Time Marches On

Despite my best intentions, the year 2010 is quickly fading, and I have not made significant progress in my goal to change my life and lifestyle. I have had a some successes, but they have been minor and too few. New Year's Day, my birthday, and the Jewish New Year always provide a good time for reflection and change. After Rosh Hashanah, I once again reviewed the areas of my life that I need to change. I have come up with 4 major areas to improve:

1. Spiritual Growth
2. Physical Health
3. Financial Freedom
4. Home Organization

I feel the utmost priority for improvement is my relationship with God. If this area of my life is healthy, it will benefit all the other areas of my life. When I was 16, I went through a very spiritual time. I prayed and read my Bible daily, and had a heart of worship. It was also one of the best times of my life...everything seemed to fall into place and I was blessed in every facet of my life. As the years went by, I was no longer so close to God, and this was reflected in the chaos of my life. My life absolutely fell apart. But God was good, and He has been restoring my life in so many ways.

God has been helping me to re-establish a daily devotional time for prayer and Bible reading. I am asking Him to help me with the social anxiety that has kept me out of church the last few months. This past Sunday I wanted to be in church just so that I could worship the Lord. This helped me get over my nervousness, and actually got me there. The Lord has also been helping me with the unforgiveness I have had towards two people who has been cruel to my husband and myself. I have not taken communion for several months because of the struggle to forgive. But God is good, and He brought someone across my path who helped me to see these people as the sick, broken souls they are, and to pity them. The struggle is ongoing because the cruelty of these two people continues. But God has provided a major victory in the battle.

Another victory was in donating my Father's old dress clothes to Men's Wearhouse. After my Father passed away, my Mom gave me some of his clothing, thinking my husband could wear them for church. But he was never comfortable with that. I had a hard time letting the clothes go because of the emotions attached to them. But I found a good place for them to go! Every Fall Men's Wearhouse does a clothing drive for men re-entering the workforce. Some of these men are formerly homeless, some are military veterans, and some are in recovery. It's a great program, and if you have some gently used mens suits and sportswear, I highly recommend you donate them there!

My baby sister is getting married in December! This all developed quickly, but it is the perfect motivation for getting in shape. I hope it will be the start of a permanent change toward better, more controlled nutrition and regular exercise!!

We have still been struggling financially after the events of the last two years. So, I have been looking for a part-time job. I don't want a huge number of hours, but I do need some additional income. The Lord has also been dealing with my about being faithful in tithing. It is all God's anyway, and without His provision, we would have NOTHING. All He asks for is 10%!!

God is so good and faithful to help me, inspite of my shortcomings.

"Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations to those who love Him and keep His commandments..."
Deut. 7:9

Listen to Tess.Baierls Playlist

Zen, dude.

I have been walking, doing low impact aerobics and dancing to get my cardio-vascular workout and to burn calories. I have tried a couple of different workouts to fight boredom and to cross-train some. Disco Abs with Cheryl Burke was a blast! And I also enjoyed the Back.2.Bollywood Masala Bhangra workout. The music in these two really keeps you going and makes the exercise a lot more fun! I know I also need to work on building/keeping muscle, and increasing my flexibility and balance...so important as we get older. So today I did 15 minutes of upper and lower body weight training, 15 minutes of pilates core work, and 15 minutes of yoga, with a emphasis on balance. This workout won't count for my miles for the year, but it is just what I need to balance my fitness training. On Thursday I did four vigorous miles, and on Saturday I did both the Disco Ab and Bollywood workouts. (Friday is my long day at work, and we all need rest days, so that is my "day off.") Now I am feeling Zen, dude. I am as loose as a noodle! I must say the exercise is really helping with the insomnia I have had for the last couple of years during all the challenges we've faced. EXERCISE is a magic potion! Try it!

Hi, my name is Teresa, and I am addicted to food.

It's true. Food is my drug of choice. Due to budgetary contraints, I am not spending as much on food, but that has not reduced my calories! I weighed this morning (after Valentine's Day) and I am as heavy as I have ever been. And I didn't even pig out yesterday! My blood pressure is not horrible, but it is slightly elevated. My blood sugar is only 120 this morning, but given my family history, I need to watch it closely. My good cholesterol is too low, my bad cholesterol is okay, but my triglycerides are way too high. (Too many carbs in the diet!) And still, I just can't stop eating!!!

I am going to try something drastic. I have to get my addiction to food under control. I want to lose some weight before my birthday. I want to lose weight before summer. I want to lose weight for the rest of my life, which I fear will be shortened if I do not lose some weight!!

Too bad I can't go cold turkey like other addicts! I need rehab!!!

Addendum for today: I had the day off, and it was cold, and I just couldn't get warm. So I ended up working out 3 TIMES just to warm up! I walked 2 WATP miles, and did Disco Abs and the Back.2.Bollywood workouts. I have to say those have to be two of the most fun ways to burn calories I have ever tried!!!

My Doc

I have a great G.P. He believes like I do about religion and politics, he's funny, and he's insightful and knowledgeable. He has been my doctor for a dozen years, and he has been through many illnesses and difficulties with my husband and me. He has always given me excellent advice, which I, unfortunately, have not always heeded. He always says I only have to exercise on the days I eat (ha,ha) and I should only eat food God has made. Guess what? Turns out all those years of medical school paid off, and he was RIGHT! Following his advice I have lost 8 pounds of post-holiday indulgence. Now I just have to learn to stick with it and make this my lifestyle and not a quick-fix scheme.

We're walking, we're walking...

2 miles on January 14; 2 miles on January 17; 2 miles today.☺

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve my hubby and I celebrated our anniversary. We had a lovely dinner of seafood, and then rang in the new year visiting with friends. We had a bittersweet sendoff of a friend who recently was ordained, achieved the rank of lieutenant, became an Army chaplain, and is now headed to Iraq for a year. We also had fun playing Dutch Blitz and Jenga at another friend's house, and then watched the ball drop in Times Square. Hard to believe it is 2010! Another year and another decade has passed.

Over the weekend I finished clearing out another closet, filled another box to give away, and filled the trash can half way again. I had a horrible sinus headache over the weekend, so I got a bit off schedule, but I also did some cooking, some regular chores and all my laundry. It feels so good to have made this much progress on clearing out the house! I have a long way to go clearing out the attic, the guest room and office, but it feels great to have begun the journey and to be able to let go of the "STUFF."

I seem to have a hard time focusing on more than one project at a time. When I went back to finish my Bachelor's degree several years ago, I also had goals of losing weight and giving away some stuff. It was hard enough to focus on class and making good grades, doing my regular chores and cooking, as well as working full time in a busy and stressful environment. (Plus being a wife and trying to socialize once in a while!) Several years have gone by, and I am thankful to be working on the house, but I need the capacity to focus on dieting and exercise as well as working on the house. There is never enough time as a woman. The challenge is in balancing all the facets of one's life, and knowing your priorities.

Here's to a balanced life and a Happy and Healthy 2010!