Winding down...

I love the holidays... *sigh*

The wonderful smell of food cooking... holiday parties... people are usually in good spirits...
I especially loved holiday time when I was married. I am such a social person and I loved having a companion who would go places and do things with me...that is the ONE thing that brings me down this time of year...

My favorite activity during the holiday time when my husband was living was the wind down... after a day of cleaning, shopping, cooking, visiting, etc., we would spend those last moments before going to sleep going over our day... recapping all the stuff we did... talking about the funny stuff that may have happened...something someone did or said that truly caused us to pause for a moment... barely speaking above a whisper we would wind down... bonding as a couple... we would wind down... finding our comfortable spot on our respective sides of the bed... I felt blessed to have those quiet moments with him... no tv, no phone, no babies,... just us... reliving our day, appreciating our bond.... and each other... winding down...

Its been 17 years... and I still miss this... *sigh*

Looking forward...

54 days left in the year...

While I cannot say what the future will hold, I am looking forward to the new year... 2011 has held quite a bit of heartache and headache for me... I'm ready for the change that comes with the new year...

54 days left in the year...

Although I do not make it a practice to do new years resolutions, I do reflect and try to see what DIDN'T work ... and seek to create change for the better... I am going to work on my weight (again...), and I am going to work on being a happier me... I will finish this master's degree come 2012 (November) and my eldest son will start his senior year in 2012...some wonderful things to look forward to...

54 days left in the year...

I promise to take better care of my heart... making decisions from my mind, will and intellect and not based upon this desperately wicked thing (that's what the bible says...) that constantly tricks me into thinking I know what love is... and it only turns out to be hurt... again... yes... I will seek to save my heart from unnecessary hurt and pain... love aint what its cracked up to be unless its the love of God...

54 days left in the year...

I will work to be a smarter, stronger, slimmer, shapelier sista... I will find opportunities to step outside my comfort zone and make my life richer and fuller...

But in the meantime... I will enjoy these next few weeks... enjoy my friends and family and loved ones...
enjoy the holiday parties and gatherings...
enjoy the food... (YES!)
enjoy the company...
enjoy me...

because...

there are only 54 days left in this year...but none are promised!

losing...

I am proud to say that I am a loser... of 19 lbs! I have been loosely following the Michael Thurman 6 week body make-over. Its been about 6 weeks and I bet if I had been more disciplined, I would have lost a lot more... but to lose 19 lbs and not exercise and not be on a very strict diet? I'll take it. LOL

Aint Nobody Mad But Tha Devil....

Hey!

Why is it when things are going good for you, the devil has to rear his ugly head?

I went to service Sunday morning, visited with my sister and her family at their early morning service... Had a GREAT time! I got my praise on, heard an empowering word, met and hugged so many people I can't remember how many... get outside.... tire on flat!

That would not have been a major problem if I didn't already have the spare on the back wheel.... so I am standing there... and this guy I know was leaving church, saw me and offered to help... we ended up going to 2 places before I found somewhere that carries my size tire in stock! So much driving... I was tired from just that! Ok so Pep Boys has my tires... I decide to go ahead and get both flats fixed so I could take the spare off... knowing I need 4 tires, not just two, I bite the bullet and purchase 4 tires... dropped off the main two and will pick up the other two this week... I wanted to scream when he rang up my purchase... almost s$750 bux!! But he said there would be a rebate check mailed to me for the price of one of the tires... whew! Thank you Jesus!!

Anyway, I took my friend and his family to lunch to thank them for driving me all over creation to find tires... all in all I am blessed because I could have been stranded on the highway or the tire could have blown out on the expressway...

I am thankful that God allowed me to have a blessed Sunday despite the difficulties the enemy tried to throw at me... even in the midst of hardship, I still give God praise.... which just makes the enemy of my soul even madder!

7 more days...

On January 9th, I embarked upon a journey to eat better. I decided that for 21 days I would stop eating junk, drinking sodas, eating fried foods, eating sweets. 14 days down and 7 more to go. I must add that within this time I have also restricted my flesh intake. I have had poultry (chicken or turkey) 6 times within the past 14 days (today included).

I cannot tell but my kids say I look like I've lost a few... I will weigh once I am finished with these last 7 days but I will say that when I put my jeans on this morning, I didn't have to fight as hard to zip them up! I will say it has been somewhat challenging some days... once for dinner I had an apple and peanut butter... LOL. This journey has caused me to hone my cooking skills. I forgot I knew how to cook! My daughter has been the cook lately because of work and school. Plus the fact that she was on break from school herself. She's a good daughter! But she wasn't having none of these no meat meals... she would put something in the crock pot or in the electric roaster for her and her brothers...

Hey, I did say it was MY journey... not theirs. But since I buy groceries, they still have had to modify their diet as well. No cookies... no ice cream... no potato chips. I pray I don't fall prey to these horrible food choices... I gotta lose at least 50 lbs this year.

On tonight's menu - poached chicken breasts, oven roasted potatoes and spinach. Yummy!

ok... its early 2011... and I swear I am going to revitalize this blog...

Grad school, kids, church, mama, sister, him and him who wanna be "him"... it all eats away at my time... but if you've read anything here, you will know that writing is my passion. I've actually written a book of poetry which is being featured on amazon right now... (wish I knew the link...) under my pen name of Dee Brown Baker... search me and check it out ...

Anyway, I'm back (at least once a month) and I WILL get back on the ball... hopefully I can post some pics in the future concerning weight loss... this is the year I will jump start my 100 lb weight loss... mind you I didn't say I was gonna lose a hundred pounds THIS year... I am gonna START this year...

Right now I am endeavoring to eat less meat and utilize more fruit and veggies and when I do indulge, it will be on baked, boiled or broiled meat. I am on day 8 of my journey. So far, so good. Fresh fruit juice keeps me from sodas and the veggies are seriously impacting my caloric intake. I endeavor to do this for 21 days. Although I have faith I will make it through, I will let ya know how this pans out.

Smoochez!

Ms. B