Gardening

About a month ago, I decided to give gardening a try. I don't have much room, so I'm doing container gardening.

One thing I realized a long time ago that just because I didn't know how to do something, doesn't mean I can't. So I thought, "hmmm...you know, gardening would be kind of interesting to try. I may not know much about it, but I don't know that I can't grow an awesome garden!" or something like that.

Since this is a first time effort and because I know that my interest can sometimes fade away very quickly, I didn't want to invest a lot of money in this adventure. So, I stopped at Walmart and bought some dishpans, potting soil, aquarium gravel and seeds.

I didn't buy tomato plants because I'm not too fond of tomatoes, so I stuck with seeds for plants I knew I would eat: spinach, lettuce, broccoli, and string beans. I also bought carrot seeds but I haven't planted them yet, I ran out of dishpans.

I came home, poured aquarium gravel in the dishpans for drainage (not much in the way of rocks and gravel around here, but if I need sand, I'm set!), filled with soil and planted my seeds. I watered and put the pans on my patio and set back to wait.

I watered as needed, and low and behold! I had seedlings! As the string beans grew, I started to think, these are vining plants, so I'm going to have to do something so they can grow upwards. I visited Lowes and Home Depot, and saw some excellent ideas, but nothing really said, "this is it!" Today, I found my answer. I was perusing the Internet and found my answer: wire mesh.

Not the mesh you might be thinking of. This is mesh with openings about 4" square. So another trip to Lowe's tomorrow on the way home for some wire mesh and wood for a frame and I'll be set.

This has me thinking about how I want to redo my patio. It's something I've been mulling over anyway, and if gardening takes off as I want it to, I'll be doing some revision of my plans. More about that another time.

The upshot is that my gardening my take off and I'll have fresh vegetables to eat. It will be good for my soul and good for my body. If this passion fades away, it's something I tried.

It's a win-win either way.

Lady Doctor Gets Death Threats for Revealing TOP SECRET Fat Loss Secret to General Public!

A new breakthrough secret is all you now need in order to forever shed countless pounds, stay healthy, and add many years to your life!

A lady doctor from Arizona has blown the lid off the best-kept secret in weight loss ever discovered -- and this has the whole diet food and drug industries turned upside down and in nothing less than a torrential uproar.

Her name is Dr Suzanne Gudakunst, and she's marching to the beat of a different drum.

And no, nothing about her "secret" is difficult -- nor does it require that you do something completely out of the ordinary or anything unnatural.

Instead, the Arizonian boasts proudly "...this is something that I caught onto just before 2002 when there was so much research and exploration going around concerning the human colon and digestive system working in harmony with nutritional absorption, and I started doing independent studies just to test things at first ... but which I later expanded on after seeing some fantastic results."

This same woman medical practitioner went on to accurately determine a definitive correlation between harmful plague and parasitic infestations of the human bowel tract, and people suffering chronic obesity -- and who despite intense diet and exercise appeared to be unable to lose any weight whatsoever.

Over the course of six years the Arizona doctor developed a number of natural treatments for the removal of these same harmful, even life-threatening plaques and rapidly reproducing digestive parasites -- and when applied to even worse-case patients suffering extreme obesity (98% of which were in immediate danger of dying) she saw a 100% effectiveness and success rate.

She then borrowed from her research on the severely obese, and applied the same strategies on milder cases of overweight persons -- only to find the same effectiveness and quality results as described above (although the individual weight loss per subject wasn't nearly as much as those obese patients 100 lbs to 200 lbs or more overweight).

So powerful is her secret that she's able to reverse diabetes, rid illness altogether in people suffering from cancer (linked directly to poor diet and overweight factors), as well as an elimination of an entire spectrum of serious and otherwise life-threatening diseases.

Nearly 100% of all her case subjects were told in the alternative by "conventional doctors" that they either had just months or years to live, or they would never live a life anything resembling remotely a "normal" existence -- yet after applying Dr Suzanne's treatments saw a complete contradiction to others doctors' prognoses.

Again, nothing about her secret is unnatural or requires someone to do any major action or modification in their lives.

In fact, her entire treatment is based completely on built-into-nature 'protection agents' scattered throughout the world in the form of select herbs, extracts, and organic constituents, and which can be found in a variety of plants -- but when combined in specific combinations and carefully chosen amounts make for a solution to what is perhaps the world's worst ever plague: OBESITY (and the illnesses and diseases resulting from it -- or at least severely aggravated or exacerbated by it).

Now to everyone else's great gain, whether suffering from just a few extra pounds and inches, to those extremely fat and overweight, this brave, bold lady doctor is releasing to the general public her secret for forever destroying the tight unrelenting closed-fist of obesity's stronghold over the now more than 40% of Americans labeled obese, and others worldwide. 

But she's not promising any of us for how long.

Some experts and sociologists suggest that in the bigger scheme of things, the world will never tolerate a discovery of such magnitude, any more than it would be realistic to expect a car that runs on water (even if very real) to ever become commercially available to the general public for day-to-day use.

One well-respected and famous diet & wellness author wrote years ago that if anyone ever "truly unlocked the keys to permanent fat loss, they may actually suffer the same fate as JFK."

It is currently available here.

...so you may want to head on over there now and get it and before someone or "something" gets it forever yanked out of ever getting in YOUR hand at least.

It's in a very easily readable format and is quickly and readily understood and mastered by anyone with even a 4th grade reading level.

While you're there, why not scroll down and review for yourself the huge successes others are now having with this incredible breakthrough in rapid, massive weight loss and extremely improved and enhanced health, now made freely available to the rest of us?

I have a question for Google

I have a problem, but I can't figure out how to get an answer. Apparently, in order to get help, one must join a Google group. I really don't want to join a group. I have one question to ask, but there is no way I can find to get my problem resolved otherwise.

So, my question will apparently go unanswered, I'll have reservations as to whether I want to stay on Blogger or not, and I'll have a bad feeling toward Google. None of which are good options.

Well, I guess I'll get over it. My problem won't be resolved until someone else in a group can answer it, but that's not a problem. I can still post and by posting I can vent my frustration.

Thanks, Google and Blogger. At the very least, I have a way of venting my frustrations. Too bad I have to air it this way.

I believe...

I Believe...

Just because two people argue,

Doesn't mean they don't love each other.

And just because they don't argue,

Doesn't mean they do love each other.

I Believe...

We don't have to change friends if

We understand friends change.

I Believe....

No matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt

You every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I Believe...

You can do something in an instant

That will give you heartache for life.

I Believe...

It's taking me a long time

To become the person I want to be.

I Believe...

You can keep going long after you think you can't.

I Believe...

We are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I Believe...

Either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I Believe...

My best friend and I can do anything or nothing

And have the best time.

I Believe...

Sometimes when I'm angry, I have the right to be angry.

I Believe...

Maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had

And what you've learned from them, and less to do

With how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I Believe...

It isn't always enough to be forgiven by others;

Sometimes, you have to learn to forgive yourself..

I Believe...

No matter how bad your heart is broken,

The world doesn't stop for your grief.

I Believe...

Two people can look at the exact same

Thing and see something totally different..

'The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything;

They just make the most of anything.

I apologize

once again for not posting on a regular basis. Life does sometimes get in the way of our plans. 

For the last five months, I've been losing and gaining the same three or four pounds. For awhile, it was my fault and I accept the responsibility. I just wasn't working my plan like I should have been. I may have written about this before. If so, please forgive the repetition.

However, beginning in January, I really began to work the plan. I started watching my caloric and fat intake and being more careful about logging my intake in my food journal. I began walking daily. At least, I've been walking at work. We have long hallways where I've been walking during my meal breaks. I've been lucky enough to be assigned (if you believe in the Law of Attraction, you know there is no "luck" about it) to a dorm that has a microwave. So, I've been microwaving my meals and then using my meal breaks (breakfast and lunch) to walk the halls. Twice a day, 45 minutes each, seven days out of 14. 

And I'm still back and forth on that three or four pounds. My doctor had me get a fasting blood test because they were concerned that I might be diabetic, or severely insulin resistant. I had tests when I got my physical last summer, but they were suspect. My blood sugar was 10 and my potassium was 90. Either of which would have, at the least, put me into a coma. More likely, I would have been dead. As the PA said today, both are inconsistent with life. I had a second set run, but the results were never returned to my doctor. Why they didn't have me do a third set, I don't know, but they didn't want to trust that lab in any case. My husband was diabetic, so while I am far from an expert, I am familiar with the disease. I didn't believe that was the problem, and it turned out I was right. 

I had the blood test on Monday, and when I went in today, I found out that my blood sugar was 91 and my AC1 was 5.7. Both perfectly fine. So, that's not the problem. Next week, I begin my last month in the program, so I don't think they are going to worry too much about it. My health is good (proven by the tests) and there is no reason to think there is another problem that might be causing my lack of weight loss.

I believe that I'm gaining muscle. With the exercise (walking) I've been doing for the last 10 weeks, I think I'm losing fat, but replacing it with muscle. That would explain why I'm not showing loss, and sometimes, a gain. At least that's what I prefer to believe.

I have a total weight loss of 53 pounds as of today. So, while I would like it to be much more, I'm  happy to achieve this much. It's an achievement that I've never had before. 

Next month is my last month on the program. I won't meet the goal that was set at the original consultation (93 pounds), but I think that was rather optimistic. I know lots of people have lost that much and more in the same length of time, but I subscribe to the theory that if you lose weight too fast, it's that much easier to put back on again. 

I've decided that even though I'll be leaving the plan in four weeks, I will continue my efforts and make my own way through the Weight Loss Jungle. I have my plan. I have my exercise, and I have my mental attitude properly, positively adjusted. I may need a periodic mental adjustment, but that's to be expected. And, since I know it's going to happen, I can plan for it.

I said I had my plan. I also have a kitchen scale, a pedometer, and I will be getting a good bathroom scale. I know what I'm looking for, so I'll be getting that before long.

I want to be better about posting here. I have ideas for what this blog can be and hope to implement those ideas in the future. I don't expect to become the Martha Stewart of the dieting world, or the person who has all the answers about weight loss, but if I can give just one other person what they need to get through just today, I want to do it.   

Good luck to us all!

Spring Forward, Fall Back

Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, March 8, at 2:00 a.m. 

Move your clocks AHEAD one hour so you aren't late to church or wherever else you may go on Sunday morning. 

This has been brought to you as a Public Service Announcement

You may resume normal websurfing.

http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/nodes.html

Mea culpa....

....for not having posted for months. My only excuse is that Life happens.

I went through the last three months playing with the same 3-4 pounds...gaining it, losing it, gaining it, and losing it. I ended up about two pounds down, but I nearly was tossed off the program. I take full responsibility.

I got lazy.

There. I said it. I got lazy. I didn't keep my food diaries like I should have. I didn't exercise like I should have. I got lazy and lost my motivation as well. 

I think I've got it back. When I was told last week I was on the brink of being discontinued, I got to work. I was getting back there, but it may have been a little longer. I needed that push, that threat. So, I got down to work last week. I watched my calorie and fat intake, properly recorded my food diary and began to work out again.

I need the accountability of the program. I also need to watch the fat intake and to increase the exercise.  

And I showed an eight pound loss this week. It was like starting over again, so I lost what anyone beginning a program would lose. It was probably mostly water weight, but a loss is a loss in my book! I'm on a sort of probation for four weeks.

My total weight loss is 53 pounds to date. I still have a way to go, but I will make it!

And I will be blogging more. I've been pulling articles out of magazines to give tips and ideas for weight loss. It's a new year, a new attitude, and, hopefully, a new me :D

As Patti LaBelle sings, I Have a New Attitude!