Another Year Older… Another Year Wiser…

My birthday was shared with Jesus’ resurrection day this year.  Awesome!  Another year of my life has come to an end, but I certainly do feel wiser in the health department after my 45th year. I have figured out a few things (that’s the wiser part) that should contribute to living another 46 years (at least!)  Hey, I obeyed my parents and the Bible promises a long life for obedience.  :o)  That’s what I keep telling my kids anyway!  Six small meals a day really does keep the doctor away.  I know I switched that up a bit from the original prose, but it works for me. 

Allow me to share the joy in a photo essay…. then and now.  This coming Sunday I will have been eating six small meals per day for A YEAR!  A whole stinkin’ year!  I can’t hardly believe it either!  Here is my 45th birthday picture….. please refrain from snorting coffee through your nose when you behold my loveliness seventy-seven pounds ago. At least I was sporting a cool jacket and coordinating jewelry.

Here is this year’s birthday picture…. and “the difference?” you ask.  I ate the cake last year… I didn’t this year.  My mom made a darling peeps cake that was reported to be delicious.  I didn’t feel deprived.  It was a major victory in the weight-loss journey I’m traveling.  Next year, I’ll taste the cake, but for right now I didn’t need to.  My new mantra is “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.”  So true.

So as my next year begins, my plans include finishing writing a book of our adoption journey, getting into a regular fitness routine and daily praying diligently and intentionally for each of my children.  Not that I haven’t prayed for them up until now, but I got the book The Power of a Praying Parent and realized that I needed to up the ante.  Fighting in the heavenlies is where the action is.  I’m all over it!  Feel free to join me!

Another Book in the Making

Years ago I was wide awake one fine morning at 2:00 a.m.  There was a book idea running amuck in my mind.  It was causing me to lose precious sleeping hours, so I succumbed.  Climbing out of bed, finding my journal and making my way to the bathroom I was determined to write down every blinkin’ thought, so I could get some much-needed rest.  Quietly I closed the door and flicked on the light.  After eye-adjustment-to-the-brightness time elapsed, I indeed jotted down every blinkin’ thought…. and there were 60 of them, much to my blurry-eyed surprise.  Each one a story pertaining to my life of weight loss, gain, loss, gain, loss, gain… and God.  That night I named the book Squeezing Laughter into a Leotard: Devotions for Above Average Women, and then I crept back to bed in the dark of the night and slept like a baby.

Three years ago I wrote a blog mentioning this book-to-be:  https://mysistersjar.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/wrapped-up-in-elvis/  During those three years, I had a part-time job filling out adoption paperwork and getting fingerprinted.  So no progress has been made as of yet.  I think only one of the stories is actually written down in black and white.  And once again, I’m in the great battle of food/appetite control.  The PERFECT time to write about the frustrations that chubby people face day in and day out.  REAL stories that women can relate to….. like falling off the wagon with rice krispy treats and not wanting to step on the scale tomorrow morning.

Currently, I’m down 54 pounds since April.   That sounds all great, yet I have 46 to go…. and I got slapped around by Snap, Crackle and Pop tonight, so I’m not feeling real successful at the moment.  Through the past six months, I’ve been able to identify my trigger points that cause me to eat foods that are permissible for me, but not beneficial.  Here’s the short list:

1. When I’m sick
2. When I’m alone
3. When I’m mad
4. When I’m on the phone
5. THAT time of the month
6. When I smell peanut butter 
7. Before an adoption home visit
8. When I see clutter
9. Seeing Green Corn Tamales on a menu
10. When I’m on a long vacation
11. After a friend has died
12. After a homeschool graduation
13. After cooking a meal
14. When I should be in bed
15. At birthday parties
16. When visions of sugar plums dance in my head

Like I said, that is the SHORT list.  Thanks for humoring me and reading to the end.  Hahahaha. 

Tomorrow is another day to live victoriously with my choices and my new and improved health!

My Name is Linda and I’m a Project Junky

And I’m OK with that!  I ALWAYS have a project or two or seventeen on the go.  When I don’t have projects, I feel lost.  I wander the house in my pajamas wondering what I should be doing.  Lately, since returning from Colombia with our new daughter, my project in my head was “keep life moving forward as normally as possible.”  That’s pretty well all I’ve done for five weeks…. and it’s been exhausting.  We are homeschooling.  We are going to church and to our neighborhood group.  I am grocery shopping and going to the library weekly.  Oh, and I’m teaching once a week….. Arizona History to a bunch of homeschooled high school kids.  (I guess you could consider it a project!)  But it has taken me almost 3 weeks to read the novel sitting on my bedside table.  They usually only sit there for 4-5 days.

However, (notice the switch from survival mode to productive mode here!) my mother found a darling little wooden chair on clearance (of course) with a cupcake-shaped back that will fit Nora’s tea-table perfectly!  Originally I thought that two chairs were sufficient, but her teddy bear always occupies one, so guests sit on the floor.  Three chairs are needed.  The cupcake chair needs some sanding and painting and tightening and hole-filling.  A PROJECT!

Last month my sister was in town putting on a bridal shower for her best friend.  My sister is the decorologist for parties!  She’s the bomb, baby.  Her creativity reminded me how fun it is to decorate and throw parties.  And lo and behold, a friend of mine has a birthday next week!  She thinks I’m taking her to breakfast, but I’m doing a full-blown pink and turquoise owl-themed party.  Today I’m off to find cutesy plates and polka-dotted napkins and ribbons and placemats.  A PROJECT! 

Here are just the cupcakes my sister made for the shower:

A   N   D  .  .   .  .  .  I have once again been inspired to start writing.  A little birdy put the seed in my heart… the watering began… and I’m off writing on another project.  This is a book that I have had on my heart for a long time.  About two or three years ago I was having visions of stories running amuck in my mind which prompted me to get out of bed at 2:47 in the morning, find a notepad and jot down ideas.  Locked in my master bathroom for an hour, I outlined the entire book!  This week I dusted it off.  A PROJECT!

My name is Linda and I’m a Project Junky!

Editors are my Heroes

Today, bright and early on this Monday morning, I received my edited manuscript for Laughing in the Midst of Marriage.  I took one glance through the pages and had a flash back to college writing assignments.  Let’s just say my editor worked for every penny they earned on this project.  The red on the page is prolific. 

Once at TWU an essay was handed back to me with MORE red than black writing on it.  Good grief!  Written in big red letters across the top it said, “When in Canada, Write as a Canadian!”  I didn’t realize there was a difference.

Today, in America, I’m not sure who I’m writing like???  Maybe my editor is Canadian?  I’m not sure.  Anyway, I have pages and pages to go through of black and RED typing.  I’m so thankful for someone who is trained to fix other people’s work.  It makes me look and sound good. :o)  The email said something to the efffect of, “Let us know if you accept the editor’s corrections.”  WHAT?  Like I know anything about correct grammar and syntax!  I just love to spew forth on the page.  If they said it’s right, they’re probably right and who am I to say otherwise???

So far my day timer has my week all lined up for me:  B-day lunch with Cheryl, dentist, dog shots, adoption conference call, movies, sewing a Bag for Zaza and lots of reading black and red pages.  Enjoy your start of a new week.

Sweet Victory! (well, at least sweet progress!)

See?!  It worked!  I took a two day sabbatical from MSJ and cranked on my stories for my book.  (Laughing in the Midst of Marriage: Finding Joy in Being a Wife) I was so “in the groove” after Wed. night hockey writing time (wasn’t that phrased positively?!?) that I got back out of bed at midnight and wrote two more stories while the family sawed logs. 

Just so you know, I’m a highly visual learner.  I have to SEE progress…. on charts and graphs and calendars.  I’ve made all three for this book.  So I made a chart of all of the devotionals I’m writing, divided into the four wedding vows: Better or Worse, Rich or Poor, Sickness and Health, and Love and Cherish.  (I’m not doing “til death do us part….. those stories cannot be shared in this lifetime.)  Each story has  five columns to check off before I consider it “done” and they are: written (duh), moral, Bible verses, edited and moved to final document. 

I’m sure this is scintillating information for all of you, so I will continue.  I’m shooting for 56 stories and 27 have made it through to the final document so far.  I’m one shy of half way, baby.  This is good news, considering that I was only able to work on it six of the 18 time slots I scheduled.  The problem there was the SuperCon super hero dance deal.  It wiped out a week of work time for me.  (I’m still feeling the pull in my hip flexor muscles, BTW.) But I’m back in the saddle and quite focussed for a change.

See?!?  I’m a bit on the anal side, as well as visual.  I gave myself 20 two hour work slots for Feb.  The pink circles are progress.  Notice how Wednesday night hockey practice has been my saving grace this month?  I never thought I’d be happy to sit at hockey practice.  Ever.  But I am.  Just so you are aware of my progress, there are 57 two hour slots before the deadline.  If I got one story done EACH time, it’s clear sailing.  I just passed the 17th time slot and there are 27 stories completed.  As you can well imagine, I’m breathing easier than I was a week ago.  I was a tad nervous last week.

It did dawn on me last night that I never discussed how many stories the publisher is expecting.  Perhaps I should give them a jingle.  Stay tuned…. every other day or so…. for YOUR insider information on the writing progess of Laughing/Marriage right here at MSJ.

Blog-erview by Yours Truly

So here’s the deal.  My blog buddy at  http://morethananelectrician.wordpress.com/ wrote a post answering random questions that someone asked of him.   So then he posted his answers and said he’ll send interview questions to others, if they post the answers.  Well, you know what a sucker I am for filling out forms, or answering the census questionnaires…. of course I responded.  Here are his questions and my answers… in black and white.  The truth hurts sometimes.

1.   What is something that your husband eats that you cannot stomach?  Just one???  Dr. Pepper, jalapeno peppers, coffee, cayenne pepper mixed with pure maple syrup and grapefruit juice.  Ok, that was four.  Disgusting, huh?

2.   Name one popular band or musical group that if you hear on the radio, you are forced to get up and change the channel or turn it off immediately.  OK, I need to ask my kids the name of the group, but they are all in bed.  It is a scream-o Christian rock group that gets on my nerves in a nanosecond.  (I’m thinking Skillet, or Disciple???)

3.   What is the biggest piece of advice in your life that you ignored and now regret?  Write down what you are thankful for every day.  I have done this on occasion, but wouldn’t it have been monumental if I had a record of thanksgiving from every single day??!!??  Shoot!

4.   Since you have written, how do YOU take an idea and turn it into something that can be published?  Most of my writing is about life’s situation that have come my way that I find either humorous or intriguing.  I strive for short, succinct stories that placate people with short attention spans. If I pull the stories out later in life and they still make me laugh.. or at least smile… I think, ‘maybe someone else would think this was funny too.’  I edit my writing at least 27 times, reading it out loud and then send it to my mother for more editing.  Oh, and my friend Jill edits my work too.  When I had a collection of stories, I researched publishing houses that already printed my type of stories, and sent out many proposals.  (Your Germany saga is worthy of publication, by the way.)

5.   What do you put on a hamburger?  Good question to end on.  Grilled onions, mayo, ketchup, cheddar cheese, grilled mushrooms, lettuce and tomato.  Salivating like Pavlov’s dog.

Now that all that is over with, if you’d like to participate in this little “ask me anything” assignment, here are the rules for anyone else who wants to be interviewed…

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

On your marks.  Get set.  Go!

Wrapped up in Elvis

Remember back a few months ago when I was celebrating the end of my boys’ hockey seasons??? (https://mysistersjar.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/the-fat-lady-sang-tonight/) Well, it all started again tonight.  <sigh> There I was in my cute, little silver flip-flops and denim shorts wrapped in a purple and lime green fleece Elvis blanket in the ice arena.  (Thank God someone left it in the van!) I’m trying excruciatingly hard to have a good attitude about this.  It’s a lot of driving… a lot of time away from the family dinner table… a lot of money…. but I knew all this when I married a Canadian hockey lover.  One of his first purchases five years before we had children was a pair of size 3 flannel Edmonton Oilers pajamas…. then we had a daughter first…. so we kept the Oilers jams in a hope chest for EIGHT years until our son was born… then two more years til they fit him.  I should have caught on that there was a slight addiction problem.  I’ve named it H.A.D., Hockey Attachment Disorder.  I don’t believe there is a cure at present.  I’ve been H.A.D.

 The actual fleece!!

Back to my excruciating good attitude.  I’ve decided that I must make the best of my Wednesday night drive time (one hour total) and my sitting time (one hour total).  (This is for son #2…. I’m not counting son #1… hoping that Dad will always be available for him.  His practices require driving for 1.5 hours and sitting for 2 hours…. TWICE a week.)  Having a good attitude.  Having a good attitude.  Having a good attitude. O.K.

So tonight, sitting on a freezing cold bleacher bench, I coordinated two of my four calendars, my month-at-a-glance purse calendar and my weekly To-Do calendar with check-off boxes.  (Yes, a bit anal here, but anal people get LOTS done.)  I have not found a pre-made week-at-a-glance calendar that is compact but still has 6-7 lines per day… so each January 1st I make my own out of a Walmart notebook.  This year’s was quite fat, so I’ve used pages in the back for various lists, secret codes, etc.  One such list I happened upon tonight that I haven’t read since I made it in March.  It is the list of stories for a book I plan to write titled Squeezing Laughter into a Leotard: Devotions for Above Average Women.  It’s about weight loss and weight gain and weight loss and weight gain and weight loss and weight gain and God.  I was a bench or two away from several other hockey moms and dads, but as I read the story notes I laughed out loud twice and constrained myself several other times, so they wouldn’t think I’m completely nuts.  This was the burst of energy and kick in the pants I needed to direct my hockey time.  My laptop will now be traveling with my to the Ice Den each week.  I’m itching to get started.

Can I just say that if you have a rapid metabolism and are mortified when you’re bloated and need a size 5 …. you won’t comprehend the stories I’m writing.  You may think they are humorous, but you will NEVER understand with compassion what people who struggle with their weight deal with minute by minute.  It’s like a being married to someone with H.A.D…. you don’t understand unless you’ve walked in my skates.

Wish me luck.. better yet pray for God’s voice to speak truth to a hockey mom wrapped up in Elvis on Wednesday nights.  :o)