Monday Minute Memories, January 30, 2012

Out in Blogland several bloggers do a Friday’s Favorite Five where they name five favorite things about the past week. Or Wordless Wednesdays where they just show pictures of the past week. Here I am introducing my own version of a once a week blog called, “Monday Minute Memories” of memories of my past week.

1. Action Packed Movie. I must admit that I am not a huge fan of action packed movies, but the rest of my crew are, so every once in a while I get dragged into watching an action packed movie. I think I may have used up all my testosterone up as a tomboy way back in the day, when all I cared about was anything round, that I could throw, catch or hit. Speaking of testosterone reminds me of Shark Week on Animal Planet which we watched while on vacation last year at the beach, probably not the best idea! But did you know that sharks have the highest serum testosterone levels than any species on the planet, with bull sharks having the highest? No, I don’t have ADHD, I call it mind mapping…back to the movie I was forced to watch, even the name shouts MAN MOVIE...Real Steel. It’s about big robots, smashing metal in a UFC style competition. Yes, I really stretched myself. Surprisingly it was a fairly good movie. There were certainly “educational moments” as in my opinion there are with all movies. MY review of educational moments…while it was violent, metal smashing metal, and there were some tight fitting clothes and disrespectful attitude; there was still a human story of reconciliation between a father and a son and the realization that as a father he wants to do and be better. It was a nice reminder that the most important things in life aren’t always things….or in this case robots and a big win…but family.

2. Youth Teacher Planning Meeting. We spend a good portion of Saturday afternoon planning some upcoming activities and events for our youth at the church. Let’s see…pizza…red Kool-Aid…pizza….red Kool-Aid….throw in some outrageously fun events and we were done. I did try two new recipes, one from Pinterest (Crockpot Italian Chicken) and the other (Chicken Parmesan) from a trusted recipe site (SkinnyTaste) that have not proven wrong yet. I know it is stupid to try something new when you have people coming over, so I probably won’t do that again; I was stressed about what if it doesn’t turn out right. So I did a backup plan of pizza. After all, eating pizza and drinking red Kool-Aid are a prerequisite to working with the youth. I highly recommend both. That is the recipes and working with the youth. On my Pinterest Boards, I have a board of recipes, these are the ones I want to try and I have a board of recipes I’ve tried and are good. Both of these have moved to that board. My new culinary out is "pinterest made me do it!"

3. Sock Blessings. Let’s just say the past three and half years have been the most stressful time of my career. Work has been difficult to say the least. I won’t get into details, but I recently received an “eviction notice” from my office on the second floor to a new office on the first floor, which I love. So it wasn’t really an eviction notice, just my humorous way of dealing with the move and it was all for good reasons too, other than my exercise. Not much of a change, I still have an office with a window, just not a view of the pond and the cute ducklings. To tell you the truth I laugh about it, simply because God is teaching me to be content in whatever state “or office” I am in. So even if I would have been moved to a cubicle, life would still be good, because I have a job and I love my job. The blessing part? One of the ladies in the new area where I sit came in to my office last week and commented to me that she noticed how hard I work. I said, “thank you it is nice to be noticed. It is because of that reason (and I pointed to a scripture I have hanging on my wall in my office) is the reason I work hard.” The scripture? “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for me.” Col. 3:23. My big sis gave it to me and it is a great reminder, it has given me encouragement through these hard years and helped me keep my perspective straight. Even though it wasn’t a big accolade, it was appreciated and I know it was orchestrated by my Heavenly Father to bless my socks off.

4. WeightWatchers. 3.4 pounds this week! I left the My FitnessPal because one pound a week for me was not cutting it. I was used to see 2 pounds or more a week with WW; so I am back on the path to get back to my healthy BMI. I’m just thankful I haven’t gained all 30 pounds back that I lost in 2008. I am a big fan of WW. I have tried at least a hundred different diets over my lifespan, but I don’t look at all those times as failures, but a hundred ways that didn’t work for me, in other words an education. To me, keeping the right perspective about failure is important. I like what Margaret Thatcher said, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” For me, WW works, but it is more than just WW but a battle with my mind and flesh. I am determined that my belly will not be my God. (Phillipians 3:18-20)

5. No Spend January. Have you heard of this? I know someone who took the challenge and you can read about her family’s “No Spend January” journey at Just A Little Happy. Ours was more of a Quit Eating Out Too Much January. Our goal was to eat out only one time a week. I am happy to say we’ve accomplished that. I know for some that is a lot, but for us we had fallen back into the convenience of eating out two to three meals a week. Eating out is expensive and not that nutritious. As I look back over the month, we have said no many times to eating out requests, , actually we have said, "I said no, quit asking!" I am happy to report everyone is still alive. Let’s see if we can keep it up!

Happy Monday Everyone, enjoy your week and remember He is faithful!