Category Archives: personal

Know & Tell Friday

 

1. Do you read or study best in silence or in a place with background noise? Why?

I read and study best with quiet. I think this is the way I learned to study over the years. I find noise, TV, people talking loudly too distracting for me.

2. If you were to write a book about your life, what would it be called?

I’m thinking this might be an ok title, The Journey from East Los Angeles.

My first response was The Good the Bad and the Ugly.

3. (This question is a deep one…I know it should be a bonus, but I already have a few bonus questions chosen for this week) Why do you think divorce is so prevalent?

For the oversimplified answer I’m going to say that selfishness is at the bottom of this. Also we don’t believe that marriage is truly a covenant sealed by God but instead a contract to break when things go bad.

4. What’s the best way to resist peer pressure?

I think you need to be at peace with God and who He has created you to be.  Then you need to recognize the gifts He has given you and be content in using them.

5. What is the most serious illness or injury you ever faced?

When I was in college a week before my finals during Spring Quarter I came down with Scarlet Fever. I had to stay in bed flat on my back for over a week. I’ve never felt my throat burn and hurt as much as during this time. I had to take incompletes in all my courses and make up the finals just before Fall quarter. Needless to say I didn’t do really well on these finals.

Bonus Questions
6. When was the last time you felt like you had a laugh with God?

When I catch myself doing something I just commended myself for not doing. I always laugh at how easy it is to get caught in the act of being a sinner.

7. What do you say to someone who is going through a tragic or hard time?

I don’t say “I know what you’re going through”. It’s ok to cry with them with no words. I do say that I will pray for you and better yet pray over them right then and there. When I do pray I really try to depend on the Holy Spirit to guide these prayers so I don’t say something from the flesh that isn’t helpful. I say I’m coming over to sit with you, answer the phone for you, make dinner for you, clean the house for you (sensitivity to the person is important as some people wouldn’t want you barging in). Another practical expression of kindness in hard situations is to go to the store and take some groceries over.

Now if you’d like to read more Know and Tell head over to To Know Him.

Monday Walk in Whittier

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

I drove Southeast through Ventura County into Los Angeles County to the suburb of Whittier, east of Los Angeles to visit my sister Kathy. Whittier is home to Whittier College, Richard Nixon’s alma mater. He majored in History. We decided to combine a nice healthy walk up the hills and down in the older beautiful neighborhoods of Whittier so we could then have a guilt free nice lunch as a reward.  Kathy chose the Crepes and Grapes Cafe on Greenleaf Ave. in Uptown Whittier. I have a few photos of our time. The first photo is of the great Avocado tree that keeps me well stocked by Kathy when the avocados are in abundance. Then we walked along such wonderful canopied streets and we saw some beautiful blossoms. The last photo is of my yummy crepe. This was a build your own crepe for $6.95. I chose turkey, red onion, tomatoe, green pepper and a ginger lime sauce on the side. Kathy chose a white sauce, chicken, spinach, tomato, and Jack cheese. Duhlicious!

 

This is my sister Kathy with her grandson Jackson. She is my oldest sister, a wonderful friend and Godly woman. Thanks Kathy, that was fun…

Six Non-Important Things/Habits/Quirks about Me ~ Meme

 Pam at Beyond the Red Door tagged me for a meme. And now Cricket re-tagged me but her’s is for seven so I’m adding one more weird thing about me.

1.  Link to the person that tagged you.
2.  Post the rules on your blog.
3.  Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4.  Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5.  Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website
6.  Let your tagger know when you entry is up

So here are my six…

1. I always sleep on the left side of bed as you are looking at it. Or the right side if I’m laying down on my back in it…

2. I drink my coffee first all by itself before I have any breakfast.

3. I leave earlier than I need to wherever I need to go.

4. I have a deep “need to know” .  If I don’t know I’ll make up a story (this happens when I’m people watching)

5. I generally do not wear make-up.

6. I usually am in bed by 9:00/9:30 PM…

7. I love to have hot vanilla pudding on top of ice cold chocolate ice-cream.

So if you plan to play this meme let me know…

The Desires of Our Heart ~

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

I decided to combine a joyful experience with Thankful Thursday.

 

God is so good to me. He gave me two desires of my heart today! I’ve said over and over again how sweet it would be to meet one of my bloggy friends and how I’d love to have a walking buddy in Southern California after I left my walking buddies in Seattle, Washington. Today Willow and I met and had a walk and plan to walk on a regular basis, keeping each other accountable. How sweet it is! We found each other through other blogs and realized we both live in the same city. We’re in the same stage of life and have a lot in common. Check out her blog, she has very exciting news today! She became a grandmother!

Today we met in Old Town Camarillo at a specialty coffee shop and walked around one of the older neighborhoods in Camarillo and through a couple of Antique Stores. Fun times with lots of steps to log for the Lovella’s Walking Club!

This is something I’m thankful for this week!

For more Thankful posts visit Iris at Sting My Heart…

TT #20 ~ 13 Tips for eating Healthier

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

These tips are from one of my new favorite sites SparkPeople.

1. Use mustard instead of mayo on your sandwiches. You’ll get lots of flavor with much fewer calories and fat.

2. Select whole wheat bread over white bread. Be sure to read the label to ensure you’re getting whole grains, not just colored white bread.

3. Eat the white meat of turkey or chicken, which is lower in fat than dark meat, red meat and pork. Animal fat is the number one dietary source of unhealthy saturated fat.

4. Start using lean ground beef, pork tenderloin or fish instead of high-fat cuts of meat.

5. Change your cooking methods. Bake, grill or broil your meals instead of frying. Use non-stick sprays—or better yet, non-stick pans—instead of oil.

6. Drink more water. Slowly reduce the amount of soda you drink and replace it with herbal tea or water. Aim for eight cups of pure water each day.

7. Don’t drink your calories. Eat a whole orange instead of drinking a glass of juice, for example. Real food is usually more filling and more nutritious than juices, fruit drinks, and other high-calorie beverages.

8. Serve sauces and dressings on the side. Dip your fork into the sauce, then dip your fork into the food. You’ll still have the flavor but with fewer calories.

9. Gradually switch to skim milk. Milk commonly comes in four varieties: whole (4% fat), 2%, 1% and skim (0% fat). Gradually wean yourself from the higher-fat varieties to the lower fat milk every two weeks. For example: continue drinking your normal 2% milk for two weeks, then move to 1% for two weeks, and then your palate will be ready for the consistency of skim milk.

10. Switch from full-fat cheeses to reduced-fat or fat-free cheeses the same way you would with milk (see tip above).

11. Order vegetables on the side instead of fries. Flavor them with lemon juice or herbs instead of butter.

12. Snack on fruit and nuts instead of sugary treats. The fiber, protein and healthy fats in this combo will sustain you to your next meal and you won’t have the energy slump that comes after eating candy.

13. Reduce your portion size. Most people will eat whatever amount of food is in front of them, so start putting your meals on smaller plates. You will be just as satisfied because your mind “sees” that you’re eating a full plate of food.

For more inspiration on sensible eating check out the Brown Plate Special I’m a part of…

For more TT’s click here.

The Brown Plate Special ~ Week 1

***Please scroll down to the next post if you are here for FUN MONDAY!

I’m joining my friend Kim at Hiraeth for the Brown Plate Special. Along with Lovella and her Walking Club I’m hoping these two accountability groups will help me reach some of my goals for being in better shape and weighing less while enjoying food I love. Today is the first Monday that I will be posting whether I had any weight loss or gain. Yikes. I think this first week should be great because of the typical water weight loss I have at the beginning of any sensible program. So let me run off to the scale and I’ll be right back to tell you what it shows. No not the total weight (I’m not that accountable) just the loss or gain people!!

Woohoo! I am down 4.8#’s. I realize much of this is water weight but who cares I love seeing smaller numbers on the scale. I also realize my weight loss for the next weeks will be closer to 1 lb. a week or less but that’s ok, too. I’m excited to keep going…

Below you’ll find an explanation of what The Brown Plate Special is with links to Kim’s site if you want to join us or just see how this is working.

The Brown Plate Special

In the comments of my recent Recipe Round-up/Snackalicious Super Dishes post my friend, Ellen B, left a haunting question; well, at least a question that’s been haunting me for some time now:

How’s an aging girl who loves food (and LOVES to cook) ever gonna lose weight…?

 

I’ve given it a lot of thought and I think I have come up with a doable plan for aging girls like me and Ellen.  I am calling it “The Brown Plate Special” and I invite you to try this along with me!

I got the idea when I bought a couple of cute little chocolate brown plates on clearance last week.  They are just 9 inches in diameter instead of the standard 10.5 inches and have a little “well” in the center that is 6.5 inches in diameter.  I’m thinking that if I commit to using this little brown plate instead of a regular plate for all my meals, and “load” it only so that it looks visually porportionate to a normal serving of food on a normal plate, slowly but surely I will get portions under control and begin to lose weight without giving up cooking and eating the foods we love.

You can use any small sandwich or dessert plate.  The only other guidelines are just the common sense stuff that most of us in our 40’s and 50’s have already come to grips with:

  • No between meal snacking
  • No evening snacking
  • No second helpings
  • No deserts except on special occasions

Since accountability is essential in such matters, I’ll be weighing in every Monday morning and I’ll confess my weight loss (or lack thereof) in a regular Monday morning post.

If you decide to join me, feel free to invite friends to join us by writing a post and adding this handy dandy button in your side bar.   You can post your weekly progress on a post of your own or in the comments of my weekly post.

So, what have you got to lose

 

Fun Monday ~ Bedside Table?

 Make sure you scroll on down to the next post for my Bloggy Giveaway which is going on all week…

Our hosts for Fun Monday this week are the Lurchers. Here’s their assignment…

So continuing in the spirit of “being interested in people”, I would like to know, or see, what’s on, in or under your bedside table! So open those draws and bare your soul to us! Is there anything special there that has a story or a memory that you can tell us about? Books that you keep there to delve into from time to time? Trinkets that you don’t know where else to put? Let’s see!

My condo here in Southern California is nice and small. I had to find a very little bedside table that would fit next to my bed and still let us open the doors to the armoire. So not much room for clutter but let’s see if there are any surprises in the drawer of the night table…

 

On top the current reads. On the bottom shelf a basket filled with additional books I want to get to soon. If I was in my home in Washington for this Fun Monday I’d have a lot more fun stuff to reveal like notes from my kids when they were little. Costume Jewelery from my mother-in-law’s stash. Old goodies that have never gotten cleaned out…

 

We’ve been in our condo for a little over a year. I haven’t had enough time here to find surprises. My tabletop has my current reads; Pilgrim’s Inn by Elizabeth Goudge, My ESV Bible, Taste & See a devotional by John Piper, Ancient Christian Devotional (A year of Weekly Readings),  A notebook to write down anything noteworthy. The last thing on my table top is a coaster that we got in Ventura at Anacapa Brewing Co. for my coffee cup when my Dear brings me coffee in bed on Saturday mornings. In my drawer there are a couple pens, lip gloss, hand lotion, and sermon notes that end up in my Bible that I clean out and put in the drawer.

 

Here’s a photo showing how close the armoire door comes to the table.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my little corner of the condo. Head over to the Lurcher’s for more Fun Monday. You’ll find the participants in the sidebar…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

 

Walking for Donuts? Is that what Lovella had in mind?

Dear and I decided to walk along the main road outside our neighborhood today so we could check out Calleguas Creek after the rains we’ve had all week. The sun was shining and the skies were clear.

 

This creek is generally pretty dry with maybe a trickle once in a while. The rain storms we’ve been having have made the creek flow strong and constant. (This photo was taken after the last rain storm, not today, but the creek looked just like this today with bluer skies)

We continued up the road.

 

The grade you see in the distance is what Dear has to travel everyday to get to work.

Oh no, look what I see, a donut shop. But here we are on a healthy walk…

 

On the way back to the Condo I got a shot of the Creek on the opposite side of the road.

Now where did that come from and how did it make it all the way to my condo?

I’m hopeless people!  Not only were my walking numbers way down this week (6108 avg.) I rewarded myself for my dismal efforts with a donut! Not a little donut either.

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Love and Hate Meme ~

Maryt tagged me for a love and hate meme. She had ten.  I prefer not to use the word hate too much, especially about people so here’s what I came up with…

1. I love peace in relationships and I hate to not be forgiven.

2. I love to watch Soccer and I hate to watch wrestling.

3. I love to eat with joyful people and I hate to eat with pouty people.

4. I love to watch clean action packed movies and I hate to watch dirty sleasy movies. (so I don’t)

5. I love a clear smooth flowing freeway and I hate gridlock, bumper to bumper inching along freeways.

6. I love to be full and satisfied and I hate to be hungry, craving everything in sight.

7. I love fresh air and I hate cigarette smoke saturated air.

8. I love the texture of tender meat and I hate the texture of liver.

9. I love honesty and I hate deception.

10. I love what Jesus brought to our world and I hate what Satan brought to our world.

If you choose to play this meme let me know and I’ll come by and read your answers…

Oh Happy Day!

My extended family is overjoyed today because of the arrival of a new baby. Our new little niece was born this morning to my Brother and his Wife. It has been 22 years since the last niece was born and 16 years since the last nephew was born so this is monumental! So what’s an Auntie to do? Why go to the mall and shop at the adorable Janie and Jack to find a little something to stick in the mail today for our sweet little niece to wear. Since my brother and his wife are way to busy to check my blog I’m posting a picture of what I bought and am shipping off…

 

If you have never shopped at this store beware! My gift is more on the practical side but they have wardrobes to WOW at this store. So many adorable things…
Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.