a towel, my mom told me to stand by the stove, then she began blow drying my dress. I really appreciated it. When my sister arrived we heard that a tree was blown down near her home. My niece's boyfriend said lights were out except on our block. We had our Bible study. My brother-in-law always gives us a wonderful Bible study lesson.

After our Bible study it sounded like it was going to begin storming again and I decided to go home instead of going to church. I walked extra fast when I got to the sidewalk and saw approaching cars, to avoid a supersized splash.

After I got home I changed clothes and started eating an early lunch (I ate breakfast early this morning). Then I noticed the weather was clearing up and I really wished I'd gone to church.