THANK YOU, LORD!

I was really worried that I might have some lingering problems, but within a day of starting the regimen I was feeling a slight difference and within a few days it was all but gone. It’s been nice not to be afraid to eat.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, kind words, and offers to help me out. I won’t lie — this has been and continues to be a rough holiday season, for reasons other than health issues.

I consider myself pretty empathetic and very understanding of most human behavior, be it behavior that I agree with or not, but sometimes I am stumped. Being an eldest child it is very hard for me to let go of control or to go on living life without knowing what is coming next. This is an area where I see God working on me constantly and I’m not anywhere near learning whatever lessons He has for me, apparently. With that I must say that this is looking like a season where God is teaching me and several other family members to let go and let Him take care of things. It is difficult, but I am trying. My heart aches, I am angry and defensive of my family. I want to lash out at the gossips and their family members that encourage their behavior, I want to say something against the people who call my family names and ridicule us — all of this being done behind a facade. But I can think of no way to do this without making myself or my family look like the instigators and melodramatic teenagers here.

So I hold my tongue. I work on learning the equal importance of nothing said when so many words want to come out. I will let God mend the pieces of my heart — my heart that aches so in the present circumstances. There is something much bigger going on here than my conflicting emotions. In the end, I know all will be right, though I have no idea what the path to that place looks like.

⁶ Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. ⁷ Don’t participate in the things these people do. ⁸ For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! ⁹For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

¹⁰Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. ¹² It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. ¹³ But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, ¹⁴ for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,

“Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”

¹⁵ So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. ¹⁶ Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. ¹⁷ Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. ¹⁸ Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, ¹⁹ singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. ²⁰And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²¹ And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:6-21 NLT)

Related posts:

1. Control Yourself
2. Clear as the dawn
3. A Day of Encouragement

I have been sick for a month now. It started when I got back from my little weekend shopping trip with Heather right before my birthday. When I got home I was sick with a sinus infection and it was a bad one. I spent my birthday at our nearest urgent care clinic and at the pharmacy trying to get my medication. The doctor prescribed Augmentin, an antibiotic I had never had before.

MISTAKE.

Stomach upset and diarrhea is a common side effect of this antibiotic and I had it in spades. I spent three uncomfortable days on that medication before calling the doctor and asking for something different. The pharmacist who gave me the new prescription (Cefdinir) was incredibly rude and unsympathetic to what I had been dealing with and basically told me that I should have just stayed on the first antibiotic. The weird thing about that night is that I stood there and looked at the probiotics and debated buying one, but decided against it because we had already coughed up so much cash that week already on prescription meds.

Again, MISTAKE.

I spent the next three days feeling AMAZING. For almost 20 years I have dealt with IBS and this antibiotic seemed to alleviate a lot of the symptoms that I still have. I really got my hopes up that maybe the antibiotic had killed off something that was causing problems. That weekend (one week after my trip) I ran a fever and had flu-like symptoms. Looking back, I should have gone to the doctor or called them back right then. It seemed like the flu or a virus, so I just tried to get rest and stay hydrated. By Monday, the fever was gone, but I was developing other uncomfortable symptoms that landed me in the gynecologist’s office the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Not your typical post antibiotic yeast infection either, but I’m not going into anymore detail there. My doctor told me she thought it was some irritation from the antibiotics, but that antibiotics are what she would prescribe to fix my current issue. I was instructed to finish out my course of meds and if it did not clear up I was to call her back on Monday after Thanksgiving. It cleared up within a day and once again I was feeling good.

Thanksgiving Day, Friday, and Saturday were fine. On Saturday afternoon I made some soup (and if you follow me on Twitter you already know this) that was questionable. I used some bleu cheese that was a little out of date, but unopened, and from the sources I checked online it should have been fine. When I began vomiting the next day I thought maybe that advice wasn’t the best. I was sick for three days. I have had intermittent symptoms mimicking what I thought was food poisoning ever since. And things have only gotten worse. Every single day since the weekend after Thanksgiving I have been in some form of pain.

This weekend, after symptoms took a bad turn, I got scared. My mind always goes to the worst case scenario and I knew I had to see a doctor. First thing on Monday morning I called to make an appointment with my gastroenterologist. The receptionist said, “His next available appointment is on the 29th at 2:30…want that?” I told her what was going on and she put me on hold. When she came back she said, “We’ll see you tomorrow at 10:15.” Cue mini freak out.

I sat for a long time this morning waiting on the doctor. Praying. Trying not to panic. When he came in I was able to stay calm and explain to him what was going on. I didn’t cry, YAY! (I’m prone to that, you know)

What he told me — he thinks that I had a bad reaction to the antibiotics. It’s likely that some nasty bacteria is camping out in my colon (he throw this name out there and they didn’t do any lab work today, but it sounds like it’s C. diff). And my poor large intestine is so irritated now that it just doesn’t know what to do.  I had done the right thing and turned to probiotics, but the one I picked up was not strong enough. I was instructed to get one from the health food store that had at least 10 strains in it. I did that today after work and I hope that it starts doing something soon. One interesting thing about this is how my body was talking to me during this ordeal. I was craving yogurt. Because of dietary restrictions (which, by the way, fly out the window when you are this ill) I never even consider yogurt as an option. But my tummy only wanted yogurt. I think it knew what it needed.

The doctor expects this treatment to clear up whatever is going on. If it does not and symptoms persist I have a follow-up appointment scheduled 3 weeks from now. There is a chance that this infection has thrown me into the beginning stages of colitis. The next step, if I’m still not well, is a colonoscopy.

Groan.

I don’t like to complain. That’s why I have stayed pretty quiet around here. Other people deal with illnesses that are much more serious and debilitating. But I have been absolutely miserable for almost a month and I’m tired. Tonight has been particularly difficult for me.

If you think of it, I would appreciate your prayers. It’s difficult with Christmas coming up and feeling like doing absolutely nothing.

Thanks for reading. I’ll keep you updated.

Related posts:

1. Now it all makes sense.
2. A Tooth Tale
3. The Dentist

No, not exactly. But it’s BETTER.

Here are some great links to peruse if you’re up late this Friday night. Enjoy!

• Smitten Kitchen’s Baked Pumpkin and Sour Cream Puddings
• Christy is calling for stories — What’s yours?
• Get thee to a Yankee Candle because they have a Buy 2, Get 2 Free coupon that’s good until November 27th!
• For the future — Labor Prep Herbs and Great Things to Eat/Drink While in Labor from Organic Life Love
• Laurie’s Lifesaving Advice for New Mama’s
• This moving post about family, in pictures, from Donna
• Over on Misti’s blog Zoe gets excited about a purse my mom made for her
• The Thing About Blogging from Incourage
• I’ve been meaning to learn to quilt. Been diving into books and blogs and photos on Pinterest. It’s in my blood to do this. Samantha Lamb has a beautiful fall quilt that she featured on her blog. Anyone else inspired?

Related posts:

1. Sunday Morning Coffee
2. Monday Evening Diet Mt. Dew
3. The End

Of course, he didn’t know that it would ignite a fire in my memory and bring back lyrics that had been stored for such a time as this. I doubt Kevin was even aware the song existed, but that didn’t stop me from singing the first couple of lines.

He said it because that’s what we’re looking forward to. The only rest we see on the horizon for him. The end of September will bring the end of one sport’s season, a short reprieve, a visit to see family, and then the start of basketball.

This coaching/being a coach’s wife thing is not for sissies.

A couple of weeks ago, a small spark grew into a flame and I felt the urge to return to my first love — writing. Not here (as you can tell from the sparse posting over the last little while!), but my fiction. It’s been nice to comfortably slip back into that place that I know so well. For me, writing is an outlet that I require — more than my blog here, the creative process outside of this place, where I build people and places and churn out the stories that are inside me.

So I try to view the night’s that my husband has to be away as an opportunity. I write best in a quiet house with no distractions. I might as well make the best of it, right? WRITE.

Lots of exciting things are around the corner. We just paid off a student loan (hooray!) and are just a breath away from being completely debt free. Then we can call Dave Ramsey and let him know! (I was skeptical about his system at first, but we took his Financial Peace course before getting married and I think it has saved us from MANY of the problems that lots of couples face.) The holidays are coming up sooner than I can believe and as anyone who teaches or works in a school will tell you, we look forward to the breaks just as much as the students.

Things are changing. We knew that this year would be a time of sharpening and learning. I think we’re going to make it.

Related posts:

1. 12 Days of Christmas Hymns – What Child Is This?
2. The Great Snow Storm Flight Cancelation Not-So-Fiasco of 2009
3. 12 Days of Christmas Hymns – In the Bleak Midwinter

• Strong language warning, but MAN. She hits the nail on the head. — “How to Dump Sugar“
• Recipe for Grilled Sriracha-Sesame Turkey Meatballs – yum!
• LeAnna shows us how to make our own baby powder!
• 11 Ways to Reduce Insulin Resistance — I’m taking this very seriously now because I somehow have not heard the “pre-diabetes” thing until now. Hmph.
• I know people with this and it’s been a constant “possible” diagnosis for me, though I do not have the right symptoms. — An Unconventional Approach to PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome)
• About to get a little crunchy on you…Why Placenta Encapsulation?

  
  

Related posts:

1. Sunday Morning Coffee
2. Tuesday Morning Coffee
3. Tuesday Morning Coffee

<insert Orbit gum sparkle sound effect>

We had a family dentist that we loved. I’m sure he loved me least because I inherited my teeth from my dad. We’re genetically superior in that realm All my experiences had been good and I never had to endure the dreaded fillings or caps that plagued my siblings’ visits to the dentist.

When I was 21 I felt a twinge on the left side of my mouth. I knew what it was. There was sensitivity to cold and sweet and I called my dentist to make an appointment. Because of my schedule at the time there was no way I was going to be able to make it home to see him, but he gave me a recommendation near where I lived and I made the appointment with the other dentist.

Words to live by: Just because someone was your roommate in college does not mean they turned out to be a good dentist.

Trust me on this one. I know for a fact that Heather is no good at dentistry. (Good at recommending dentists though. We’ll get to that later.)

As I lay in the chair, the dental hygienist poised over me with her sharp tools, I saw the dentist enter the room out of the corner of my eye. On crutches. With both of his legs in long casts. I don’t even know how he was maneuvering himself around the office, but all I could think was, Dude, I could have come back on a better day for you. But he proceeded with the, uh, procedure.

I walked out of that office having felt the entire thing because the area around my teeth never went numb. Just the entire left side of my head. I’m inclined to think my brain was included in that, but no one believes me when I say it. I had a small laceration on my face (THE OUTSIDE) and a few on my lip from where he had nicked me. I was traumatized.

My next few trips to to see someone about my teeth were pretty bad. My wisdom teeth had to be removed and it was a year-long ordeal. After all that, I waited a while before finding a dentist nearby to take care of my regular cleanings and check-ups. Like, 2 years. I know, I know. But in the meantime I took really good care of my teeth. Other than my daily cup of coffee and my 3-5 cup-a-day herbal and green tea habit.

I called Heather because I knew that she really liked her dentist and I finally made an appointment with him. BEST DENTIST EVER. He talked to me about my problems, cleaned my teeth himself, and entertained me with stories about a bear attack (I don’t even know…?) while I rested in the chair. It was a good experience, the first in a long time, and I really hope he doesn’t retire for a while. Turns out my hard work was worth it because my teeth are in excellent shape and he doesn’t even want to see me twice per year. “Just keep doing what you’re doing,” he said, “and I’ll only need to see you once each year.”

Woohoo!

Related posts:

1. Now it all makes sense.
2. A Tooth Tale
3. Saturday morning ramblings.

So this time at the gym is proving itself to be a great killer of many birds with one stone. I catch up with a co-worker on the treadmill, watch terrible primetime TV, people watch, and, oh yeah, get a work out in as well. Why I didn’t pick up on all the multi-tasking glory of the gym sooner, I do not know.

Okay, the people watching. Oy. You have your regular gym attendees. You know them by what they are wearing, what they are doing, and after a while just by facial recognition. I can pick out most people who are in the same area of the gym as me on the days that I go.

New people sorta stick out. A few weeks ago there was a straggler from a Zumba class that wandered over to the treadmills. The way you know they’re from Zumba — brightly colored clothing (usually teal or lime green official Zumba wear), sometimes jangly belly-dancing inspired garb tied around the hips, and the dancing. You heard me right. Dancing. On the treadmill. Go on with your bad self cause I sure don’t have the coordination to keep up with the treadmill and get my groove on.

Not that I “get my groove on” that regularly anyway.

Zumba lady just kept on dancing and it was really, really distracting. The worst part? She was forcing her son, who appeared to be 10-12, to walk on the treadmill next to her. I don’t know about him, but if that was me I would be begging my mom to stop.

New people wearing jeans at the gym really stick out. Such was the case last night when I grabbed one of 2 treadmills that were available in the equipment room. Clearly, there was no one on it, no valuables left there, and no one said anything to me when I stepped up to use it, but their behavior and dirty looks after I did so led me to believe that maybe I had taken the treadmill that one of their family members had been on.

It was an entire denim-wearing family. Three on one side of me, one on the other. I was working up to my normal incline and pace when I noticed something odd. The girl on my right just kept staring at me. I’m not confrontational so I kept on walking, trying to look like I was really absorbed in what I was watching on the TV on my machine (switching between The Biggest Loser and Dancing With the Stars…not much on Tuesday nights). I do intervals with my speed and incline, so I’m switching things up a lot. What I saw out of the corner of my eye was that, not only was my treadmill neighbor staring, but every time I would speed up or slow down she would do the same. Going from a 4% incline up to a 10% and then onto a 12%? She was right there with me.

Now, that’s all fine and dandy and I understand what it’s like to be new at the gym. You want to make sure you’re doing things correctly and the whole experience can be very intimidating. It was for me. But the girl just kept laying on the stink eye. I would joke and say that maybe she was trying to follow my regimen because she admired my physique but that is such a JOKE that it ceases to convey any humor whatsoever.

Related posts:

1. School Days
2. Don’t worry, it ain’t catchin’.
3. Saturday morning ramblings.

1. AHvocado
2. AHlive
3. CheddAHr
4. GoudAH
5. MozzarellAH
6. ParmesAHn (As a kid watching CBS This Morning, Paula Zahn always made me think of cheese.)
7. AHmelets
8. HAHrd-boiled eggs
9. Steamed brAHccoli
10. AHrtichokes
11. SquAHsh
12. SAHur cream (okay, that’s a stretch)
13. ButtAH

Amen.

Related posts:

1. Kevin’s Mom’s Mac & Cheese
2. A cold, quiet morning
3. Kevin the Sheep Herder’s Pie

I was taking over a front desk position for a woman who was moving on and up into the company. Her name is Lisa and she was approximately 1/3 of the reason I maintained my sanity over the next year. She, along with a few other women in the building, made me feel at home right away and I knew that I would always have someone to talk with, to vent to in the break room during a few volatile months, and to have some deeper, heart-to-heart conversations with about what we believed, where we were in life, and where we wanted to go.

One thing I learned about Lisa in my time there was that she is passionately devoted to being the best mother she can be. Her commitment to her children is something I hope I can be half as good at as she is. She is strong and bold and a fighter. I should have known, but never would have guessed, where it would take her. I left the company before she did, however, and haven’t had much contact since.

I knew back then that Lisa wanted change. She was working at it. A lot of us in the office were trying to get fit at the time. We talked about it a lot. You can imagine my surprise when I found out about a month ago that Lisa was in L.A., competing on NBC’s The Biggest Loser. You could have knocked me over with a feather. There is literally no other person on this earth that I think deserves this chance more than her. This is a woman who gets what she goes after. I will be shocked if she doesn’t win the whole thing.

Lisa, if anyone can do this, it’s you. I am so, so happy that you have this opportunity. There are going to be some tears, I know, but I can’t wait to see you and give you a hug. Because whatever the results are in the end…it doesn’t matter. You’ve made it this far. You’ve taken the step. You’ve already won.

Watch Lisa Mosley as she competes for $250,000 and a changed life when The Biggest Loser starts on September 21 on NBC.

Related posts:

1. What Happened In August
2. Thanking My Grandfather
3. The Terror That Was Johnny Tremain

It’s a great challenge. One that, literally, anyone can participate in (they even offer wheelchair pedometers for those who need them) and it’s served to motivate me and Kevin. Both of us think that by the time it’s done we will have developed a healthy habit of walking around the neighborhood. And just a 30-minute walk each day has shown to reduce risks of a number of health issues. You can never start too early.

There was only one thing that stood between me and the challenge when we first started. I had dealt with it in the past and had never really been able to overcome this obstacle.

What daunting thing stood in front of me? Well…finding the right pedometer.

If your experience has been anything like mine, finding one was no easy task. I have tried out a number of them and I know what my dilemma is. I refuse to pay over $20 for one. I know, I know. How can I expect to get a quality piece of plastic, pendulumy craftsmanship if I’m not going to shell out the dough? Well, as a college student I chose to spend my money on other things, like antique books on eBay (the purchase of which garnered a letter from the FBI inviting me to join the witness protection program…wait, I need to tell you that story, don’t I?), Rusty’s Frozen Custard, and kitchen gadgets from IKEA with names that I am incapable of doing the tongue gymnastics that are required for pronunciation.

This time I headed to our local Academy to peruse what they had to offer. Again, my goal is middle-of-the-road, not over $20, and quality. I made it out of the store with this:

It is the Sportline 340, Step and Distance pedometer. At $17.99 it comes in just under my spending limit. After setting my stride length (exactly 24 inches for those that may be curious; I’m a short-legged little thing) I was off and racking up the steps.

This is the best pedometer I have ever owned. I check it for accuracy a few times per day and so far it hasn’t failed. The battery is still alive (I’ve heard of different pedometers needing to be changed regularly) and the best thing of all? It’s durable. I have dropped this thing countless times. It’s what I do. If you are making a product that I am going to hold in my hands it needs to be able to withstand being dropped on concrete. Seriously, it happens a few times every day. The front cover has popped off a couple of times when I dropped it, but I pop it right back on and go on my merry way.

Thank you, Sportline, for making a pedometer that meets all my needs, doesn’t count a walk across the room as 100 steps, and seems to be strong enough to endure whatever I throw at it. Next time I may even upgrade to the 955 Women’s Pedometer Watch. You heard me right, I might actually spend over $20. I’m sold.

I don’t know Sportline. Sportline doesn’t know me. But I love this pedometer and want the world to know!

Related posts:

1. Taking care of myself
2. Might bypass the pudding.
3. 23 Things That Happened in My 23rd Year