Weight Loss Saga: The Victory Chapter

This New Year’s Eve, I pledge to give the first 21 days of 2010 to God.   I will abstain from sugar (a major weakness…I have others).   I will abstain from mindless computer games and internet surfing, and will not replace it with mindless television.   I will reread “Battlefield of the Mind” by Joyce Meyer.  Above all, I will spend more time getting to know Jesus by studying the Bible. 

What could have been another chapter of a weight loss saga will now be my Chapter of Victory.   I have faith in Christ for my freedom from the bonds of compulsive eating.   Since faith without works is dead, today, with God’s help, I will make better choices.   I will not binge.  I will spend more time getting to know Him.  

It's the last day of 2009,

but it's the first day of the rest of our lives!

Comments by ZingerBug.com

Short Road Trip

Ole Boy and I took a short run to Indiana to see his daughter.   We took the boys with us.   On the ride up, it wasn't too long before both of them fell asleep.  After about an hour, Devon, 7, woke up.   He looked over at Ashton, 6, still sound asleep, and said in amazement, "Ashton is already asleep!" 

I didn't tell him he just woke up.

He thinks about me!

I was blog-hopping one night, and I came across Crystal's blog, "Be The Change You Want to See" (LOVE that title!). I landed on an entry named Beauty and Gratitude, and thought her list was just so poetic!  I emailed her and asked if she minded if I wrote a poem using some of her lines.  She didn't, so I did, and here it is:

How He Loves Me Still

Oh, how He loves me, He knows my every prayer,

Lavishing gifts of beauty that surround me everywhere.

Clouds tinted pink from a glowing sunrise,

The sheer intensity of the purple evening skies.

Like a billowing breeze blowing countless falling leaves,

Countless are His thoughts that He thinks about me!

Gently invading daybreak with a regally creeping sun

‘Til a burst of fire lights my day, crowning the horizon.

Trees with leafless branches reaching toward the sky,

Remind me to praise Him with my own hands held high.

Sometimes I stumble and fall from His will,

Ah, though He knows me, He loves me still.

No Good Deed and all that....

I happened to remember that I had put a lot of my photos of local shots on Facebook! I am now in possession of a few of my “lost” photos…and since I’m so happy, I’ll share some, all from Deibert Park.

I've never been able to capture this spot quite like this again.

Green Heron

Sea Gull

and a Flock of Sea Gulls

Interesting Story…

Ole Boy works on computer/office equipment. That’s what he does. He keeps the computers running for a lady who has a local business, and several rental houses. She had one of her renters evicted, and when they left, they left a couple of laptops, which she gave to Ole Boy, telling him that he might be able to “use some parts” from them. One of them was obviously broken, with a crack in the screen. The other one was in fairly good condition. 

Ole Boy had to order a charger in order to get it up and running. He also spent a little time repairing minor issues. Got into it, figured out it belonged to a local college student, and we decided that we should try to contact her and give it back to her.  We didn’t know if she’d lost it, left it somewhere, or if it had been stolen.  (My guess was that it had been stolen and abandoned.)  But for all we knew, she was the one evicted and left it at the house, and the landlord then had the right to do whatever she pleased with it...which was give it to Ole Boy.

I looked up the name/address we found in the computer in our local phone book. Nothing. I got online and found the name and address, no phone number. Spent a little time looking for the chick in various places, and finally found a name/area on Facebook that matched who I was looking for, and I contacted her. I’ll call her Buffy.

Facebook Email dialog:
Me: “Hi, Are you missing a computer?”
Buffy: “yes, why?”
Me: “I have one I think belongs to you.”
Buffy: “What’s your number?”
Me: I gave it to her. Probably not some of my better thinking.  I never...well, rarely give out my cell phone number.   Wish I'd thought better about that!

Telephone Conversation:
Buffy: “Hey”
Me: “Hey?”
Buffy: “It’s Buffy!”
Me: “Ah, yes. We’ve come across a computer that we think belongs to you.” Then, in an effort to get a little further information and ascertain I indeed did have the right person, I said, “Did you lose your computer?"
Buffy: “My house was broken into, and it was stolen.” She then described it to a tee, and I’m satisfied it was hers.
Me: “Yes, that does sound like the one we have.”
Buffy: “I’m out of town until late Saturday night or Sunday. Can I meet you somewhere and get it?”
(This is an important factor…keep in mind that she asked me if she could pick it up on Sunday.)
Me: “Sure, give me a call when you get back into town.”
Buffy: “Thank you!!”
Me: “You’re very welcome.”


About 20 minutes later, I get a phone call on my private cell phone from the local police department. Detective SmartyPants wanted me to "explain how I came to have Miss Buffy’s computer." I was a little…unnerved.  (My mind was trying to wrap around the fact that Buffy had called the police and given them my cell phone number without even asking me if I minded, or giving me the opportunity to contact them.  She could have told me.  She had my FB info, my phone number, my workplace.   I obviously wasn't the criminal.  Just sayin')  I told the man what I knew…but I didn’t have any of the details. I had no names, no address where the thing had been abandoned, but I told him what I knew, which admittedly wasn't much.


Det. SmartyPants “Where are you so that I can come pick this computer up and get it back to Miss Buffy?”
Me: “I’m at work right now.”
Det. SmartyPants: “You mean you don’t have it with you??!!”
Me: “Uhm, no.”
Det. SmartyPants: “When can you get it to me?”
Me: Silence…I was pretty dumbfounded at everything that was transpiring. Didn’t know what to say. Was trying to think of something. Was also a little miffed.
Det. SmartyPants: “Here’s my name and number. You can call me when you are available to meet me with it.”
Me: “Fine.”

I then got back on to Facebook and sent Buffy a message: “Wow, no good deed goes unpunished.”

Three minutes later, my phone rings again. Its Det. Smartypants demanding to know why I am on Facebook “threatening the victim.”

Me: "I didn’t threaten her. I merely said that no good deed goes unpunished. I think chick could have given me a heads up that I would be getting a call from the police. I was, after all, trying to give her back what I think is hers…I'm trying to do the right thing here.”

You know, if he’d been nice from the beginning….he wasn’t...he was rude.  Accusatory.  Abrasive.  Presumptuous.  Not nice.

Det. Smarty Pants: “…after all, she’s the victim. She doesn’t know you from Adam, and you call her (I didn’t call her) and tell her to meet you ON A SUNDAY (I never told her to meet me anywhere or at any time, and Sunday is different than Monday??) and you think she shouldn’t call the police?  Why wouldn't she call the police??”
Me: "I never told her to meet me on a Sunday, that was HER idea.  I told her where I worked, and was willing to let her pick it up here.  Like I said, no good deed goes unpunished and this phone call is proving it."
Det. Smarty Pants: "I just don’t understand your attitude. You act like victim has done something wrong….blah blah blah"

What? He was acting like *I* had something wrong! I hung up on him..though to be honest, I think he was hanging up on me as I was hanging up on him.

I called Ole Boy and told him what was going on, and he got Det. SmartyPant’s name and number and called him, and took him both computers. I want you to know, Det. SmartyPants was sweeter than sugar to Ole Boy.

I'll probably think twice about good deeds in the future.
Grrrrr
Double Grrrr to Buffy and Det. SmartyPants.


UPDATE:   This morning I find that Buffy has added me as a friend on Facebook!    ????   

Hump Day

I lost everything on my computer...two hard drives worth.   Never buy Lenovo.   It's all because of a stupid partition giving me a very small C drive.   Anyway, I had a pretty good back up for every thing except my pictures taken in 2008 and 2009.   No telling what else...I'm sure I'll discover it as I go along.  

I'm having to buy Photoshop again....but it's on sale and it's a newer version, I'm not too upset about that.   HATE it about my pictures.

I do still have my camera card from my last Gatlinburg trip.   But that wasn't the best photo op I've had in Tennessee.

I'm trying not to think about it.   The more I remember about what was on that drive, the worse I feel.

I need some proper sympathy.

Six Word Saturday

Visit Cate at Show My Face and see other Six Word Saturday entries.

My Angels

Meet the Grandchildren

 Devon on Hippie Day, and just being his Cool Self

When Devon Jeremiah (Jeremiah means "God will raise up; God will set free) was 4 months old he developed a painful knot in his leg. Over the next two days, it tripled in size. His local pediatrician diagnosed him with sarcoma and sent him to St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis, TN (WONDERFUL, wonderful place). He was diagnosed with sarcoma there, as well.  (The absolute worst day of my life was when my daughter called me from Memphis to tell me that the doctors had diagnosed cancer there, too.  I had been there with her for the first few days, but had come home to finish the work week out and go back on the weekend.  I was at work, I hated that she was over three hours away from me.   I remember holding it together while she was telling me, promising her that I was on my way.   I remember calling my mom and losing it...even now, I can't type this without crying, knowing that I had a happy ending!) His blood count was very low, and he was given a blood transfusion. They did a biopsy of his knot, and put a chemo port in his little chest. All this was going on over the course of a week or so.... doctors were getting ready to do surgery, and realized, finally, that the child didn't have one cancer cell in his biopsy.

I have to tell you that there had been a LOT of prayer about our situation. I truly do not know if there were originally cancer cells found or not, or if cancer was just the assumption. But, we were back to square one, not knowing what we were dealing with.

The doctors started going back over his medical history (remember he was only 4 months old) and realized that just before the knot formed, he'd been given a shot of Rocephin in his leg, for a 104° fever that wouldn't break. With that information, they figured out that he had a hematoma from the needle sticking into a muscle, not sarcoma, and the origin was no Factor 8 (the clotting factor) in his blood. His diagnosis was changed from sarcoma to hemophilia. The port in his chest was then used to supply him with Factor 8 instead of chemo. He is now a healthy, handsome 7 year old, getting factor when he needs it, for cuts that won’t stop bleeding, or knots and bruises that bleed internally.

Ashton's Cool and Handsome Self

When Ashton came along....very early...(for one day in his life, he weighed a mere 1.15 lbs., about as big as a package of baby wipes) life was rough enough without having the added issue of hemophilia.  He was born with a bleed in his brain which God mercifully cleared up.  He became very sick and lethargic and could not even be fed through a feeding tube because the residual was so bad.  At the tender age of 1 month 2 weeks old, and under three pounds, he started moving and wiggling, and moved himself up onto his knees. He came home after several months in NICU (neonatal intensive care unit).  Almost a month after his extended hospital stay, they went back to the hospital for a visit, and he seized up and stopped breathing.  Thank God they were at the hospital, or he would have died!  A man stood over him for an hour or more manually pumping air into his little body until they got a machine to do it that fit his size.  

He couldn't talk when he should have been able to, so he was given speech therapy.   He is now the most lively, energetic, talkative and healthy little boy in the world. Lucas (his middle name) means giver of light. Well, wouldn't you think so?! He is an inspiration. Never give up! 

Then there was Samara (the name means "Protected by God")…the picture of health and beauty since Day One. She is now three, and our little princess…at least that’s what she tells us..and it's what we believe!

The Sacrifice of the The Cross

The Greater Love

The Sacrifice of the Cross

I knelt at the altar in an unworthy state
My misery fell in tears, an opened floodgate

So undeserving to even bow at His throne

I had made a decision, but I didn't do it alone.

Difficult it was to kneel before the King

For I knew I was sullied, defiled, and unclean.

My life was tumultuous, my choices unwise

But kneeling at the altar, God heard my cries.

Oh, so unworthy to call on His Name

But there at the altar, love overcame!

Blood shed by Him paid the price long ago,

Although undeserving, I was made whiter than snow.

The enemy lost, many years he has striven,

For Mercy was abundant, my every sin is forgiven

I have been washed by the blood of the Lamb

Saved by Jehovah God, the Great I AM.

I had made a decision, but I didn’t make it alone,

My Father called; He is now my Cornerstone

And because I knelt, because I called on His Name,

The greater love, the Cross, was not in vain.

Greater love hath no man than this,

That a man lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

~Margaret

My Blue Eyed Wonder

My Little Blue Eyed Wonder

(A Mother's Lament)

I should have spent more time 

With my little blue eyed wonder.

Does she know how much I love her, 

Or does she think I shunned her?

My little blue eyed wonder, 

My heaven here on Earth,

I've loved her more than life itself 

Since before her day of birth.

I wish I could just hold her hand 

And take her into time,

To show her just how much 

Her life is intertwined in mine.

I don't have the words I need 

To tell her all she needs to know,

But some things just can't be told, 

She'll have to live to grow.

If I had a perfect world 

And just one life to give,

I would give it to my blue eyed girl, 

And there in peace she'd live.

But my world is not perfect, 

Though my heart is filled with love

For my little blue eyed wonder 

Sent to me from up above.

You brighten even sad days, 

My little blue eyed child...

For often when I think of you, 

I realize I've just smiled.

~Mom

Written when my daughter was going through some very rough teenage years.
I love that Girl!

Wrap Your Mind Around This.

(From an old, but dazzling, email I have stored.)

Beyond our sun is a big universe...

Antares is the 15th brightest start in the sky. 

It is more than 1000 light years away.

How big are we?

And yet, Someone knows how many hairs are on your head,

and not even a single sparrow dies apart from His will (Mt 10:29-31)!

My Own Added Thoughts...

I spoke with the Creator this morning...

Did you know He thinks about ME?

Tuesday's Woes

A Retraction

Regarding my previous entry, I sent Ole Boy a picture of the “thing” in my water yesterday.   The joke was on me.   Appears Ole Boy heeded my "that plant needs something" comment and threw a fertilizer stick in a bottle of water "to dissolve" and PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE!!???!!    I guess I should explain to him how to (1) use the sticks (stick in the soil, water, and let it slowly dissolve), and (2) to be wise about where you put potentially dangerous things I might attempt to digest!    After grossing out the entire office, I had to tell them what it really was in my water.   We had a good laugh, then later…. I picked up (for the THIRD time) some left over Halloween bubble gum from the secretary’s desk and chewed it.     Unbeknownst to me, the bubble gum squirted out blue goo and turned my tongue and teeth blue.   Again, THREE times I did this before I noticed I was a sickly blue hue!  The secretary accused me of drinking the fertilizer water.  I brought a nice, clean, seal unbroken bottle of water today.   (I don’t know why I didn’t notice the broken seal yesterday.   I guess I was too grossed out.)

Dieting

A diet is a vain hope for losing weight.   For me anyway.   I’ve tried most of them at least five times.   Some of them were such bad experiences I only did them once.   One of those was “The Rice Diet.”   This is an almost salt free attempt.    The pounds will come off, no doubt.   Do you have any idea how insanely good Mexican tastes after a week of extremely low sodium?    It’s like a taste explosion!   Another one-timer was called (I think) the Mayo Clinic diet.     You get very little to eat:  an egg, a banana, a piece of toast, cottage cheese, and a few other equally bland items for three days; then eat “normally” for four days and lose 40 lbs in a month.   Apparently they had no clue what my normal was.    I did lose 10 lbs in three days.   I think I gained 12 in the four “normal days.”   Why bring this up?   Because it’s December 1.   I’d like to get a head start on the infamous New Year’s Resolution Diet (which generally is late getting started and lasts no longer than any other attempt.)

Why start today on a diet you can put off until tomorrow, or Monday, or the first of the month, or after the holiday, or…or… or…    My “grown-up Christmas list” includes being able to say on January 1, 2010, that I lost weight in December.    

Time to get to work...until later...