Week 4 (Or Is That 5?)

OK, so I've lost a little track of the weeks, especially since I completely missed last week due to illness. But I've lost 13.6 pounds since beginning this journey to a healthier me, and I'm thrilled. I can actually feel a difference in my clothes - they fit better, a little looser, more comfortable now. I confess I'm not at a place where anyone looking at me can tell a difference. I think 13 pounds on a smaller person is more noticeable than 13 pounds on a large person. But I'm thrilled nonetheless, and happy to know that the equivalent of 2.5+ sacks of flour or sugar (the 5# sacks that is) are now gone from my body. Ain't it grand???

And I will say again, I do not feel like I'm on a diet. I'm just eating normal food - whole food - unprocessed food, and it tastes great!

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Motivating Moment

From one of the weekly inspirational newsletters I get - I had to share it because it resonates so deeply within me. I sometimes feel pessimistic or negative. Yet have been told time and time again by people in both my professional and personal worlds that I'm a very positive person, and a blessing to speak to. As much as we know positive people in our lives, remember to tell them they are. I promise, they need to hear it and you will help replenish their sandbucket!

Choose Optimism

I love to be around optimistic people, don't you? They can inspire us to dream big plans and to take courageous actions. They give us the confidence to look within and discover that we, too, have an unlimited supply of joy, knowledge, and love.

How can some people be so optimistic about life and others so pessimistic? Perhaps, a better question is what makes a person optimistic or pessimistic? I believe that the foundation is their thinking, which controls their attitude and their vision.

You may know someone (or have read about someone) who has overcome tremendous adversity and lived a life that made a positive impact on others. Perhaps they were a school teacher, a mother, a relative, a store clerk, a co-worker, or a business leader. They may be famous, or they may be known to only a few. It does not matter. But one thing likely stands out; their optimism is undeniable.

How do they do it? Why are these people so optimistic about life? It all starts with a thought, an idea, a hope, a dream --a choice. They decided to be optimistic. They made up their mind to change how they think - to change their attitude - to change their vision. They decided to listen to the voice for optimism.

Are they "special" people? Yes, in a way, they are "special." And so are you. They are "special" because they made the choice to take control of their thoughts. All of us can do the same thing. No matter what happens in our life, we always get to choose how we will respond - with pessimism or with optimism.

Consider the following "Creed for Optimists" that Christian D. Larsen wrote in 1912. Perhaps it will inspire us to carefully choose our thoughts, our attitude, and our vision to liberate our full potential.

Creed for Optimists

Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

Talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

Make all your friends feel there is something special in them.

Look at the sunny side of everything.

Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best.

Be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

Give everyone a smile.

Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others.

Be too big for worry, too noble for anger, and too strong for fear.

Christian D. Larsen

Affirmation for the Week:

“I will monitor my thoughts. As I do, I will recognize that I can choose to be optimistic as I respond to both expected and unexpected situations in my life.”

Have an optimistic week!

Mary Rau-Foster

Copyright 2008 by Mary Rau-Foster. All rights reserved. However, if you find this information helpful, we grant you permission, and strongly encourage you, to print this page and put it on your bulletin board. Thank you.

Words Of Wisdom

Thanks to a dear friend who shared these words on one of her blogs. They resonated deep within me.

There comes a time in life when you have to let go of all the pointless drama & the people who create it & surround yourself with people who make you laugh so hard that you forget the bad and focus solely on the good. After all, life is too short to be anything but happy.

And to the many friends in my life who make me laugh so hard I forget the bad and focus solely on the good, thank you. I think most of you know who you are!

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Maids?

All my submissive and service-oriented friends out there, what do you think about this: Who takes care of your D/M/O (whatever you call them) when you can't? I think this question is really aimed at folks in 24/7 arrangements, but I welcome anyone's thoughts.

The thing is, I'm the caretaker here. My heart is to serve and care for Sir/Master/Daddy, and that is when I am happiest, and what I do best. But when I'm ill - as in really ill like back in January when I had pneumonia and this past week - I can't do my job.

Then, not only does Sir get stuck taking care of Himself, but also O/our son, and heaven help Him - me too. (And I'm not a very good patient.)

Why don't we have a network of service-oriented people who can help care for the Master's of slaves who are unable to do so themselves temporarily? You know, like Merry Maids or something along those lines? They can pull your file when you call them, find out what your Sir needs, wants, and prefers, and jump in to save the day.

Just like the ones in the picture here, at least that's a place to start...but I'm open to other ideas too.

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Not Strep But...

OK - back from the Doctor, feel much worse than I did before I left - seems odd. Anyway, not strep, but it's called pharyngitis (inflammation and infection of the pharynx). And it's not like I could talk anyway cause it hurt so daggone much - but now they've gone and put me (officially) on "Voice-rest".
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omg!
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Me????? Not allowed to talk? How absurd.
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W/we have friends, an M/s couple, and He frequently puts her on Mute (I think that's insanely cruel, but hey, that's not my place to say!) Thank heaven Sir has never felt compelled to do that to me. Only now the Doctor has done it for Him.
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Of course our teen-age son is thrilled, lol. Brat. But that's OK - I can still give him tasks to do through writing them down on paper with ink. (More than one way to skin a mommy! (or a teenager, whatever...)
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So about all I can manage at the moment is a nap - which is good since that's what Sir instructed me to do when I got home from the Doctor. In the mean-time He's meeting a friend of ours at the other house so the friend can take the Master bed (head-board, foot-board, sides, the 4 posters and top rail.) It isn't going to be part of our home here, and while it's in excellent condition and I'm certain W/we could have sold it, W/we agreed it was much more satisfying to give to a "good home" for free. And indeed. it is a wonderful feeling to know that it will bring beauty to the home of friends.
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ttfn
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Follow Your Gut

We all "ought" to be better at following our guts. As in, you have a bad feeling about something, so don't do it! Bad feelings are worth listening to. Or as in something tells you deep inside that you should do something, so DO do it! Those feelings are worth listening to also.

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This past week I had some bad vibes about a couple things, and I ignored them. And now, since I didn't listen to my body, my inner voice, my heart, instead I let my brain over-ride the feelings, now I pay the price.

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I knew my schedule was too demanding this past week, and I knew I needed to pare it down in order to protect me. But I didn't listen to what I knew. And now I'm sick. Icky, uggy sick - fever, tummy stuff we won't mention, sinus stuff, a sore throat to beat all sore throats, and did I mention the muscles aches and the way the chills from the fever make those even worse?
And it isn't like I can just lay back and rest this weekend - the move is Tuesday and the house had to be packed up. Life isn't going to stop or pause while I'm ill, and patiently wait for me to be well so it can pick back up where we left off.

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So I tell ya - listen to your mother if you want, but mostly, listen to your body, your heart, your feelings, your intuition. And then do as they say. I don't care what the obligation is, or who you might offend by canceling, it isn't worth allowing yourself to become run down and susceptible to the germs and bacteria flying around.

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Take care of you - and since I couldn't be a good example I'll just have to serve as your horrible warning!
:)
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And Still I Wonder

Another of life's imponderables came to mind this morning on the way to work. How can so many turn signals be broken all at the same time? Seems really odd that so many people have broken turn signals. Of course I don't know for a fact they are broken, but what else could possibly explain the lack of signals when called for?

Surely folks have not forgotten what they were taught in Driver's Ed about traffic laws and safety. It seems rather basic to me - let people know you plan to go other than straight before you do it. Especially if you're changing lanes in front of them.

I guess the car mechanics have their hands full repairing all those broken turn signals!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

For Christmas Daddy gave me an Aerogarden. I'm not sure why W/we never got around to setting it up until today, but no worries, it's put together, all the little seed pods in place now.

I can't wait till the herbs all grow large enough to begin using them. Fresh herbs can be pricey in the store, and they don't keep very well. I look forward to cooking with O/our own fresh basil, dill, cilantro, chives, mint, and parsley! Adding herbs and seasoning is especially important when cooking more healthfully.

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Happy Mother's Day!

I'm sometimes the first person to see what I do wrong - and beat myself up for it, especially when it comes to raising my son. I work hard at reprogramming the inner voice of irrational thought and teaching myself the positive inner thoughts of rational thinking.

Today I got a lot of help with that, when my teenage son gave me a note inside a Mother's Day card. The note says:

"To the best mom out there. Thank you for being a great mom and always being there for me. There's no doubt in my mind that if you weren't such an awesome mom I'd have had no way to get where I am today or be prepared to go on to greater things. I guess that's it. Writing isn't my strong point just thanks for everything you've done for me and I love you mom."

Wow.

God knows, that I have certainly tried very hard to be a good mother to my son, and have carefully and deliberately chosen how to raise him and how to parent him. And in spite of the bad choices I've made, he's a truly amazing person, perhaps one of the most remarkable people I've ever met. I've been head-over-heels in love with him since the day he was born (probably before that!) And I'm thrilled to have him put his feelings into words. And for those who don't know him, the actual writing down on paper is a big deal too - he HATES to write! I taught him to type at a very young age (3-5 yrs old) so he wouldn't have to write. But he wrote this out - on paper with a pen, and I can keep it forever. :)

Go me!

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Bitch Bitch Bitch!

Dinner last night with dear friends Lady Esenem, her daughter, Pete, and Magdalena, and Lady Esenem "bitched" us all! ;)

She shared her bottle of "Bitch" wine that is. A delightful grenache with an even more delightful label!

The red went perfectly with our scrumtious Greek fare at Samo's. I had some yummy lamb, Sir had skewers of meat which I can't pronounce..something souvlaka or along those lines.

Everyone else seemed to really enjoy their food as well. Boy oh boy do I love authentic Greek food! Especially when I'm being "Bitch"-ed!

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Blog Blog Blog...

Is there a need for more than one Blog? Could I keep up with more than one Blog? Would I have something different to say on more than one Blog?

I ponder these questions because recently W/we've had to think about who we share the Blog with. I'm in favor of being "out" or up-front and honest about who I am - to a degree. Part of me just wants to be me, and allow everyone else to deal with it. And mostly I think people would be fine with that.

But it's always a tough question. If a blog is completely anonymous one is free to really write and share anything they wish to share, or need to share. When a blog is known by many it can be a very good way to keep in touch and keep current with one another. So, do we share the whole shebang with everyone? Or create seperate blogs?

I'd love to hear thoughts from anyone who cares to share. I've reached no conclusion as of this time, so your opinions may help me work through this.

Thanks!

Week 1

OK - I had excellent news - in this first week of the rest of my life I lost 6#. (I hope and pray I never find it again!!!)

I'm even happier that I don't feel as though I'm "dieting". Following a good, healthy, nutritious, eating plan is so much easier than "dieting". Whole foods - not processed behond recognition - make a huge difference. I have not even been tempted by McDonalds this week - that's a success right there! But I wasn't trying to avoid wanting McD's - I wasn't going to give in and eat there, but I was prepared to want it anyway. But nope - it seems that when we give our bodies healthy, whole foods, and eat until we are satisfied, our bodies stop craving junk.

Of course Sir has been stuck eating what I eat since I prepare His meals for Him, and since He asked me to feed Him more healthfully too I did. He found that in less than 4 days He lost 5#. grrrrr. Oh don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled. But why do men lose weight so much more easily than women???

sheesh

Anyway - I'm looking forward to seeing Him weaned off some of His meds - a few more pounds will take care of the high blood pressure pills I bet!

Pigs Can't Sing

OK - so even after my last entry about not trying to teach pigs to sing I find myself trying to do just that at work. Sorry, you get to listen (read) my ranting about employees who willfully and with forethought break rules - rules that have been carefully reviewed and checked for comprehension and understanding. Rules that I don't know that I personally care that much about, but which are set for all of us from higher authorities than me (yes, that's right, I'm merely middle management.)

How very frustrating to catch people blatantly breaking rules (I believe this is called insubordination) when what I really want is to catch people doing right. I am a very Theory Y manager, and prefer to believe that people will come to work and do their best for their own satisfaction, and do not need me watching their every move.

In fact I seem to have a crew (not all just about half) who epitomize what Theory X managers believe, namely, that no one will ever work for their own joy in doing a good job, but must be brow-beaten in order to make them work.

grrrrrrrrr

I do realize that typical reality lies somewhere in the middle - that neither Theory X nor Theory Y are 100% correct. (I did pay attention during lecture hall while in college!) BUT. That doesn't mean I wouldn't prefer Theory Y anyway.

What kind of slave would give less than their best just because the owner isn't looking? I do all that I do for Sir - even doing a good job at work. Whether it's household service, his personal service, or service outside the house, the point is for me to do my best in order to be a good reflection of Him.

As it turns out a few of these employees today are fairly vocal about going to church and their religious beliefs, and that was ultimately what set me over the edge. Yes, I did indeed hear myself asking them how they reconcile their behavior at work with what they learn in their churches, and where they left their own sense of personal integrity and ethical behavior?

So, the quote from my last entry is true, I have first-hand knowledge that it did waste my time and I definitely annoyed the "pigs".

Tomorrow is another day.

I Wonder

I have always wondered:

Why some people believe that they must always answer the phone when it rings, regardless of what they are doing when it rings, and how much imposition that may cause to themselves, or the people they are with in person.

AND

Why these same people believe that the people they call on the phone are likewise obligated to answer the phone in a similar fashion?

I have observed that with older people the urge to always obey the ringing summons to speak to someone else is almost impossible to ignore. Perhaps that is part of the generation, the way they view technology, or the belief that certainly no one would call them if it weren't important (all evidence to the contrary). Perhaps it is part of their mindset that they have an obligation to meet the needs of other people.

The problem is then, that when others are not able or choose not to respond to that ringing annoyance, these same folks are insulted. My mother has this way of commenting that "Oh, you don't take my calls," the words and tone of voice setting my nerves on edge! For heaven's sake, of course I take her calls. When I am able.

Just because I have a cell phone, and normally have it with me (not always, just usually) that doesn't mean that I am going to always stop whatever activity I'm engaged in to take that call. I didn't even do that when I had a land line. Just because the phone rings, doesn't mean I have to stop everything and run to answer it.

Oh well, enough pondering the imponderable. Maybe George Carlin or Gallagher can help me understand this phenomenon. Then again - do I really need to understand? Is it not enough that I have reached enlightenment on this topic? Certainly if I'm waiting for these other folk to understand me, or my thinking in regard to the telephone, I'm wasting my time and effort.

As Robert Heinlein said. “Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig.”

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I Love My Pedometer!

Daddy gave me an Omron Pedometer for my birthday, and I really love it! It works interactively with my PC, so that after I walk, I connect the cable to the PC, download the data, and the software keeps track of how I'm doing. There's a place in the software to personalize it and set goals, so it tells me clearly if I'm meeting my goals, falling short, or surpassing them.

The device is also easily customizable, so it knows how long my stride is, what I weigh, and other data that helps it know how I'm doing.

For example, after finishing my walk tonight I see that I walked 4,680 steps, 4625 of which were aerobic steps (at a pace that gave me an aerobic workout - definitely not a stroll!)

I walked 1.92 miles in 40 minutes, burned 242 calories, and 16.1 grams of fat. :)

This is just awesome data, and with a click of the mouse I can easily see how this compares to previous walks.

While the nutrition class refresher and the Weight Watchers meetings help me alot, I know that what food we put into our mouths is still affected by how physically active we are.

Thank you Daddy - I really like my pedometer!

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