30 Days Of Truth, Day 22: Something I wish I had not done.

     I wish I had not learned to overeat. I used to go to a restaurant and share an entree with someone. I would be satisfied. Then I learned to eat an appetizer, salad, entree and dessert. Sometimes we share dessert, but if I'm being honest I'd rather share dinner and have my own dessert. I wish I had not learned to eat like this. It's too much and it's made me overweight.

30 Days Of Truth, Day 21: My Best Friend Is In A Car Accident And We Got Into A Fight An Hour Before. What Do I Do?

     For starters, I do not fight with my friends. But if for some reason I had a fight with my friend it would not matter. I would go to her, of course.

Food Pyramid

Allison got a blog! I borrowed this food pyramid from her. (No idea where she got it)

30 Days Of Truth, Day 20: My Views On Drugs And Alcohol

     Drugs and alcohol have ruined lots of lives. Some people can use either and not lose it. Other people can't. At all. The only way you find out is by trying. Why gamble with your happiness?

Wouldn't You Love To Live Here?

Yeah, me too.

30 in 30, Closing Comments - January

     January is at an end (as far as 3 in 30 goes) and I'm here to weigh in again. 

Week 1 I was feeling like I had set reasonable and reachable goals. 

Week 2 I was feeling ten feet tall, despite straying from my original plans. I still thought I would complete my new project and conquer the original three goals as well. 

Week 3 did not go at all as planned because I was sick the whole week.

That brings us to week 4. Maybe I should call it weak four. Because it was weak. I did a few things I couldn't do during a lot of weeks two and three because I had been so sick. Like wash dishes and clean the living room and grocery shop and run errands. But my goals? What were they? The thing I am most proud of this month wasn't even on my original list. I have stopped eating when I am no longer hungry. This was a big deal for me. I still struggle with it. The other night we went to dinner and a movie and I had to leave half of my delicious dinner on the plate. My mouth was telling me to eat it all, but I left it. Because honestly, I was feeling full. 

Goals: 1: move to wii fit or xbox kinect? Not one time all month. Not one single time. I could have done better. Being honest, I just didn't care enough to do it on the days I felt well enough to do it. 2: purge of the house? I did it when I was working, but I just wasn't working enough. 3: get the spare room made into a cozy guest room? There are still cabinet doors in there waiting to be painted. 

     I am not writing January off as a failure. It was more of a learning experience. On one hand, I didn't meet a single goal. On the other hand, I met a new goal and worked on things I would not have otherwise done. Success doesn't always look the way we thought it would, and I am okay with that.

My February goals are not set in stone yet, because honestly, I haven't thought about them. Should I do the January goals again or new ones? I have to think about it some more, and decide what I really want from all of this.

     I am so glad I am getting to know some of you and I am grateful for what you have shared with me and also for your encouragement. Life is like a box of chocolates... I am not disappointed this month - I got you!

*** side note: A bunch of the 3 in 30 participants have captchas or word verification enabled for comments. And many of those don't show up right away, but after you've submitted for the first time. These can be reset so the captcha shows the first time. You could be losing comments from people who click 'comment' and leave. They never see the captcha. I think I've failed to leave a lot of comments in my day when I thought I had. Also, you can totally remove this option. I recommend removing it since blogger now has a spam filter anyway. It would make it so much nicer for the people who do read and comment. Maybe only put it back in place if you find it becomes necessary? I don't have it and I'm  just fine. 

30 Days Of Truth, Day 19: What I Think Of Religion Or Politics

     I think if you want to use your religion as a basis to judge people, you should start with yourself. Once you are perfect, move on to others who sit in your pew at church. Then, if you ever get beyond yourself with your judgment remember to hate the sin and not the sinner. (And by the way, if you get beyond yourself with your judgment, you are wrong. You are not finished with yourself.)

     I think politics, like religion, started with good intentions but power corrupts.
  
     Be nice. Do what you feel is right.

30 Days Of Truth, Day 18: My Views On Gay Marriage

     My views are this: It's not up to me to decide who someone else loves. Sometimes I wish it was. Lots of people choose partners and they are horrible to each other. That, however, has nothing to do with gay marriage. I really do not like all the reasons people decide they can use to judge each other and be awful to each other.

     Let's fight against mean people, bad people, violent people. Let's do that. And let's stay out of each other people's bedrooms. That's how I feel.

30 Days of Truth, Day 17: A Book I Read That Changed My Views On Something

     The Invitation, by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. It was just a right time/right place kind of thing.

30 Days of Truth - Day 16: Someone or Something You Could Live Without

     I could live without asparagus. There. I said it. I don't like it. It smells bad. And when people eat it? I can smell it. You are what you eat and I do not want to be asparagus. No. Thank you.

30 Days of Truth - Day 15 - Something or Someone You Couldn’t Live Without, Because You’ve Tried

     There is nobody I have tried to live without in order to establish I can not live without them. That eliminates people from this answer.

     I have tried living without Downy dryer sheets. It was not fun. I went to great lengths to obtain them. I pretty much haven't tried to live without anything I think is vital to my living, so this is another question which just isn't easy for me to answer.

     I could not live my life without corrective lenses. I could still be alive, but not really live the life I do now. But again, I haven't tried to go without them. Not unless you count the five minutes I was without them yesterday while Gretchen was fixing hem for me.

30 Days Of Truth - Day 14: Surprises

Day 14. The prompt for today tells me to write a letter to a hero who has let me down. For the 2nd day in a row I have to say this just isn't me. I don't have that letter inside me. So, I'll share something real and personal again. I'm going to make it about: Something I thought was life-shattering which turned out to be terrific.

     The first thing I can think of which had me scared to death, off track, and just plain old terrified is becoming pregnant with my second child when my first child was a mere year old. I wanted more children, yes. But in my head I had it all planned out, you see. Four children. As a child entered kindergarten I would get pregnant with the next. This way each child would have quality time with mommy, you see. And life said? BWAHAHAHAA!

     This was not the way it was supposed to go. I was devastated. I've ruined both their lives! I've ruin my life! I've ruined everything. I have single-handedly thrown the earth off it's axis. (yeah, that was me - sorry) Now nothing good would ever happen to any of us. Then Allison was born, she was fine, Crystal was fine, I was fine.

     As time passed I realized - everything is better than fine. It's kind of nice when they play together. Crystal doesn't need every second of my time when she has a sister. Oh my gosh I went and made my kid a friend! Who woulda thunk it? Certainly not me just a year earlier. Now they are in college and it makes me so happy when I see them go off to shopping together, or go out with friends together. I love it when they take time to enjoy each other. Even seeing them watching something together in the living room makes my heart squeak.

Also? World Crisis? Diverted.

Vivid Dream

Back story: I've been sick for two weeks. Yesterday Zack was starting to get 'the cough'. I dropped him off at school with DayQuil, just in case. Yesterday his friend Clay came over after school. They played Yu-Gi-Oh and ate fried tacos. He seemed okay later, too,  when he was watching television. This morning, however, he did not get up for school. (I ought to let you know he's a senior in high school - not an 8 year old boy. He gets up on his own)

So a few minutes ago I went upstairs to check on him. Poor thing must feel awful. Here is how it went:

Me: Zacky, you okay?

Zack: Yeah. (sort of deflated, but with that twinkle in his eye)

Me: Well, why didn't you go to school this morning?

Zach: I had a vivid dream that it was a snow day. So I went back to sleep. Then Katie texted me and was all "Where ARE you?" and I was d'oh!

I just stood there, slackjawed...

I was not going to be one of those mothers. You know, the ones whose sons charm them with nonsense and they just think it's so cute/adorable/funny/wonderful.

Sigh

30 Days of Truth - Day 13: Taken For Granted, U.S.

So the prompt for today on the 30 Days of Truth challenge is: A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days. (write a letter.) Sorry, there's nothing about this which would tell my truth. There is no band or artist who has reached out to me and pulled me through tough 'ass days'. While I'm sure some who know me may disagree, I don't even think I have 'ass days'. So I'm just going to tell some other truth, some real truth.

When I lived in Venezuela I learned about a lot of things I take for granted here in the United States. Here is a partial list. (No matter how long it is, it is only a partial list - you'd have to live it to understand)

Downy dryer sheets. Yes, these are #1. It's weird what things you miss.
Free parking, available parking. Above ground. Safe. Free.
ATMs in English. In dollars. Easy to understand.
Our roads. Wide. Open. Very wide. Well maintained. Safe.
Our neighborhoods. Yards not covered in fences topped with barbed wire.
Not needing an armed guard at home.
Ability to enter sweepstakes. - because yes, I'm lucky!
Grocery stores with so many great options, it's overwhelming - seriously, we have it so good.
The Public Library. Oh how I missed you.
Target, the mall, Sams Club - Makro, Graffiti, and the malls there just were not cutting it.  As much as I hate shopping, I love the ability to shop easily.
The United States Postal Service. You are beautiful and I love you very, very much.
Reliable electricity which doesn't go out all the time.
For my sons I have to add: Taco Bell. I think they missed it the most.

Week 3 of 3 in 30:

Okay. So this week was a total wash. I'm still sick. I have stopped eating when I was no longer hungry. I realized that is something I really needed to do. Since when did my taste buds become the boss of me? Probably somewhere around 2001, if I have to be honest. Well gee old lady, that was about ten years ago! (no, I am not calling you an old lady, I'm talking to myself.) You can probably guess what ten years of eating beyond hunger has done to my body. Instead of doing something radical like weight watchers points and exercise I have decided to stop eating when I am no longer hungry.

My goals for this month are:

To do a purge of the house. -not so much. But I have thrown out a lot of trash and some pizza boxes we were harboring.

To get the spare room in order. - Uh, I bought a gallon of paint and put it in the spare room. Which is actually a step towards this goal since I have to paint the cabinet doors I put in there last week in order to get moving on working on the room again. So in a way, putting another gallon of paint in there was a step towards the goal. In a wacky sort of way.

To start moving with the Wii Fit or the XBox Kinect. -absolutely not, but I have coughed a lot, and am sore from that. I hope to get my strength back and quit coughing so I can rip up the rest of the goals for the month. It can still be done,

Week three was sort of "The week that wasn't" for me. I hope yours was much, much better.

30 Days of Truth, Day 12: Something You Never Get Compliments On

     This one reminds me of my friend Jean, who once lamented in my comments on this post that nobody ever compliments her on her drinking these days.  Nobody compliments me on mine, either.

30 Days Of Truth, Day 11: Something People Seem To Compliment You On The Most

     I get the most compliments on my children. How beautiful, sweet, smart, funny, helpful, kind, considerate, etc. they are. When they were small people would approach us and say how well behaved they were.

     I also get a lot of compliments about my mom and how nice she is.

     Then there's my husband. Oh boy! The ladies all think he's so wonderful!

     I got lucky in the family department!

  

30 Days Of Truth, Day 10: Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn’t know

     I honestly do not have someone in my life who I need to let go. I also think it would be terribly rude of me to note the name of someone I wish I didn't know. It is not as if it is anyone I see more than a time or two a year. No big deal. They just make people uncomfortable. Oh well, that's life. Besides, you never know when someone you thought you didn't like will show you their wonderful side. Then you'll love them.

30 Days Of Truth, Day 9: Someone You Didn’t Want To Let Go, But Just Drifted

Sadly, I have an answer for this. My friend Andrea. We were super close and I think we shared everything with each other. We were both young and had all kinds of upset and turmoil in our lives. We complained to each other and helped each other, mostly with emotional support. Day in and day out, we were there for each other for years. Sadly, it's been a long time since I've heard from her. I do not know how to reach her. Andrea Reading, with father named (grouchy) Chuck, two beautiful (grown!) children, and 'babe' hair? If you read this, get in touch with me! I love you!

30 Days Of Truth, Day 8: Someone Who Made Your Life Hell, Or Treated You Terribly

     It's not that I don't want to play along, really I do. But I'm going to sort of skim over this one because I feel these things are in the past and not worth time today. My father made my life hell, my first husband treated me terribly. The first thirty years of my life were pretty much rotten. I'm so glad to be done with them.

Hooray for Today!