ROLLING IN DOUGH?

 

When I say I'm rolling in dough, I don't necessarily mean I'm up to my eyeballs in pastries. I mean I have a little extra money coming my way and I'm trying to decide what to spend it on.

The gremlins living in my house don't like me trying to save up my money. It seems like every time I try to save a little back those gremlins go to work making as much trouble for me as possible.  The first time I tried stashing some extra cash away at my house, my water heater in my kitchen burst and flooded my kitchen. The next time I tried saving money, my toilet literally fell through the bathroom floor. The last time I tried to save up some coins, my car broke down. I began seeing a pattern where I believe God doesn't want me to depend on some secret stash I tuck away in some can somewhere. 

So what to do with this treasure trove of moolah I find coming my way? 

I've decided to invest it in ME! I'm going to buy some things to help me on my way to getting healthier. But what to choose? Should I buy a workout video to do at home? Maybe a book to help me make better food decisions? How about a fancy pedometer to count my steps while I walk? It's not a whole lot of money but enough to buy a couple of things to help me along the way as I slim down.

I need your help! If you had about $100 to spend what would YOU spend it on? Give me some suggestions and help me choose some cool things to keep me motivated...

 

"SPARK"-ING MY INTEREST...

  

Now that my world seems to have settled into a cautious wait and see mode, I can get back to checking out what is available online to help me with my goal of becoming healthier in 2015. A few years ago I came across a little website called Spark People. There was many things I liked about it then and still liking it now...

FREE CONTENT

All parts of the website are still free! That certainly makes it affordable for everyone. All you have to do is go to their website at www.sparkpeople.com and sign up for a free account to have full access to all their weight loss tools.

PERSONALIZED PLANS

We aren't cookie cutter people in a cookie cutter world. Our lives can be hectic, our eating schedules sometimes random and not everyone's perfect food plan is carrot sticks and yogurt. Spark People offers flexibility so you can create your own customized meal plans to incorporate changes that are doable if you want to create a healthier lifestyle.

PERSONALIZED FITNESS

Not everyone wants to drop and do fifty pushups. Others, like myself, might be dealing with specific health issues that make exercising a special challenge. Spark People offers hundreds of different options to get moving...from ways to track your workouts to actual videos showing how to do the moves.

AWESOME ARTICLES

I imagine no matter what my question might be regarding starting a new, healthier lifestyle, I would be able to find an article at www.sparkpeople.com to help me stay on track. I'm not the first person to have lost my way to the food table and unfortunately I probably won't be the last. But at least for the brave ones who have decided to change their lives for the better, there is a huge treasure trove of information at their fingertips and again, it's all FREE!

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Humans are not robots. We aren't wired to go through life alone and that includes fighting to create a healthier lifestyle for ourselves. Spark People has a wide range of community support groups you can join. Have special dietary needs? There's a group for that! Over 50 female? There's a group for that! Working the swing shift and trying not to eat all your meals on the go? There's probably even a group for that! 

A part of me is a deeply private spirit. But my extra weight I've gained over the years didn't happen while I sat on my tush on some deserted island somewhere. It happened in the middle of living my life among a sea of people. So why not reach out to some of those people who are struggling just like me and let's encourage each other to get over those hurdles together? That way, when we reach the finish line together, there will be someone to do the happy dance with...

 

WHO WAS DRIVING THAT TRUCK?

 

 

You know...the one that just ran me over.  Then stopped. Turned around. And ran over me again.

Some people can go through life and deal with the little problems that come their way. No big deal and soon they are back on track.

Then there are some people who the gods manage to throw EVERYTHING they've got at them just to see how they are going to handle adversity. They just sit back in their golden recliners, pop open a beer and wait to see the fur fly.

I got caught up in one of those tornadoes of destruction yesterday. The kind where I wake up barely being able to catch my breath, only to find wave after wave of earth shattering news crashing all around me and threatening to drown me any second. The bad news started around 8 and it quickly developed into HORRIBLE news by noon.

The kind of news that feels surreal and leaves you reeling from the shock of it. I didn't know whether to cry, scream, run, or grab some chocolate. I decided to cry first and then ran to the store to buy chocolate.

I'm not proud of how I handled the ungodly amount of stress I felt yesterday. I was panicking and terrified and for about two hours not fully in control of my emotions. If there is any bright side to yesterday, it's the fact I could have done MUCH worse where food was concerned.

Today is another day. The scary-bad news is still hanging over my head like a cloud of doom but the initial shock is behind me. I find I can still breath, even though they are shaky breaths. I can also think clearly about what I put into my mouth today and I count THAT as a blessing.

I don't know what is going to happen in my world tomorrow but I do know one thing:

I'm stronger than I ever imagined I could be...

ONE BREATH AT A TIME...

Stepping off on a new adventure to a healthier me requires the world to not attempt to come crashing down around my ears. I've always been a multitasker and have no problem working on a number of different things at once. But add negative stress from someone I love becoming ill and my best laid plans will quickly go to hell in a hand basket.

This past weekend were two of the worst days I've had in a long time. That's my sweetie and my constant companion of fourteen years in the picture above. He has seen me at my best as well as my worst. He has been my guardian, my companion, and the gatekeeper of my greatest secrets for many years. But now I worry  for him.

About six months ago he developed a small cyst just behind his left ear. Over the months it continued to grow until I was really concerned. Sunday I was sitting in my chair when he came up to be petted. I reached down to pat his head and drew back a hand covered in blood. The cyst had burst and now my sweetie was drenched in blood.

I fought panic as I tried to clean him up. This is my baby. I raised him from a 5 month old kitten and I didn't know if he was going to be alright. After cleaning him up as best I could without trying to bathe him, I walked into my study to discover a large path of blood smeared across two walls and one rocking chair like someone had been bludgeoned to death in that room.

I felt sick to my stomach and spent the next two days wondering if my furry companion was going to leave me. I'm a stress eater so I also worried if I was going to allowed this type of worry affect what I put in my mouth.

Fortunately, things seem to have turned out okay with my companion. Every day he seems to return more and more to his former sassy self. And as he settles back into his normal routine, I can feel my own stress levels lowering to the point I too almost feel normal again.

I count myself lucky this time. I didn't turn to food when I worried the most. Maybe this new mindset will actually work. All I need to do is remember to take life one breath at a time...