Any Ideas for Lent?

My immediate family is composed of six members. Five of these members are of the Roman Catholic faith and one is of the Dutch Reformed faith. I am the latter. I never had to give up anything at Easter. Quite the contrary, I always got a ton of candy and toys! I grew up thinking that Mardi Gras was just another excuse for having a parade and getting drunk. It never occurred to me that it could be anything else. How can a day of the week be fat? I thought only people and animals were fat!

Since we began raising our children in the Roman Catholic faith,(for which I signed a binding document promising to raise them Catholic in order to have permission to wed in the Catholic church) I tried to set an example by giving something up for Lent every year. A few days ago, Princess Katya asked me what I was giving up this year. I laughed in my best Mike Meyers "muwahhaha" voice and told her that I wasn't Catholic and therefore I didn't have to give up anything! I was a little too pleased with my response.

She looked at me and exclaimed "moooooooommmmmmm!" in her best royal voice, and then left the room in disgust. I felt really guilty. I didn't have to be so pretentious about it. So, I began thinking of what vice or addiction that I have which I could feasibly give up for 40 days without doing harm to myself or my family. I simply could not come up with anything. I have beaten the sugar addition a few million times...no, that would be too easy. Give up TV...are you nuts!! I could stop cooking meals and make everyone "make their own dinner" for the next month or so. No, I already do that at least once or twice a week.

I decided to go read some of my favorite blogs. I came across a wonderful idea for Lent; one in which I wouldn't have to give up anything that I love. As a matter of fact, this idea is something that I love very much, so I really can't honestly say that I will be giving up anything! My blogger friend, Dawn Meehan at BECAUSE I SAID SO made the suggestion to find someone during the day who could be the recipient of a random act of kindness. It could be giving up a parking space, place in line, the last copy of David Cook's new CD that was on the shelf, etc. Do you see what I mean? I just love this idea! It takes very little effort, and once it is done, you can enjoy the great feeling of having made someones day a little brighter.

So, I plan to sneak around and do nice things for people for the next 39 days. Today, I let all of the other secretaries have the leftover donuts from the 8th grade breakfast. I didn't have one! (Normally, I would have been shoving them into my pockets, or disguising them as fruit from the fridge wrapped in paper towels.)
I can't wait to see what opportunities arise tomorrow!

Give it a shot! I think you will be surprised at how good it will make you feel! You may even get giddy and start singing old Motown songs like, "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" or "Respect!"

One less...

Another week of fun and frivolity has come and gone! Working for a school district has its perks every now and then. We were off last Monday due to Presidents Day, so my week was a tad bit shorter. One drawback, however, was that being home with some very glorious food challenged my resolve! I caved!

Tuesday was a brand new day, and I held my head high as I walked through the doors of my daily thrash & bash routine. The ironic thing is that the Health Gestapo has morning bus duty and I have to walk past him in order to get to the office where I work. I think he is related to that guy on the new show, "Lie to Me." He knows that I've been a bad girl if I don't look him straight in the eye as I say "good morning." I put on my best actress face and looked at his nose when greeting him. Okay, so I wussed out. At least I didn't grab one of kids getting off the bus and use him as a shield...that would surely be job security for me!

So, Tootsie had some extra walks this week, and I consumed mass quantities of H2O. It all worked out well...one less pound to lose, thank you God!

Hope you have a wonderful day! Remember to stay hydrated and fairly close to a loo!

Week Quatro (four)

So, as I was saying....(couldn't think of more clever intro)...I'm still at the plateau...which, is probably good since last week was a total bomb as far as "no-no" foods go! I tried to make up for it with more dog walks. I even ran more deliveries at work just so I could walk some more. I guess it worked!

The Health Gestapo at school held a meeting on Friday. It was good for me to be there. Nobody in the group is big like me...actually, no one, in my opinion, is even overweight! But it's not for me to make these judgements. Some of them are really watching their food, weighing, measuring, counting, etc. I just can't do that. I have my own set of rules: Rule #1 - A deal is permanent - my deal is to eat smaller portions, drink more water, beef up the exercise; Rule #2 - No names - no sugar, no white flour, no eating off of another's plate or out of the trash (I could tell you horror stories about this); Rule #3 - Never open the package - Never eat the first cookie, nor the last one...they will know you did it!

After the meeting, I was taken to the weight room (against my will, kicking and screaming) and forced to get on one of those walking machines for older people with bad knees. After ten minutes, I passed out. I came to a few minutes later and heard the Gestapo yelling from the back of the room, "No sleeping on the machines! Go home and take a nap...on your own time!"

Well, onward then! Who's with me? Let's whip this puppy into shape!!! NO MORE EXCUSES, OKAY!!!!!!!!!!!

A Little Help Along the Way

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE CHANGE UPDATE: Week two brought an unwelcome plateau, but moi did not give up! Week three brought the exciting preparation for the "Total Party With Your Colon!" Wow, losing five pounds in one day...now I understand how some desperate people might move in this direction as a weight loss method. It's a sick one, but hey, at least one can flush out the old and start anew.

Since that eventful day, there have been a few slips. Thankfully, however, points were made up through more water, more exercise and a heck of a lot of pep-talks! Sunday morning will tell whether or not the current pace is working.

The family acquired "Hip-Hop Abs" last summer. The princesses have used it many times, but HRH has yet to "pop and rock". Princess Edwina is talking about a new exercise video called "Flirty Girls." I think it was made by professional cheerleader wannabees. The girls are pretty, and they know how to shake it. It really is a great workout, but maybe not so for those of us who have lived a half century, and have the folds and stretchmarks to prove our worth as warrior moms and dads.

Today was a rainy one, so the dog was chased around the house a few times. Then, there was the bending, stretching and lifting as furniture, rugs and lamps were returned to their normal, upright positions.

Hope you have blue skies as you read this. Send some prayers to Australia as they recover from the recent fires...and to Oklahoma, as well. They will all need our support as they rebuild their lives and try to move on.

A Plateau Already?

Those of you who know what the title of this post means, please join me in one very big "Uggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! During this second week, we had some nasty ice & snow, and being the "balance challenged" person that I am, I did not walk the dog. Also, two snow days interrupted my 1.5 mile walks that I complete at work delivering messages, etc...(see 1/28/09 post on my other blog, "bizzymissliz" to see what I mean by "etc.") I couldn't chase the dog around the house because the kids had friends over and they threatened me to behave.

That's okay. I'm still off of refined sugar and white flour. Much of the snow melted yesterday, so I hope to get out today...after grocery shopping for football snacks, and taking Kayta out for her birthday dinner, and then preparing the football snacks, fighting for a good spot to watch the game (that ought to work off a few calories) and then cleaning up the debris and carnage left over from the game!

I hope that your Super Sunday is fun and relaxing!