Part of the whole story

One major idea behind giving up shopping for Lent is that by giving up this “thing” (SHOPPING!), I will better be able to do something good. By not spending whatever money that isn’t already spoken for, I will be able to do better things with that money. If an opportunity comes to help someone, it will not hurt my day to day existence to hand over some money. If someone is in need, I will be able. I’m hoping to develop some much better habits.

I headed to Amazon.com this morning… looking for books. Before the page was even fully on the screen, I closed the browser. Must go to the library! Wow… becoming aware is tough!

Doing well…

I get emails from the Coach Outlet. Really good purses for about 1/3 the cost. They only have sales like once every couple of weeks. I got an e-mail that a sale was starting today. I’m looking through the pages of purses on sale… and think. I can’t buy it even if I find a fabulous deal! I immediately close the browser and get rid of temptation. I’m doing alright!

Day 1

We are 16 hours 26 minutes into Lent. Successful thus far. I was invited to ride along to Target with a friend at lunch today… I eventually decided to be good and not go.

Unsubscribing to shopping sites and deleting my daily barage of marketing. It can be done. I can do this!

Minimize

I’m still buying. I find myself buying things… and realizing afterward… I so did not have to get that. But, I’m trying. I have two weeks to get it down to nothing. I’ve started to unsubscribe to the e-mails of my favorite stores. I get e-mails with great deals and it’s hard to pass up! That has to change.

On Christmas day this year, I went to church and got all teary eyed because I had a feeling of being blessed. I told my friend… it is such a blessing to have “more than enough”. I wish I could keep that feeling in my heart all the time. I know in my head that I have plenty. I lack for nothing.

On another front: I went to see a new general practitioner yesterday. I had a good experience in the office. Kind of nice, for a change. I haven’t had a gp in something like ten years… maybe more. But since I had to do the thyroid cancer thing last year, I figured I need to do regular checkups.

Result: I’m healthy. It’s uplifting to get confirmation of that. He says that even if I have ten or fifteen pounds more than the quotas given, if I can keep up with an aerobic class or have decent endurance and exercise on a regular basis that I should worry about numbers. That’s kind of nice. We did do a blood test to check cholesterol, but I’m sure that will be fine.

New Project – Change

I need to make a change in my life.

This issue has really been weighing on me in the last month.  Maybe it’s been there a lot longer, but I have just started consciously thinking about it, praying about it and preparing to act on it.  I believe that God is really speaking to me through books, devotions and conversations with friends.  I need to make this change.

I am a major consumer.  More than that, I waste… a lot.  I waste food, waste products, waste money (!!!!!), buy too much.  *The clearance rack is not an excuse to squeeze the hangers closer together in my closet!  *If I don’t need it, I need to give it away to someone who will be able to use it!  *How many things in my house don’t get touched in the period of a month?  If that’s the case, do I really need those things?

I decided a couple of weeks ago that I will give up “shopping” for Lent.  I will be allowed to go to the grocery store during that time, but disallow myself from Target and Walmart… and especially from online shopping.  This will take some preparation since my daughter’s birthday is during that six week period.  (and my sister’s … and several birthday parties that we are invited to) 

I will also only allow myself to go out to lunch during the week one time per week.  Taking my lunch to work will save food and money.  Plus, it will be much more healthy.  Maybe I can learn how to be more environmentally friendly in the course of these events.  Or at least take strides in that direction.

I’m going to use this blog to document how things are going.  In the next three months (three weeks until lent, six and a half weeks of Lent and through our Disney trip in April.)  My idea is that this will help me to embark on a life change.  Somehow, I’m going to have to find a balance so that my daughter doesn’t feel deprived, but I am limiting my consumerism.

Long time, no see

It has been a long time since I have blogged.

I have had a very strange year.
I had my thyroid removed (see previous post). It went well. They found a little bit of cancer, so I did a radioactive iodine treatment and all went well. It was seriously surreal. All very low key because the treatment went exactly how it should go.

The second half of 2011 has been much better than the first half. I have lost quite a bit of weight, got into a great habit of getting to the gym 3 or more times per week and eating better (except for the month of December…8D).

I also got a new job about the time of the surgery. It is going well still. It has been a lot of responsibility, hence no time for blogging. I hope everybody in the blogosphere is doing well. Maybe I can join back up in 2012. We will see.

4 Weeks Later

New job is good.
I’ve really been enjoying the bootcamp that I joined.
I was staying within my calories really well.

Then, I had to do the low iodine diet again. Must say… 100%. Brag about myself a bit.
Glad that is done. I took my radioactive iodine pill on Wednesday. 2 days later, here I am.
Keeping busy at home… sorting through my clothes, watching tv shows that I’ve missed out on in the last couple of years.
I even did two work out videos today. The second one was yoga… needed a good stretch.
Trying to make the best of my time.

Huh?!

So, I moved up to level 2 of the 30 Day Shred today.
OMG! I SO don’t remember doing this level when I did 30DS all the time two years ago! I’m really impressed with myself for getting through it. And I worked hard! Felt the calorie burn.

I’m going to do this one for a week and then move… (dun dun dun…) to Level 3!
I must say that Jillian is my hero.
My self confidence is growing with my strength.
And I believe that it is showing on the outside.

I’ve stayed up for the Mavericks game every time for thw last couple of weeks. I have also had lots of opportunities to go out in the evenings… so sleep is lacking. I miss it. And I have big plans for this weekend. Maybe I can catch up on sleep Monday.

Can do…

Today marks six days out of seven that I got up and got a workout in… first thing. The only day that I didn’t, I got up earlier than normal, went to a different neighborhood and helped some of my church friends set up for our church garage sale (to benefit missions). I unloaded a moving truck, moved tables, unpacked stuff… and basically moved for 2 hours. About the time the sun came up, I went back home to hang with my kiddo. So, I count that as seven days in a row of working out.

Good stuff!
Work stuff is moving along. I had a rough Friday last week. Having spoken with management this morning, I’m feeling better and ready to finish this position strong. I’ve already got a few meetings this week for the new position… so it’s cool that I can get a head start for next week!

Go Mavs!

Good news…

The medicine that is needed for my treatment has become available. Strange timing… but the good news is that it has now been delivered to my doctor’s office. Tag team messages… eventually I get to talk to a person (after three days in just this week) and ask if we can leave the timing as it stands. My only worry is that the medicine might have an expiration date that we should be cognizant of. Well, we don’t have to worrry about that and are sticking with the July 20th date for radioactivity.

I start my new job a week from Tuesday… so I didn’t want to start my new job and then have to immediately be out for a week. This way, I get about 7 weeks at my new job before time away. And I may be able to work from home while I’m out. People might think I’m crazy for waiting… but the doctor was okay with it… so I feel fine about it. I still have to have a real life while going through all this… so I’m living it!

I did start 30 Day Shred this week. 3 days in a row of 5am meetings with Jillian! I feel good about that.