Merry Christmas!

SIL, son, and myself!

How gorgeous is this place?  Looks like a calendar pic!

Snow!

My handsome boys!

Christmas greetings from the beautiful and sunny CA!  It's been AMAZING weather here, with temps approaching 70 during the day; fabulous :)  Despite the warm days, the nights have been very crisp and cold, so it definitely feels like Winter, no worries!

We are hosting my fabulous sister in law this week.  SO Happy to have her here!  We're not travelling as much this time as we did when she came back in October, but we're spending plenty of quality time together and just enjoying her presence.

I didn't ride last week due to my office Christmas party in the middle of the day; it was Cheesecake Factory, so I HAD to take advantage of a quality lunch AND cheesecake ;)  Since the restaurant is attached to one of the big malls, I used the opportunity to finish up the son's shopping.  Didn't find everything I was looking for, but did find a few things for him.

Planning to ride tomorrow, and SIL is coming with me to watch and take pics!  Hope Miss Jade is good, S has ridden her a few times and said that she was alternately "good", and "interesting", haha :)  The Waterford bit came in, so I'm going to try her in that with a regular cavesson tomorrow and see what she thinks.

We went to Yosemite Tuesday (Christmas Eve), and had a BLAST.  There was snow on the ground, ice on the ground, and the temps ranged from 62-32!  It was our second time, SIL's first time ... good times.  I have a TON of pics, but it takes time to upload all that, so y'all will just have to have patience ;)

We went to church last night (Christmas day).  SIL enjoyed it!  She totally gets why we like Pastor Jimenez so much.  He went over Matthew Ch 2 and went over the REAL Christmas story.  I learn something every single day I step foot in that church, LOVE it.  I'm about half way through Leviticus right now, making slow progress, but definitely making progress.  I'm trying to dedicate a little less time to the computer, and more time in prayer and Bible reading.  I've gotten pretty good with cooking good, healthy food and keeping my house clean vs. being on the computer every single second of my free time.  It's been good for me.  We only have an antennae hooked up for TV, so David and I watch barely any TV together anymore, down from about an average of 3 hours per night, about 8 hours a day on the weekends.

My exercise has been interrupted by the arrival of the sis due to her bed being in the middle of my living room, but I won't magically gain back 10 lbs in a week.  I took the dogs for my nice little 3 mile circle; the dog park, then the human park.  Tomorrow I'll ride.  I've done pretty well food wise, so hopefully it won't be too hard to get back on track Monday.

I'll leave y'all with this synopsis for now, and elaborate more a little later.  It's 11:30, and everyone has ditched me for bed, so I guess I need to follow!  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and wishing you a continued peaceful holiday as we approach the New Year.  God bless!

Your weekly dose of scripture and motivation

Going healthy :)

Hello!  I am VERY pleased to report I did not cheat myself out of any exercise time this week and did my Insanity every single day like a good girl :)  Lunch has been an adventure!  Carrots, a "salad" of black beans/chick peas/mini corn/red onion/cucumber/italian dressing, yogurt, Kashi bar, string cheese, and a piece of fruit.  It's lots of "munchy" food and I get my crunch desire satisfied, but by the time dinner comes around I'm ready to eat, so not stuffing myself with too many calories.  I've traded in my wheat containing Cheerios for gluten free Rice Chex, and dinner is just whatever.  I wish I could cut out the wheat 100%, but I had to "go cheap" at the grocery store :(  I spent $75 at Bel Air last week on all my "healthy food" that didn't make a single 'dinner' meal, but did last me for lunch.  Spent $79 today at Winco foods and got 9 nights worth of dinner plus a few lunch items.  Sad, I know.  Also rode 3 times this week, so definitely got in some good moving around!

This morning was one of those days where I wondered where the message was heading.  We always begin service (after singing) with reading a full chapter of the Bible.  Today it was 2Kings Ch 7.  It's a slightly confusing story of men robbing a tent, people locked inside a city being offered a chance to buy flour, and a lord getting trampled at the end.  I thought it was going to be a sermon on the evils of Black Friday, lol!  No seriously, this just goes to show how good and focused Pastor Jimenez is.  He was able to develop the sermon, referring back often the Ch 7, and I got the point of the whole thing.  I think I told y'all that sometimes at the end of a church service, I would leave feeling somewhat confused.  Or even feeling as though I was just too stupid to get the point of the sermon.  So far, I've never felt that way at Verity, I always leave feeling like I learned something.

Basically, 2Kings7 is a story of a starving Israel locked inside the walls of a city.  In Deut28:52-57, God tells the Israelites they will be punished by a famine so severe, they will begin to eat their own children.  In 2Kings, this prophesy comes to pass.  It was because of their sins that they brought upon them this horrible, horrible famine.  In 2Kings6:26, a woman talks of how she actually killed and ate her son!  The people were desperate, and utterly hopeless.

The story relates to our modern life; how many of us have felt like our situation was completely hopeless?  You were totally desperate, unable to see a way out, maybe even contemplating suicide?  2 things to keep in mind; 1.  We don't know HOW God works.  2.  We don't know WHEN God works.  When life seems worthless and hopeless, God is always working on the other side.  He uses people that are in our lives, SINNERS, to help us through.  He uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary.  He brings us through our hard times in unexpected ways, and always in His own time.  We need to walk by FAITH, and NOT by sight.

Back to 2Kings7 ... 4 lepers decided to enter into the city after coming across a camp of Syrian soldiers and pilfering all their food.  The offer to sell flour and meat for a reasonable rate, just as God had said.  He used LEPERS, who were the blight of civilization back in biblical times to bring hope to the people of Israel.  The lepers took a risk, it worked out.  When YOU take a risk, when YOU take the first step, God will meet you there.  If you go to church and enjoy it, good for you.  Your life will not be fully blessed because you lack the faith to take it a step further.  You MUST grow in your journey as a Christian; share the gospel, invite people to church, give offering, tithe, get baptized, THEN you will begin to see your life be truly blessed.  Walk by Faith.

I've always loved "Walk by Faith" by Jeremy Camp.  That song was running through my head as the pastor went through the sermon today.  I'm so thankful that God is allowing me to open up and FINALLY grow in my own journey ... I'm 34 years old, and I rarely have ever openly talked about God, the Bible, or anything related to religion.  While I'm still not ready yet to go door to door and minister that way to people, I do bring it here to the blog.  I do give offering.  In January, we will begin to tithe even though it's going to hurt!  I have invited several co-workers to church even though they haven't come yet. I'm going to be faithful in my giving, faithful in my volunteering, and faithful in my faith and see where I'm at this time next year.  Looking forward to continuing to grow spiritually and always remembering that when things seem unmanageable, God is always working in unseen, unexpected ways.

Recharging!

3/4 of my loves!  Getting in a little exercise and Vitamin D!

I think we all need a little re-charge now and then.  That's what I feel like is going on with me right now.  I feel SO good being here in CA, but it's still LIFE.  It's still WORK.  It's not some big, giant vacation.  My life, OUR life, finally got on track after finding and getting involved with a church.  I definitely feel like in a big way I've been born again spiritually.  Last year, I was reborn in the body.  This year, I was reborn in the spirit.  Now?  I need to be reborn in both at the same time, lol!  I started over ... AGAIN ... this morning, Insanity.  It took me a few false starts the first time I did it too, to really get in the habit of doing it, so hopefully this time it sticks with me.  I went to the grocery store after work (when I was quite hungry, incidentally) and tried to buy some good, fresh, food.  Got some big, sweet apples, yogurt, Kashi granola bars, popcorn, and some veggies.  Had grilled shrimp and quinoa/brown rice mixture for dinner tonight.  Going to throw together a cold bean salad tonight for my protein source for lunch the rest of the week.  Last year, I ate cold cut ham held together with Laughing Cow soft cheese, but cold cuts aren't the healthiest of foods.  I'm not looking to go LOW CALORIE, I'm looking to go healthy.  Going to try and enjoy more veggies, less fruit ... a typical lunch last year would be a banana, a container of melons, another container of grapes, the cold cut/laughing cow cheese combo, and a serving size of tortilla chips.  Good food, but probably too much sugar.  I want to try and cut out wheat as much as possible from my life, because I have come to the conclusion that I am pretty addicted to it.

Honestly, it is nice to read that many of my peers have also "fallen off the wagon" a little bit.  Comfort in numbers, I suppose.  I allowed myself to pig out at TG, now I've recharged my will, recharged my zeal for health, and recharged my desire to challenge myself to rise above junk food.  Got to recharge my soul a little bit when I got to see my Honorary Little Sis Nicole!  She is a wonderful friend, a wonderful person, and I've missed seeing her!  Seeing as how we're not quite on our feet enough yet to buy plane tickets back to the good 'ol east coast, I jumped at the opportunity to make a little 2 1/2 hour drive southwest to the little bay town of San Jose to go see my soul sister.  He husband was born and raised in Cali, so it was natural they'd have to come out this way SOME time, and it's quite fortunate they're in the bay area, and not way down by LA :)  It was so nice to have some good conversation with someone I know ; though I'm branching out and making an actual effort to get to know people here, I've always been a loner.  Even loners get lonely sometimes, though!  It's nice not to have to work so hard at the conversation :)

I've also recharged a bit in my equine life.  I've had a nice 5 month break, now I'm beginning to miss it (as I knew I would), and fortunately, I've found some opportunity to ride!  I rode for the first time this past week, and while my seat bones are super sore, my soul is super satisfied ;)  Though my wallet will feel the pain, it was great to have a week off at Thanksgiving, and though my wallet will feel the pain AGAIN, I'll have a week off at Christmas too.  I have faith that God will see us through it, and just try to relax and enjoy!  Extra riding time, woo hoo!  It also makes me happy that my husband is so happy.  He's a quiet guy, and I knew when he talked about how much of a rut he was in, he was unhappy.  Vacations are the BEST!  Ever since moving out here, it's like this huge weight has been lifted off his shoulders, certainly thankful for that too.

Love y'all, thanks for reading my blog.  I try to be uplifting, informative without TMI, and motivational even when I'm failing to a degree.  I'm definitely not anywhere close to being perfect, but I enjoy inspiring people :)  Keep on keepin' on, and enjoy this holiday season!  Remember to be thankful for everything you have, and don't worry about anything you don't have.

A season of firsts

Home made carrot cake!  Icing and all :)

Well, my family and I were out of town for Thanksgiving this year ... WAY out of town!  We called everybody and talked to them, but I'm sure they'll tell you it's not the same.  It was weird with it just being the 3 of us, but it was nice too.  We stayed in our pj's all day :)  I had cooked some stuff yesterday, but still spent plenty of time in the kitchen today as well.

Our menu this year included a Honeybaked Ham, potato salad, sweet potato casserole (with brown sugar and pecans), stuffing, gravy, and homemade mac and cheese.  My husband likes these meatballs my mom makes, with grape jelly and BBQ sauce, so I made those as an appetizer.  I was determined that just because we were "alone", that didn't mean we weren't going to eat well :)  I made the peanut butter cookies with a hershey's kiss in the center, chocolate chip cookies, a pecan pie and my first attempt at a homemade carrot cake.  So LOTS of yummy sweets!  Haha, time to get back on the diet bandwagon again first thing in the morning!  No, seriously ... not even gonna post a pic because I can PROMISE you I have not lost one single pound in the last 25 days.  I was on the Insanity bandwagon GREAT last week, and then I got the Black Plague of Death and TRIED to keep working out.  I did the T25 stretch which is AMAZING, then the Insanity Recovery workout, then the stretch again and then just decided to take the week off.  I am STILL not well, it's been about 10 days and I'm still coughing crap up. :(  My throat is sore, my nose is sore from blowing it so much and I have that constant annoying drainage that JUST won't quit.  Not going to worry about working out until Monday since Insanity is a 6 day program and I like having Sundays off, but I am going cold turkey on the food thing.  I ate EXACTLY what I wanted to today; didn't stuff myself silly, but didn't deny either.

No matter, I feel just fine about myself.  I know I was strong enough to lose 45 lbs, I'm strong enough to knock the 15 or so lbs I've gained back off again.  I have worked out a deal to take some riding lessons from a local trainer, AND I'm doing a "test ride" on Saturday to see about me riding a person's horse once or twice a week because she just doesn't have the time to ride a whole bunch.  I'm SO happy about that, because even though riding isn't enough by itself, it's definitely a step in the right direction OUT of the whole sedentary thing.  I'm thankful to have been presented these opportunities and I intend to make the most of them!

I hope all y'all had a great Thanksgiving, and remember to be thankful EVERY day.  Remember, the key to happiness is contentment, and in order to be content you have to WORK at it.  The holiday season tends to bring out both the best and worst in people; always strive to be at your best and keep a positive attitude.

The magic of being happy!

This week's motivational seminar is brought to you by ... haha.  Happiness.  Most of the time, I have it.  Occasionally, I don't.  Fortunately, the "don'ts" are few and far between.  The key to happiness is contentment.  When you're content, you're happy.  The Bible shows us many, many examples of how to have contentment in your life.  Whether you "believe" or not, you can't deny that some things are self-evident.  When you do them, you WILL be happy :)

1.  Being content is NOT complaining.  We all complain.  ALL of us, every now and then.  Some of us ... we complain every day.  It's SO easy in this land of instant gratification that when our phone is slow ... we slam the phone on the table and complain about how old and slow our phone is, or the stupid AT&T network, or ... you get the picture.  Instead of complaining how the potatoes are cold, instead be grateful you have a full belly and food on your table!  Change your perspective.

2.  Being content is NOT coveting.  We can't help it.  Sometimes, envy creeps in.  Our neighbor has a new car, or a new purse, or a new baby, or a new computer, or a new ... you understand, right?  Just because they have something you think you want doesn't mean they're happy!  Look to your OWN life and remember to have an "attitude of gratitude".

3.  Being content is NOT normal or natural.  What?  Scratching your head at this one?  It is natural to be jealous!  It is natural to covet others.  It is NOT natural to be content and happy.  You have to TEACH yourself how to be content.  When you change the way you LIVE you will change the way you FEEL.  YOU have to have control over your "thought life".  When you sit on the computer and shop for all the things you know you can't afford, does that make you happy?  Stop allowing yourself to think negatively.

4.  Being content is NOT circumstantial.  Your circumstances are ALWAYS changing.  You can't sit there and think "When A, B, and C happen for me, THEN I'll FINALLY be happy.  Life is cyclical.  When one problem resolves itself, another one pops up.  You are NEVER living a life 100% free of drama or problems.  Your happiness cannot depend on whether you have money in the bank, or you're having a good hair day.  You must learn to be content in ANY situation.

5.  Being content is NOT complacency.  You shouldn't be content with mediocrity.  You should ALWAYS strive to be better in character, in your faith, in your role as father/mother/daughter/son/etc.  Don't strive to improve your lot in life with a bigger car/faster phone/bigger TV/etc.  Strive to give more/volunteer/mentor/etc.

There ya go.  Happy Thanksgiving!  I haven't participated in the "happiness" challenge on facebook because I attempt to be happy and thankful EVERY day.  Sometimes I slip, and have a "poor, poor, pitiful me" day, but I don't save the month of November as my "Happy Month".  People have always told me they love how I'm always happy and "even keel".  It's because I TRY to be content despite my circumstances.  I always try to remember that no matter what's happening in my life, I (and my family) have my health.  I know so many people that suffer from health problems in addition to "life", and know that no matter how "bad" I perceive my life to be, it's NOT.  Just be grateful.  Be thankful.  I know I am!  Happy Thanksgiving y'all :)

The great transformation

The more I think about it, the more I believe we humans never really "Arrive".  The meaning of life is the journey we take, the constant molding and transforming of ourselves in the physical sense and in the spiritual sense.  Think about it!  How many times has your hairstyle changed?  Everything from our piercings/tattoos/hair/weight/plastic surgery ... is to make us FEEL something.  It's to express things we feel on the inside.  I certainly don't claim to know everything, or even CLOSE to everything, but I do feel it in my heart and soul that I am on the right path right now.  My mom can't really understand WHY California over Tennessee or Virginia.  I can't really explain it myself, just that I KNOW on a spiritual level that this is where I'm supposed to be right now in my life.  Maybe it was to bring our family in contact with Pastor Jimenez, I don't know!  All I DO know is we went 3 months with no jobs, all the time telling God that if he would just help us out, we'd find a church.  Well ... through a crazy round about way, we found a church and THEN the jobs came, BAM!  Me, then David in the space of a week.  Boggles my mind, still.

Sadly, David had to work today, but I feel moved to share this week's sermon.  I think it's one EVERYONE will be interested in:  Foolproof ways to have God answer your prayers.  What, did your ears perk up at that?  That's right, the Bible lays it all out in black and white HOW to have your prayers answered 100% of the time.  I have about 5 pages of notes, but I will paraphrase here:

First, you have to PRAY!  And I mean really connect and PRAY.  Second, you have to BELIEVE that your prayer can and will be answered.  If you pray with doubt in your heart, it will NOT happen.  Third, you have to pray in the NAME of Jesus.  By that, I mean you have to really truly connect and allow your heart to feel Him when you pray.  Fourth, you have to be asking for the right things.  Selfish, self serving prayers will go unanswered.  You have to pray within the wants of God.  Fifth, you have to BANISH the sins on your heart.  It's not hard; confess them to God!  Let go of all the "secret" sins that you hold onto, for if you don't you'll never have your prayers answered.  Sixth, you should share your faults with a Godly and righteous person, then ask them to pray with you.  This doesn't necessarily have to be your pastor, it can be an acquaintance that has the gift of the Holy Spirit.  "Faults" doesn't mean confessing your sins as if to a priest.  Simply get off your chest the things that you feel are burdening you!  There is power in group prayer!  Seventh, you need to make sure your life is Christ centered.  You can't be a child of the World, practicing Wiccan magic and going out and getting stoned every night and expect to just pray to God and have your prayers answered.  You have to live your life as an example to others.  Eighth, you must be PERSISTENT in your prayer.  Don't ask just once.  You can't give up, you must ask God for what you want over and over again until he answers you.  And finally, make sure you're right with your spouse.  If you and your spouse are in a hostile/bad relationship God will not hear you.  You have to fix what is wrong between you and your SO so you can be on the right track in your prayer life.

Like I said, serious paraphrase, but y'all get the general idea :)  For every single one of these points, there are 2 or 3 Bible verses backing them up.  It's so amazing the way Pastor Jimenez brings the Bible to light.  I went to Lifeway Christian store yesterday and finally bought a KJV bible.  I've had a NKJV for the past 20 years, and had no idea how it has subtly changed key words and phrases to have a TOTALLY different meaning than the "regular" KJV.  Like I said, I believe God has brought us to where we are right now for many different reasons, but the primary one is the spiritual growth we are experiencing.  Kody and I went alone today; that is the FIRST time I have EVER gone to church sans the hubby.  Makes me feel good!

Loving it

Want to go back here!  Sutro Baths, just outside San Fran

Just a few random thoughts for ye old blog before bed tonight.  Firstly, I am SO grateful and happy to be here.  I am enjoying this place, spending time with my boys, and focusing on "real" life SO much.  Not gonna lie; it has been HARD.  It took us so long to find jobs that we're still fighting money issues right now, but we're s   l   o   w   l   y   getting on track.  I'm trying to reach out and make some friends.  I almost made it to the ladies night church activity, but I allowed the long work day to be my excuse not to go.  I'm thinking about making the effort to get out and be social, hard as that is for me.

It's actually been a welcome break and a nice relief to step away from the horse world for a few months.  I honestly haven't thought much about them in the time we've been here.  I definitely don't miss the hustle and bustle of the WORK part of it, but I am starting to miss just the simplicity of BEING with horses and smelling/touching them.  I reached out to a local big name event trainer tonight to see if she minded if I stopped in to watch a lesson or 2.  I would like to slowly ease my way back into it, just watch some lessons, maybe find an event to volunteer at.  Then, maybe find a ride.  I'm not pushing anything, like I said, the break has been good for me.  When you own a horse, ALL your thoughts are obsessed on shows, money for lessons and clinics, new tack, shoes, vet bills, etc.  It's nice to not have to worry about that farrier bill or vet bill ... it's stressful!  And plus, I worked SO hard just to be able to (barely) afford my horse, it's so weird to work a 4 day week behind a desk; I feel like a slacker!

Great message on disciplining your kids at church today.  Makes me realize I can indeed take SOME credit for how awesome my child is, because even though his personality is amazing, my husband and I have NEVER allowed him to get away with anything.  From a young age, we had expectations of our son.  He has to clean his room, be respectful, sit still, and generally not be a heathen.  He is currently one of the most amazing, respectful, kind hearted, and awesome 11 year olds I know.  I'm glad we had the sense to set boundaries and have expectations back when he was 2, so now as he begins to transition to teenager, I'm confident he will not resort to sullen teenage boy antics.

Once again, I am having issues with a REALLY (bad) sore ab muscle.  I felt it in my obliques about a month ago; my side hurt so bad I literally would have gone to the emergency room if we'd had the money.  After about 3 days of pretty bad pain, I came to the conclusion that it was muscle strain, and I just took things REALLY easy.  This time, it's front and center, the top abs.  They HURT, and not in a good way.  DANG!  That's definitely the biggest disadvantage to moving from a very physical job to a desk job, and exercising every day.  I need to be more careful and do a longer warmup than I have been.  Strained muscles hurt! And they're counter productive; I don't feel like I can do my T-25 at all this week; I need to take the week off so I don't REALLY hurt myself :(  I'm actually thinking about breaking out the Insanity workout of "core cardio and balance", which is a normal length 43 minute Insanity workout, but one that's lower impact than even the typical T25 workout.  I think I will just do the T25 "stretch" video tomorrow, then try CC and B on Tuesday and see how I feel.  I've got skinny jeans to fit into!:)

Catching up!

Mt Lassen!

Well, I've been working on experiencing life the past 2 weeks, sorry I haven't blogged so much :)  Had quite a lot going on, so I've been fairly busy.  My awesome SIL Stef came out last week; it was amazing.  She was SO happy to be out here, I didn't get to pick her up at the airport, but I heard she cried when she saw David and Kody;)  Sadly, the Saturday she was here fell on a Saturday I had to work, so they got up SUPER early and drove south to LA for the day.  That was fine with me because I'm not all that enamored with So Cal.  I mean, I like San Diego, but that's about it.  I'm all about my gorgeous Nor Cal!  So, I worked (and had a HORRIBLE day), but on Sunday we got to go back to Lassen volcano, and we found us a new state park to go in with this AMAZING waterfall.  It was so darn beautiful, AND we got to hike a teeny little mile long trail, yay :)  Steffie  and the boys aren't so keen on hiking, so I was grateful the trail wasn't too intense for them.  From there, we went to Redding and walked through Turtle Bay and the Sundial bridge.

Kody got baptized today!  I'm so proud of him :)  He was ready to do it, and he was super excited about it.  Praise God!  I was actually quite disappointed to miss out on church last Sunday, but when Stef comes back over Christmas, she will be here a little over a week, so we will get to take her to church.  We just had so far to drive on Sunday, we couldn't fit it in.  Today was great, as usual.  We were talking about "once saved, always saved", but you should still live a "good" life because even though you may GO to heaven, if you don't live right you won't have much when you get there.  Interesting as always!

David's birthday was Friday, and we went to dinner last night out in Roseville where he works.  He works in a REALLY nice shopping center, and it was just awesome to spend some time enjoying the gorgeous weather and the great company.  We ate at a restaurant called the Yard House, and we fully enjoyed it.  Definitely on our list to go back to.  From there we went to the mall and wandered around a little bit, and today has just been church/chill day.  I went to the park and ran 6 miles again.  Boy, it was WINDY; gusts up to 30 mph.  My hands were FREEZING by the time I got home.  I ran a little further than last time.  2 weeks ago, I alternated walk/run each mile, so I ran 3/walked 3.  Today, I ran 3 in a row, walked one, then ran one, then walked the last so I actually ran 4/walked 2 yay me!

Ok, here's what I'm going to do.  I intend to post a pic of me in an outfit I want to look GOOD in.  My favorite jeans (when they fit) and a white t shirt.  My jeans are so tight they gave me an ugly muffin top.  So, to keep me accountable, I'm posting my pics of me in that outfit.  HOPEFULLY I will look better in it by next month.  It worked the first time, so hopefully it will work now.

Eww.  Nice muffin top!

Making those seams scream:(

Side never looks quite as bad

Alrighty then!  A month from now, that should look MUCH better.  I know myself.  I HAVE to have accountability.  Posting these pics holds me accountable.  When I don't do that, I don't care.  I do NOT want to be like a wonderful person I know.  She was pretty overweight, no big deal.  Went on a diet, lost SO much weight, she looked absolutely amazing; like a completely different person.  In fact, she was one of my inspirations for losing my weight!  Fast forward a year; I've lost 45 lbs and look so much better.  I see this person, and she's right back to where she was :(  She tells me, Hey!  You look great!  Don't be like me; I lost 60 lbs, then gained 80!  Sad.  I don't want to do that.  I got RID of all my fat clothes, I REFUSE to buy fat clothes again.  I know I may gain some, but I CAN and WILL lose it again.  The key is moderation, and awareness of the problem.  I have to jump on it as soon as I sense the weight creeping on (like now).  Small goals.  Keep active.  Cut the sugar (again).  Smaller portions.  I can do this, and I will do this!  Love y'all, will post again sooner than 2ish weeks, I promise.:)  Have a great week!

New World Order

*Caution:  This one's a novel!*

Well, mind blown.  Again.  Seems like every time I set foot in church, I learn something new.  What I learned today is so amazing, I'm going to actually transcribe some notes Pastor Jimenez gave us today.  The sermon is in regards to how different versions of the Bible are propagating the Anti-Christ's New World Order.  We all know there's about 7 different versions of the Bible other than King James.  They've all been put out there to make it more "simple" to understand the Word of God.  I admit ... I have one of those versions.  I have the New King James Version, which I thought simply removed all the "doth", "thee", and "whilst" and made it a little easier to understand what God is trying to say.  Needless to say, I will be investing in a new bible.

1.  1Timothy 3:16
*KJV:  And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

*New American Standard Bible (NASB):  By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:  He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.

*New International Version (NIV):  Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great:  He appeared in the flesh,was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.

*New Living Translation (NLT):  Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith:  Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit.  He was seen by angels and announced to the nations.  He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory.

*English Standard Version (ESV):  Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:  He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

!What does all this mean?  The KJV tells us that GOD was manifest in the flesh.  We all know that, right?  Jesus is God's fleshly body.  These other "more modern" versions are setting us up to believe in the anti-christ, because "He" can be any man.  I think I got that right.  Pastor explained it better I think, but y'all get the drift;)

2.  Luke 2:33
*KJV:  And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.

*NASB:  And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.

*NIV:  The childs's father and mother marveled at what was said about him.

*NLT:  Jesus' parents were amazed at what was being said about him.

*ESV:  And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.

!What are these passages referring to?  Well, the birth of Jesus.  We all know that Mary is Jesus' mother, but Joseph is NOT the father of Jesus, GOD is. Mary was a virgin!  And Joseph is NOT God.  KJV is the only bible that correctly references the relationship of Mary and Joseph to Jesus.

3.  John 1:18
*KJV:  No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

*ESV:  No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

!Jesus is God's son, and was seen on earth.  God has never been seen on earth, except as Jesus.

4.  Matthew 7:14
*KJV:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

*NKJV:  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way, which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

*NLT:  But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

*ESV:  For the gate is narrow and way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

!This passage is telling you how to get to heaven.  Honestly, it is extremely simple to get to heaven.  You don't have to repent, you don't have to go to confession, you don't have to live like a monk, you don't have to WORK at it.  You simply must BELIEVE that Jesus died on the cross for your sins.  The way is NOT difficult, it is easy.  But yes, it is straight and narrow.  There is only ONE way to get to heaven, and that is through belief in Jesus and God.  Satan will have you believe going to heaven is so hard, you shouldn't even try.

5.  Mark 10:24
*KJV:  And the disciples were astonished at his words.  Jut Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

*NASB:  The disciples were amazed at His words.  But Jesus *answered again and *said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

*NIV:  The disciples were amazed at his words.  But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

*NLT:  This amazed them.  But Jesus said again, "Dear children, it is very hard to enter the kingdom of God.


*ESV:  And the disciples were amazed at his words.  But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!

!The KJV passage refers to the fact that "rich people" have a harder time making it to heaven.  God said that money is the root of all evil, and that rich people will have a harder time believing in God and going to heaven.  Note how all the alternate bible versions omit the part about "riches".  They say that in GENERAL is hard to get to Heaven.  That just isn't true.  The New World Order will rely on rich and powerful people to help the agenda get going.

1 Corinthians 1:18

*KJV:  For the preaching of the cross is to them, that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

*NKJV:  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

*NASB:  For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

*NIV:  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.


*NLT:  The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction!  But we who are being saved we know it is the very power of God.

*ESV:  For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

!If you believe, you ARE saved.  You are not saved by WORKS.  You are not saved through having to "live right", you are saved by BELIEF in God.  If you believe, you ARE saved, not in the process of BEING saved.

John 3:36

*KJV:  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:  and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

*NASB:  He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

*NLT:  And anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life.  Anyone who doesn't obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God's angry judgement.

*ESV:  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall  not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

!Clear as Lake Tahoe, right?  KJV states that if you BELIEVE, you are saved.  If you BELIEVE NOT, you shall incur God's wrath.  Nowhere in the KJV bible does it state you must obey.  You SHOULD obey, you SHOULD live your life as God says to do, but it is not a requirement for you to get to heaven.

Still with me?  I've got more!

Colossians 1:14

*KJV:  in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

*NASB:  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins

*NIV:  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins

*NLT:  who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

*ESV:   in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins

!Um, it is the BLOOD of Jesus Christ that gives us the promise of everlasting life after our earthly death.

Isaiah 14:12

*KJV:  How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

*NASB:  How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn!  You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!

*NIV:  How you have fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning!  You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world.

*ESV:  How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!  How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!

!Wow.  Just wow.  Lucifer, Satan, is cast out of heaven.  The "modified" versions of the bible are blatantly telling you JESUS was cast out of heaven.  Jesus is identified in Revelations as the morning star, NOT Satan.  Satan is the son of the morning, not the STAR of the morning.  Small changes, BIG context change.

Luke 4:8

*KJV:  And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Get thee behind me Satan:  for it is written, Thou shalt worhip the Lord thy god, and him only shalt thou serve".

*NASB:  Jesus answered him, "It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only".

*NIV:  Jesus answered, "It is written:  'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"

*NLT:  Jesus replied, "The Scriptures say, 'You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'"

*ESV:  And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"

!Jesus is telling Satan to go away!  Get behind him!  YOU (meaning SATAN) will worship the Lord, and only Him.  The new versions say nothing about Satan, paving the way for the Anti-christ to step in and proclaim that the masses should worship him as the false prophet.

Hebrews 9:10

*KJV:  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

*NIV:  There are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings-external regulations applying until the time of the new order.

!Pretty clear, huh?

Acts 8:36-38

*KJV:  {36} And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water:  and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?  {37}And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.  And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  {38} And he commanded the chariot to stand still:  and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

*NIV:   {36} As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water.  What can stand in the way of my being baptized? {37} {38} And he gave orders to stop the chariot.  Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

*NLT:  {36} As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look!  There's some water!  Why can't I be baptized?"  {38} He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

*ESV:  {36} And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "See, here is water!  What prevents me from being baptized?  {38} And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

!Hello!  Notice anything?  A missing verse maybe?  And the versions even let you KNOW they're leaving it out.  This is again telling you  that your belief in Jesus being God's son is how you're saved.  The AC's agenda is to make it seem hard and difficult to get to heaven so that Satan can have more souls at the end of the Tribulation.  Unbelievable.

2 Samuel 21:19

*KJV:  And there was a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the BROTHER of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

*NASB:  There was a war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's bean.

*ESV:  And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

!Pastor called these passages "dumb".  It is common knowledge that David killed Goliath.  These "new" translations of the bible are telling you in black and white that this Elhanan, a Bethlehemite, killed Goliath, when in fact the boy killed Goliath's BROTHER.  Dumb indeed.

1 Samuel 13:1

*KJV:  Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned 2 years over Isreael,

*ESV:  Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for 2 years over Israel,

!Huh?  Saul was king as a one year old?  Lol.

Mark 1:2,3

*KJV:  {2} As it is written in the prophets (quote from Malachi) "Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee". {3} (quote from Isaiah) "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

*NASB:  {2} As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: (quote from Malachi) "Behold, I send My messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;"

*NIV:  {2} as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:  (quote from Malachi) "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way"

*NLT:  {2} just as the prophet Isaiah had written:  (quote from Malachi) "Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way."

*ESV:  {2} As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, (quote from Malachi) "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way",

!What??  The new translations MISQUOTE THE BIBLE!  They cite the quotations from Isaiah, but they're actually from Malachi.  Kind of a big deal, don't you think?  Obviously, these are only a SMALL sample of the vast differences in translations, but I'm certainly convinced.  Are you?  Things are making SO much sense to me right now, Pastor Jimenez makes it crystal clear what Satan's agenda is, and I for one have no desire to fall prey to Satan and Hell.  I want to live my everlasting life in heaven, with my family, and in paradise.  I have no desire to live in a literal hell for all of eternity, so I'm making sure to listen and pay attention to what I need to do here on earth.  My very first personal purchase I make for myself once our paychecks start coming in will be a KJV bible.  I thought my New KJV was harmless, but even it isn't exempt from Anti-christ agendas.  Satan is looking to systematically eliminate God from our world ... it's a scary thought that Pastors are using and preaching from these alternate translations of the bible when they're SO CLEARLY changing things around to suit the needs of those looking to lead you down the WRONG path.  Food for thought!

Coming out

Ran through the park today; beautiful!

Well, plenty to talk about!  First of all, I'm going to come out and say it ... I've definitely gained back some weight :(  Not a LOT, but definitely at least 10 lbs.  My most favorite of the jeans I bought on my slim down aren't really fitting right now.  I mean ... I squeezed myself into them.  And then I took them off for fear of busting a seam.  So ... I've made a deal with myself.  If I can wear them again by Nov 1, good for me!  If I can't, it's picture posting time here on the blog again!

Today I ran 6 miles.  Super sore in my hips right now, but feet feel good woo hoo!  Oh!  And I got baptized today :)  That is something I have had a desire to do for about a year now, but it just never seemed to work out.  Obviously, God had other plans for me and TODAY was the right day for it!  It actually is a hard thing to do when your desire to step away from the limelight is strong.  As a kid/teen I wanted to be the center of attention ALL the time.  Now, I'm perfectly content to step back and allow the kiddo to fill that roll.  So, I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to be washed away of my sins, and now I'm looking for the opportunity to get in some volunteer work, hopefully with the church.  I'm serious about changing my life.

I've had my first official full week of work, and fortunately I feel like I'm swimming.  Not just treading water, or even worse, drowning.  It's actually quite difficult.  VERY detail oriented, and foreign to my eyes, but I think I'm doing ok.  The girls are so nice to me and tell me I'm doing so awesome, especially for it only being my first week, but the last thing I want to do is be cocky about it.  I'm glad they think I'm doing well, it just motivates me to do even better and carry my own weight.  David also has had HIS first week, and he is kicking butt and taking names!  He's adapted quickly to the job and is competent enough to work on his own.  My husband is such a smart cookie, he could do anything he wants; it's just so difficult here in CA to find jobs.  There's so many people searching that every single little puny little job requires a license, or a certification of some sort, it's ridiculous!  Hopefully we don't have to worry about that any more, I have no plans to leave my job any time soon, and I don't think David is planning to change either:)

My sister in law is coming up next week and I'm SO excited!  I'm so blessed and fortunate that I get along with my in-laws every bit as great as I do my immediate family.  I look forward to spending time with my SIL just like I would my actual sister.  She will be here for almost a week, and it works out that we will get to spend plenty of time together:)  She's flying into the Sac airport which is not far at all.  It's a great airport.  David and I both job hunted there, but couldn't find anything.

I got up super early all last week to do T25 before work, and I will do so again this week.  I'm getting in the exercise, I just have to get my eating back under control.  I've fallen into the "sweet cereal" trap for dessert, and I'm eating way too late at night.  We do dinner around 7ish usually, but I'm then eating a bowl of cereal around 10 and that's what's causing my weight gain.  That and the 20 Ritz crackers I sneak in during the day.  I just have to slap myself mentally upside the head and not sabotage all the hard work I did last year.  Accountability!  Like I said, giving myself 3 weeks to get it together before I go back to posting "fat" pictures on the blog, so hopefully y'all won't be subjected to that again!  Hope everyone has a good week, I'm planning to :)

Spiritual Warfare

Enjoying the view of God's creation; why we moved west

I'm going to attempt to recap Pastor Jimenez's sermons from the last 3 weeks.  I feel like I've been inundated with God in the last few weeks, and I feel slightly run over with the Holy Spirit.  I've taken what I feel like is pretty good notes, so I'm going to try and impart a small piece what I've learned since attending VBC.

1.  We are constantly engaged in spiritual warfare.  Satan WANTS us to die and go to Hell.  When we die as non believers, we die 2 deaths; a physical passing out of our body, and a 2nd death where we are cast into the lake of fire.

2.  Our country is compromised.  Satan is the king of the earth, NOT God.  This is why you see God being taken out of school, God being kicked out of our government, and homosexuality/drug/alcohol use promoted as being mainstream and cool.

3.  Demons are actually fallen angels

4.  Anyone can be infused with a spirit ... a godly spirit will not cause you to do things you don't remember.  People oppressed by mental illness make great hosts for demonic spirits.  Our world is more accepting and tolerant of evil spirits than it is of godly spirits, ex. voodoo/fortune tellers

5.  Satan is currently living and walking here on Earth.  He has NEVER been to Hell.  Lucifer is beautiful to behold, and will try to tempt and trick you into sin and unbelief.  People full of self pride are much more susceptible to the influences of Satan than of God.

6.  When we hold onto residual guilt after committing sins, it is Satan.  Once you repent, God forgives your sins; move on!

7.  An obsession with death is characteristic of someone more in tune with Satan than with God.

8.  In order to be saved and go to Heaven, one must "Submit to God, resist the Devil, and he will flee from you".  James 4:7

9.  If YOU submit yourself to PRIDE, God will then resist YOU.

10.  Your defensive armor against Satan is Truth.  God is rooted in truth.  Satan is rooted in lies.  Churches that tell parables and fables instead of the cold, hard truth are promoting Satan.

11.  You can't have truth without faith.  You MUST have faith in order to encircle yourself with the truth of God's word.  Attending church helps you to surround yourself with people of like minds, and to fend off Satan.

12.  Ministering to others will help to physically FIGHT Satan.  The more people you help to bring to God, the less people Satan can cast into Hell.  Prayer is our most powerful weapon.

Here are some bible chapters/verses mentioned that support these points.  What I have posted is the highlights of what I have gleaned over the last 3 weeks.  If you're interested in sitting with your bible and looking up some verses, here they are.
*Luke 22:31
*Romans 10:14-17
*Hebrews 11:6
*Revelations 12:10
*Ephesians ch 6
*John 8:44
*2 Timothy 4:3
*John 4:24
*James 4:7
*Revelations 20:10
*Hebrews 2:14
*Luke 4:5-7
*John 12:31
*1 Peter 5:8
*Acts 10:38
*1 John 3:8
*Revelations 12:9
*Ezekial chapter 28
*Mark chapter 5

The crazy thing?  This isn't even all the verses mentioned!  I told y'all the pastor is a bible scholar.  It's so interesting to really follow along with him and flip back and forth and read all these passages.  I'm so enjoying myself, I hope that I continue to follow along and learn.  I'm seriously considering beginning to tithe to the church; I've NEVER done that before.  It will certainly hurt, at least conceptually, but maybe the results will be worth it.  Even a little $20 offering hurts right now, so stretching to tithe will really equate to stretching that faith, but I would be a hypocrite if I didn't at least make the effort.  I will be getting baptized soon, I finally feel as though it's the right thing for me to do.  I've been baptized before as a young child, but my primary motivation was to be the center of attention, and to not let my best friend do something without me.  Hey, at least I'm good at not lying to myself!  I told y'all, I can self analyze way better than any shrink can;)

How to turn your yellow silver plated flatware ... silver again!

I can't resist.  One more blog post!  I was just so excited about the results of my experiment, I had to get it out in the open for everyone so they can be just as excited as I!

My mother gave me this beautiful silver plate flatware.  I LOVE it!  When we moved to Cali, I threw my old stainless flatware into the "giveaway" bucket, and broke out my silver plate to use full time.  What I was not willing to negotiate on is the fact that I would put it in the dishwasher.  I don't think hand washing fully cleans silverware, so I've put it in the dishwasher despite Mom's instructions not to.  3 months later, my frequently used silver plate has turned this horrible dark/gold/yellow color.:(

So, I turned to my trusty Google search engine to try and figure out WHAT I can do about it.  Lo and behold, I found a "recipe" that was to my liking.  This advice varied from place to place, but I felt strongly about the mix so I went with it :)

1.  Line a baking dish with aluminum foil.

2.  Bring a pot of water to barely bubbling.

3.  Pour water into dish

4.  Dissolve 1tsp. each of baking soda and salt

5.  Drop silver plate into the water, allowing the pieces to touch each other.

6.  Watch your brown/yellow/gold silverware turn silver again!  Random note; it stinks when this is happening, I suppose due to the chemical reaction taking place.

7.  Remove utensils from the water, rinse, and dry!  You can leave stubborn pieces for up to 5 minutes, but mine pretty much all turned silver again instantly.

A close up of one particularly bad piece:

And, a close up when it's clean again!

SO SIMPLE!  I can't believe ANYONE would actually spend money on silver polish knowing this little trick.  Not to mention the fact that polish is TOXIC!  Salt and baking soda.  Hot water.  Foil lined pan.  DONE!  I'm so excited to have silverware again!  From what I read, it's citric acid and bleach that causes the silver to turn.  I JUST bought a new box of dishwasher detergent, and this one does have the citric acid, but no bleach (my last gel packs did), so I will see how that affects the silver.

Life as I know it

Sorry to update the blog for a third time in one day, but I'm feeling the words flowing from my finger tips!  I'm so psyched and excited, I just had to get it all out!  First and foremost, I am so excited about our new church.  We have FOUND a church home here in Sacramento!  And bonus:  it's closer than any church we've ever attended :D  The name of it is Verity Baptist Church.  Yep, Baptist.  Why is this surprising?  I mean, I grew up Baptist.  I attended the First Baptist Church of Woodstock for my entire childhood, and then went when it was ... ahem, convenient as an adult.  It's an awesome church.
http://www.fbcw.org/

My husband, however, grew up Pentecostal.  Long hair, skirts, speaking in tongues and all.  He's no bible scholar, but he has definite ideas of what is Right and what is Wrong, and I don't, so during our 14 year marriage, we've gone to a wide variety of churches, but never really finding a church home until we found Truthway, about 2 years ago.  Our church relationship began when David struck up a deep and quick friendship with the pastor, and it helped that the pastor is a Really Good Pastor.  So, for 2 years, we faithfully did not miss a single Sunday unless we were on vacation.  Then the pastor decided to move around, Truthway was no more, and the rest of that is a long story.  And of course, we moved here to Sac.

David has always enjoyed movies and videos about the End Times.  The book of Revelations and all that.  He found a Youtube movie called After the Tribulation that just blew. his. mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvv2HPYdhMA

This movie led us to Verity Baptist Church and pastor Roger Jimenez.  Let me tell ya ... I have learned more in 2 days than I have in 34 years.  It's amazing.  HE is amazing.  He IS a bible scholar; I think Pastor Jimenez has the bible memorized, no joke.  The message is delivered STRICTLY from the bible.  Every single statement he makes is backed up fully by the bible, with multiple scriptures to illustrate his points.  Amazing, I've literally never met a pastor like him.  The service is a full hour of the Word, and I actually enjoy and follow every second of it.  So praise God!  I'm so excited to have this to look forward to, and I'm really enjoying learning more/understanding the Bible.

Second:  I GOT A JOB!!!  And my husband has a 2nd interview tomorrow for a job himself, so happy!!  As y'all know, I was going from an outside, teaching position to an inside, office position.  It has been SO hard finding something.  Every single interview, not even exaggerating, has had a minimum of 14 other applicants there as well, resumes in hand.  And they're all so much more qualified than myself; let's face it, I just don't have inside office experience.  In fact, the position I got was a long process to get there.  It began in a room with 13 other applicants (14 of us in the room).  The office manager spoke to us as a group, the doctor spoke to us as a group, then the office manager came back in with paper and pen and quizzed us on the doctor's details.  5 questions.  We were all dumbfounded, I can promise you that!  I must have gotten all the questions right though, because 8 people were dismissed right away, BOOM!  The 6 of us that remained were ushered into the back where we had a 1 on 1 interview with the Dr. and OM.  She informed me there was another round of group interviews that evening, then she would contact me if she wanted anything else.  About a week later, she asked me in for a "working" interview, where I literally worked 8 hours, being taught the job.  I felt ok about it, but I knew I had worked a little slow, just to make sure I didn't make any mistakes.  Another week later, I got a call to come in for a SECOND interview, which was this past Friday.  Again, I worked all day, this time feeling like I really rocked it.  Today, I got the call that she's offering me the position.  PHEW!  So happy and excited, glad it finally has happened.  We NEED some income, our finances are stretched so tight right now we can't breathe.  Hindsight being 20/20, we would have spent a LOT less money in the beginning of our time here, but we both TRULY felt like we would have jobs within 2ish weeks.  We had NO idea 3 months later we'd still be sitting here on the couch watching daytime TV.  IF we ever decide to move again, we have certainly learned a lesson!

So, please have prayers that my husband lands this job tomorrow; it literally is right across the street from our apartment, he could walk there if he wanted to.  The pay is good, the job is good, he really wants it.  Please pray I pick up quickly at my new job.  Even though I did well Friday, I still have a LOT to learn, new people to get to know, and patients to get to know ... it's going to be tough, but I know I'm up to the challenge.  God is good, I feel like we're slowly figuring out our new life, and things are progressing forward:)

Useful Pinterest stuff, part 2!

I will continue to post these updates as I do more cool stuff via Pinterest!  I'm telling ya, it's amazing how easy some of the tricks are, and how much time/effort they save.  I've only got a hand full of things this time, but trust me ... they're worth knowing!

1.   Cleaning your George Foreman Grill!  I've read this also works with a waffle iron.  Simply place a damp paper towel on the grill after you're finished using it, and close the lid.  That's it, walk away for several hours.  The damp towel acts like a steam cleaner, and when you open up your cooled grill, ALL the nasty, cooked on gunk is wet and ready to come off.  I use the wet paper towel to scrape the softened yuck off the grill, then clean it up with a dry paper towel.  Clean!  Perfect!  My plates DO detach and I can put them in the washer, but I feel like the dishwasher strips off the non stick surface, so I try to clean it up without running it through the washer.

2.  Tying your running shoes in such a way as to eliminate heel slippage.  I made my very own Pinterest pin using this blog!  Here it is: http://yourenotgettingyounger.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-to-keep-your-shoes-from-sliding-up.html

3.  Freshening up your garbage disposal.  I've lived in my apartment for 3 months now, and have noticed an occasional less than fresh odor wafting up from the disposal side every now and then.  My only extra word of advice to this pin is to slice up your citrus fruit small before dropping it in (I used a lime).  I put it in cut in half like the article suggested, and my disposal didn't grind up the peel.  When I put in a small, quarter sized piece, it "ate" the whole thing.  http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-clean-yo-2-136771

4.  This recipe for sweet potato souffle is so fabulous!  It was light and fluffy, sweet and savory, but way lighter calorie wise than your typical Thanksgiving side dish.    http://www.marthastewart.com/331745/maple-whipped-sweet-potatoes

5.  Home made brownies.  SO good!  http://afewshortcuts.com/2012/05/homemade-brownie-mix/

6.  Finally ... I confess, I haven't actually done this one yet, but I'm sure it will work well:  http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/06/how-to-clean-and-shine-your-microwave.html

Please feel free to share any pins that work great for you!  Comment on the blog, or shoot me an email at dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com

How to keep your shoes from sliding up and down!

So, do your sneakers ever rub up and down on your heel?  Even though you're pretty sure the size is just right, still, you get that annoying heel slippage.  That has been my problem with every single pair of sneakers I've ever owned (dress shoes too, but I don't know what the solution is for dress shoes!).

Enter:  Fleet Feet running store.  I was frustrated enough with wasting money on running shoes that didn't work to finally give in and get "professionally" fitted at a runner's store.  Yes, the shoes cost me $110.  BUT!  It's 148% worth it to finally have shoes that fit my foot correctly, and to have learned a nifty little trick called a "runner's knot".  The way I move, only my right shoe generally slips up and down.  Why?  I have no idea!  But ever since I learned how to tie my shoes this way, I have had NO heel slippage and hence, no 'hot spots'!  Here's how to do it:

1.  Make sure your shoes are laced all the way to the 2nd to last hole.  You will then thread your lace back through the last eyelet like so:

2.  Pull the lace so that you've made a small loop, then go ahead and put your shoe on.

3.  Next, thread right over to the left loop, left over to the right loop.  Make sure to thread through the loop.

4.  Now, this is the most important step; tighten the laces down and out, NOT up towards the center.  If you pull up towards the center, you will tighten the shoe across your instep, which is NOT what you want.  When you pull the laces OUT to the side, you will literally feel the shoe snug up towards your heel.

5.  Finally, tie your shoes like normal!

This way of tying my shoes has saved my feet.  I no longer have any heel slippage, causing blisters or hot spots.  Also, my toes don't go numb because my shoes are the correct size, not a size too small because they're slipping all over the place!  My heel is pretty narrow:

But my foot is wide:

Hence ... I have a hard time finding shoes that fit!  Hopefully, this post will help you learn the "runner's knot" that has saved my feet!

Oh, my aching ... chin?

For those of you that never really exercise, you should search around for Insanity/crossfit/T25/P90X/etc.  And just try ONE workout.  Oh.  Emm.  Gee.  I've committed to getting back on the T25 bandwagon after making sure my side is 100%, this time wearing shoes AND taking the modifier option every now and then, as I would certainly consider myself to be "out of shape" at the moment.  This is day 3, hump day, and I started on Monday.  Every muscle in my body hurts, including places where I didn't think you HAVE muscles, eg. under my chin.  Talk about PAIN!  But it's that GOOD pain, that pain that says I'm kicking butt and working out.

I can't remember if I've really talked about the T25 program; it's developed by the originator of Insanity, Shaun T, and it's basically a 25 minute version of an Insanity workout.  Now, if you're new to my blog, you may be wondering what Insanity is.  The Insanity program is what helped me shed 45 lbs last year.  Changing up my eating habits helped to kick start my weight loss, but Insanity shaped and sculpted my body until my size 14 clothes quite literally fell down to my ankles.  A cute dress I had that had always fit pretty well hung so comically on my freshly toned arms, it looked ridiculous, so I chunked all of those clothes into a bag and took them to the donation bin.

The problem with Insanity?  Well, for someone with a pretty strong lazy streak, it is near impossible to keep up forever.  It's a 60 day program, 6 days a week for 40-50 minutes the first month, then 6 days a week for 50-60 minutes a day the 2nd month.  It has you sprinting, doing moving pushups, walking planks, "V" push ups, burpees, suicide climbers, jumping jacks, jump rope with an imaginary rope, "power jumps" where you leap as high in the air as you can and slap your thighs, lunges, "shoulder burners", basketball jumps ... any sort of torturous gym exercise you can remember, that's what Shaun T has you doing.  It's a GREAT program ... and I found myself spending more time dreading what was coming then actually dreading the workout once I was in it ... but it was HARD to make myself push play on the computer.

T25 is modified Insanity exercises, 5 days a week, only 25 minutes.  Unfortunately, the time sacrifice is in the warm up and the stretch and the cool down, arguably the most important parts of a workout routine ... hence me straining an oblique muscle after doing only 2 days.  So today will be day 3, which I have not yet done, and I will get back to whipping my body back into shape.  Running is great exercise, but your body gets used to it ... at least mine does.  I think for ME T25 is a more sustainable workout because it's ONLY 25 minutes, and it's 5 days a week; something I can commit to by getting up half an hour earlier each morning and knocking it out.  There is a 25 minute stretch workout in there that I will fit in when I feel as though I need it (like right now!).

I LOVED my toned up body.  Problem is, it requires WORK to keep it that way.  I relaxed and let that slide; I am going to WORK to get it back again, and then I will WORK to keep it forever.  It's SO easy to allow yourself to get bitten by the lazy bug and start to slide back into old habits of making excuses like, "I've been married 14 years; why should I kill myself to look good?"  or "I'm married with a kid, who am I trying to impress anyway?"  You know what?  I'm not trying to impress anyone, I'm trying to be the BEST me I can be, and the BEST me is not fat and flabby.  The BEST me doesn't snack on m&m's all day and stuff my face with Ritz crackers at every opportunity.  The BEST me doesn't drink regular soda, or even diet soda.  The BEST me loves myself and tries to take care of ME by eating well and taxing every muscle I can to firm it back into submission.  Don't wait until Monday to change your habits.  START TODAY!  Drink water, chill on the refined sugar, and move your body!  It's simple.  I'm following my own advice!  Hope the rest of your week is great:)  OH!  And ps, David and I have found a new church to attend, I'm very excited.  Pastor Jimenez is the pastor, and he LOOKS about 25, but I think he's actually around my ageish.  Very passionate, great sermon, great Bible study.  Excited about what Sunday brings!