The third Monday...

Monday morning, the THIRD Monday of the month. The embroidery shop where I work is closed on the third Monday of each month. There's no real reason that we're closed every third Monday, except that we really like three day weekends so we decided to arrange our schedule to insure that we would get at least one three day weekend in each month. So anyway...the third Monday is usually my day to just hang out, catch up, go have coffee with my Mom and my sister...whatever. It's my day. So yesterday I was finishing up things here at home, drinking coffee and planning to go and hang out with my Mom and sister for a while and then to the grocery store...and whatever other errands needed to be done. I had my day sort of outlined out...then my phone rang. It was my beloved announcing, "Well, I'm on my way home. The job didn't come in."

Can I just stop right here and tell you how much I dislike those words!!?? It's happening more and more these days. However, I am on a quest to become quieter and calmer and to not voice the panicky thoughts that race through my brain when I hear those words that mean another week of not enough work. I am determined not to nag and criticize and tell him how much I think he needs to go out and get a better job. What do I know? Maybe this is the job God has for him right now and who am I to say different? So, I am working on being calm and supportive and trusting God that If I will respond to my husband in a way that is pleasing to Him (God) then I need not worry about the future or the small paychecks or anything else that my mind wants to cling to and worry about. After all, wasn't it just last week that my memory verse was:

Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God...

Oh yeah, that one. I guess freaking out about the lack of hours at Vern's job isn't really an option if I believe those words now, is it?

So, by the grace of God, I hear THOSE WORDS..."the job didn't come in," and I swallow hard, and CHOOSE to ignore the panicky feeling that is trying to well up from my belly and come out of my mouth in words that will not encourage, support and build up my beloved...and I say "Great! Let's spend the day together."

This is the day that followed....

Breakfast. We decided that it would be fun to go down to one of our favorite places, the waterfront along Harbor Drive, and try and catch a glimpse of the wayward whale that has found its way into the San Diego Bay. So I grabbed a banana and had it along with my second cup of coffee as we got ready to head out for an unplanned day off. 3 points for the banana and two cups of coffee.




I called my sister, Joyce, the one who grows the beautiful flowers in my parents' yard and cares for my Dad and is my hero...and who I was supposed to be going to have coffee with...and I invite her to come along with us. Here we are together.



Here's Vern and I...notice how postive and sweet I am being?...LOL. Actually, once I made the decision to not be anxious and worried, I had a great time!



Here's Vern and my sister and the crowd that had gathered to try and catch a glimse of the whale in the bay. We never actually saw the whale, but we did see the spray from its blow hole when it surfaced for air. We saw a large sea lion and watched the different waterfowl diving and swimming...things that delighted my sister! She doesn't get down to the water very often so she didn't realize that the sea lions are just right there swimming around and the birds just dive right into the water! It was fun watching her delight in these things!



Along with whale watching, we walked. We walked over to this little park near the Midway Museum. I love this statue so much!



After we had walked and walked, we decided we were hungry. Vern surprised me by suggesting Subway for lunch. He usually wants to eat at the more expensive places in Seaport Village. Not only are they expensive but they are difficult for me to get diet friendly choices at. So I was surpried and happy when he suggested Subway. It was sweet when he explained to me that he chose it because he knows it's easy for me to eat there and not blow all of my points on one meal! What a sweet guy!

So, I had a six inch Veggie Delight, on whole wheat, with just a tiny bit of sweet onion dressing. I had a bag of baked chips and an iced tea sweetened with splenda. Here's my 6 point lunch. ( I had eaten half of my sandwich before I remembered to take a photo of it!)



After lunch we drove back to my parents' house and dropped my sister off. We stayed for a few minutes, had another cup of coffee, visited with my Mom and then headed home.

By 6pm I was really hungry. Vern had a huge, meaty sandwich at Subway so he wasn't hungry...so dinner was just for me. I made oven "fried" onion rings, a Sebastian sandwich on a "Flat Out" flatbread, (tuna salad. coleslaw, and cheese, all leftovers from other meals, grilled in a skillet sprayed with nonstick spray)and some steamed asparagus. It was really delicious and hit the spot! This meal which looks sinfully fattening set me back a mere 7 points!


True to form, I wanted something sweet and yummy later in the evening. I had a cup of plain yogurt, sweetened with stevia and flavored with a little vanilla extract, over 1 cup of thawed blueberries and topped with a banana....for 4.5 points.


Total points used: 20.5
Points remaining for the day: 3.5
Target 24 points per day
Weekly points used 0
Weekly points remaining 35

I went to bed with a full and satisfied stomach, a slight sunburn on my forehead...and a happy husband who didn't have to listen to me whine and fret one single time!

The Sisterhood

Here I am starting yet another post with the words, I've been thinking..."

But, the truth is, I HAVE been thinking. I find myself thinking often about the Kimkins diet scam and the reasons I fell for it. AmyB had a really good blog post this morning, titled What If. It's a good post, easy read and worth the minute or so that it takes to read it. In it Amy brings up the subject of what if Heidi had used her own photo on the Woman's World magazine cover? What if Heidi Diaz had promoted her diet scam using photos of her morbidly obese self? Would I have joined her scam diet site if she had presented herself for who she really was and most likely still is?

There is a Kimkins member who has recently begun posting at LCF on the "Fascination with Kimmer" threads. She apparently feels that she got exactly what she paid for, a diet plan and message board support. She has brought up the fact that the medical community can't even seem to agree on what constitutes a healthy diet. While I agree with her right to feel that way for herself, I completely and adamantly disagree with her reasoning on the subject.

You see, here's the thing...or here's the way I see it actually. The fact that the medical community can't agree on what constitutes a healthy weight loss plan was part of the reason I fell for the Kimkins diet scam. The medical community is slowly, haltingly catching on to the idea of a low carb lifestyle being a good plan for weight control and for overall good health. But, for many years we were told some really negative things about the Atkins Diet. There are still doctors who are opposed to the Atkins Diet plan. So, when I saw a woman who had supposedly lost 118 pounds in less than a year and kept it off for 6 years it piqued my interest. I already knew that I couldn't totally trust the "experts" who would tell me that the answer to my weight problem was carbs, carbs, and more carbs..while eliminating evil fats from my diet. But here was a woman who had fought this battle of the bulge and supposedly won and was continuing to walk in victory and health.

I suppose I was naive, in fact I'm sure I was. But, the fact that Heidi Diaz was a woman...a woman who battled a weight problem gave her a certain credibility with me. I would have been more suspisious of a man touting a weight control program, or a big corporation, or a weight loss clinic. But this was a woman, a woman like me, a member of a message board support group, a woman who had finally won the battle that so many of us fight. Call me niave, maybe it's stupid, but I believe in the sisterhood that exists between women. I still believe in it. I have found it to be true with some amazing women that I have met on different forums. Heidi Diaz violated that sisterhood. Being a morbidly overweight woman herself, she has an inside track to the thought processes that many of us have.....and she used that to lie, scam and take advantage of so many of her fellow women. I know there were a few men on the site but by and large, it is women who have fallen for her lies. And I believe that for many of us it was the "sisterhood" between women that gave her a certain amount of credibility.

So, in answer to AmyB's query, "What If," the answer is no. I would not have tried the Kimkins diet if I had known that Heidi Diaz was a morbidly obese woman who had ruined her own health and metabolism with her crazy dieting methods over the years.

I got this in a email from one of my "sisters" on another forum. I think it's appropriate to include it here. This the sisterhood that Heidi Diaz violated. And for the record, I still believe in this sisterhood. Heidi Diaz can't destroy my belief in my fellow women....

Sisters
A young wife sat on a sofa on a hot humid day,
drinking iced tea and visiting with her Mother. As
they talked about life, about marriage, about the
responsibilities of life and the obligations of
adulthood, the mother clinked the ice cubes in her
glass thoughtfully and turned a clear, sober glance
upon her daughter.
'Don't forget your Sisters,' she advised, swirling
the tea leaves to the bottom of her glass. 'They'll
be more important as you get older. No matter how
much you love your husband, no matter how much you love the children you may have, you are still going to need Sisters. Remember to go places with them now and then; do things with them.'
'Remember that 'Sisters' means ALL the women...
your girlfriends, your daughters, and all your other
women relatives too. 'You'll need other women. Women always do.'
What a funny piece of advice!' the young woman
thought. Haven't I just gotten married?
Haven't I just joined the couple-world? I'm now a
married woman, for goodness sake! A grownup! Surely my husband and the family we may start will be all I need to make my life worthwhile!'
But she listened to her Mother. She kept contact
with her Sisters and made more women friends each
year. As the years tumbled by, one after another,
she gradually came to understand that her Mom really knew what she was talking about. As time and naturework their changes and their mysteries upon a woman, Sisters are the mainstays of her life.
After more than 50 years of living in this world,
here is what I've learned:
THIS SAYS IT ALL:
Time passes.
Life happens.
Distance separates.
Children grow up.
Jobs come and go.
Love waxes and wanes.
Men don't do what they're supposed to do.
Hearts break.
Parents die.
Colleagues forget favors.
Careers end.
BUT........
Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how
many miles are between you. A girl friend is never farther away than needing her can reach.
When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on,
praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on
your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the
valley's end.
Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk
beside you...Or come in and carry you out.
Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters,
daughters-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, Mothers,
Grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins, and extended family, all bless our life!
The world wouldn't be the same without women, and neither would I. When we began this adventure called life , we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we need each other.
Every day, we need each other still.