Category: Life

Life

I Am So Thankful For …

Karen

I was reading Emily’s 100 More Things: Thanksgiving Edition today when I thought, “Hey self, you should make a list, too!”

Though I can’t think of 100 things (okay fine, I could probably think of 100 things, I’m just too lazy to list 100 things, hush), I’m pretty sure I can come up with twenty five things. And because the technical writer in me LOVES how Emily put her list into nice, neat little categories, I too shall put mine into (less than neat) similar categories.

People

1. God. (I know God is not technically a “person” but just humor me, okay?) I would be nothing without our wonderful, gracious and loving Father.

2. Husband. Truly. I shudder to think where I would be in my life right now without my best friend and help mate. It’s not even worth imagining because it’s THAT scary.

3. Children. I always wondered what my life would be life with children, now I can’t imagine what my life would be WITHOUT children – they define me.

4. Extended Family. I truly have the best extended family a girl could ask for. Everyone seems to be firmly grounded and well adjusted – thank God for no ugly dramas.

5. School Administrators. For without them, I wouldn’t have a job.

6. The folks at Truth or Tradition. For without them, our family wouldn’t be as informed or blessed when it comes to spiritual matters.

Spiritual Matters

7. God. I know. I listed Him twice, but I think He’s worthy, don’t you? 🙂

8. Articles from Truth or Tradition. These articles have blessed me countless times, not to mention, they keep me humble and give me strength and comfort.

Here are a few that I hope bless you as well:

Thankfulness: A Blessing for Your Life

The Benefits of Thanks-Living

What is the Point of Prayer?

The Problem With Blaming God

You can find many more articles here.

Social Media

9. Twitter. My husband doesn’t get Twitter, but I do. In fact, I’m on Twitter waaaay too much, but I’m thankful for it because it allows me to feel connected to the outside world. Since I work from home and I don’t have any friends, it really does keep me sane.

10. Facebook. I think our families have grown closer since Facebook. I honestly don’t think our family has connected so much before Facebook came along – now we know what everyone is doing and that’s a GOOD thing (mostly).

11. My blog. Since I don’t have a lot of friends (but I’m always looking for that special woman friend who is basically like me, but far less annoying), it’s really my only opportunity to vent. I can record my thoughts and put them out there and the fact that people read what I have to say? BONUS.

12. Blog readers. Though I’ll be the first to admit that I blog for me, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that it’s REALLY NICE to know there are people out there that give a crap about my life – as boring as it may be. 🙂

Computers/Programs

13. My PC. It’s my doorway to the only socialization I get.

14. My laptop. I love that I can write anywhere at any time. (I don’t DO pen/paper. I LOATHE writing long hand).

15. Photoshop Elements. I love that I can pretend to be a graphic designer, or trick people into thinking I’m a much better photographer than I am (not) by editing/creating in Photoshop.

16. Dreamweaver. A program that virtually creates websites for you. (Which is a blessing because I may be a designer, but I’m not a computer programmer – Dreamweaver does all the technical stuff for me).

17. AVG. Finally. A virus program that I can trust and doesn’t give me a migraine!

Family Vacations

18. Washington D.C.

19. Western Caribbean Cruise

20. New York

21. Saint John, New Brunswick

22. Halifax, Nova Scotia

Favorite Things

23. Our Home. I truly LOVE our home. It’s so comfy and I love our neighborhood. I get annoyed whenever Kevin starts talking about moving. Our house is paid for and it’s a wonderful house, WHY would I want to move??

24. My Car. It’s a Pontiac Vibe and it drives like a go-cart. And if that sounds fun? Then you’re right – it’s a fun little car. It’s also very reliable and great on gas.

25. My treadmill set up. I’m thankful that we have room for it and that we can afford it. I’m also thankful that it motivates me to stay in shape and control my girth. And believe me, my girth needs lots of control.

Life

No Turkey for Us, New (Leaky) Roof, NaNoWriMo FAIL

Karen

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope your days are full of fun and, well, full, period. 🙂

We’re not celebrating Thanksgiving today. Our Thanksgiving has been pushed back to Saturday. Kevin’s parents went to Texas last week to attend a Reliv meeting (which by the way, I’ve been drinking a Reliv shake every day for a while now and though I can’t tell a HUGE difference, I do think all of the extra vitamins ARE helping with my energy levels), and while on the way back, Kevin’s father felt so run down and weak, he couldn’t even walk.

They stopped at a hotel and when my father-in-law (FIL) didn’t feel any better, my mother-in-law (MIL) took him to the hospital.

He had pneumonia and his blood sugar levels were in the 700’s – which I’ve since learned is BAD. As in, the man had to have insulin shots bad. *zoink!*

To my knowledge, my FIL has never had sugar problems before, but I found out that his brother died of diabetes so now I’m a little spooked – will Kevin inherit the same problem when he gets older? We’ll have to keep an eye on that. At any rate, my FIL was in the hospital until yesterday. They discharged my FIL and my in-laws went to a hotel to get a good night’s sleep before hitting the road for home today.

So of course, today is the day that Mother Nature decides to be a bitch and spit ice and snow at us. In fact, looking at radar? My in-laws are in for a real driving treat all the way home today as the bad weather extends their entire route. My brothers-in-law are driving to meet them in Arkansas so that when they meet up, they can take over the driving and let them relax the rest of the way home.

My in-laws are in their 70’s and the family hasn’t been happy with their business trip excursions for quite some time. I wonder if they will stop driving all over the countryside now that this happened. Though I don’t wish them to just sit at home and do nothing, driving cross country is probably not the best thing for two mature adults to do on their own.

We talked to our family on Tuesday and everyone decided that it would be better for everyone if we postponed Thanksgiving until Saturday – so, that’s what we’re doing. I turned the fridge down to a colder setting in the hopes of thawing our turkey out a little slower – I certainly don’t want to serve turkey that tastes like the inside of our refrigerator, you know? I think we’re going to have to cook the turkey tomorrow though – and that will save us some time Saturday morning.

We already have our ham, but it’s precooked and is supposed to last in the fridge for 10 days, so we should be okay with that.

Kevin and I have been super busy getting the house under control. We’ve done a lot of deep cleaning, and he spent an entire morning getting Jazz’s room under control. We went through his “toys” and got rid of a bunch of stuff – stuff that he’s outgrown and never even looks at anymore. We also rearranged his furniture so that now his room seems bigger and you can actually walk into it without having to navigate an obstacle course.

In the middle of cleaning, organizing, and shopping in preparation for Thanksgiving dinner, we got a new roof. We actually hadn’t planned on getting the ball rolling on a new roof until spring, but this guy knocked on our door and offered to do a roof inspection for us and in the process (i.e. we actually paid attention), we noticed that we did indeed have four separate leaks: Kevin’s office, Jazz’s closet, above our bed and the fireplace.

In other words? It was bad. Our insurance company came out, agreed, and gave us an estimate – we were getting a new roof.

The roofers came out Tuesday and worked like dogs the entire day and almost finished the entire thing – the only part they had left to do was over our garage. They came back out Wednesday morning and finished the job – in the rain.

In fact, that’s how all of us woke up Wednesday morning, to the sounds of men walking on our roof – at 6:30 in the morning!! It was still dark out!

That was a little irritating. And I was a bit annoyed, and a little worried, that they were working in the rain, but they completed the job at 9:30 in the morning and I must admit, it looks great …


(It was a dark, industrialized gray color before).

… even it DOES leak.

*SIGH*

I know!

We had a cold front move in last night and it brought a lot of rain and wind. I had a sinus headache (which I normally get when the weather drastically changes like it did last night) and I was sleeping in the recliner (because the combination of sleeping sitting up and putting in nose spray works for me nearly every time), when I heard what sounded like tapping. I thought at first Jazz was tapping on his desk. But the tapping sounded weird and the tempo changed and I suddenly knew, our house was leaking somewhere.

I shot out of my chair and followed the sound to the hot water heater closet. It was dripping around the pipe leading into the hot water tank. GRRRR. I put a pot under the drips (because yes, it was dripping that fast), put down some towels and went back to bed. When we looked at it this morning, it looks like the leak must have plugged itself somehow because there really wasn’t that much water in the pot. Nevertheless, we will be calling the roofing company to come back out and fix it tomorrow.

GRRRRR.

But it looks like the leak around our fireplace is fixed because it DIDN’T leak there, so that’s good, I suppose.

This roof is supposed to last us 30 years, but we are only expecting it to last around 20 years. Missouri gets a lot of extreme weather (hot/cold temps, hail, high winds) so I’m sure that will take a toll on it. At any rate, getting a new roof is yet another thing we can cross off our to-do list.

*****

Dude has developed some weird gum thing. It’s like a blood blister and is located just off a front tooth. He popped it the other night. I did a little research online (which you always have to take with a grain of salt because it’s pretty easy to veer off a dangerous path and think you’re dying or something) and I think he just got something caught under his gum thereby irritating it. His tooth doesn’t hurt and he says it’s not really even that tender when you press on it, so I’m not too concerned at this time, though I did notice that it’s puffing back up again today. He flossed yesterday, just to make sure nothing was caught in there, but I suppose something could still be caught in his gum somewhere. Kevin said he used to get the same things whenever he got a piece of popcorn kernel stuck and doesn’t act like he’s too worried about it.

I’ll give it another week and if it doesn’t look like it’s healing up, I’ll take him in for a teeth cleaning.

*****

I’ve given up on this year’s NaNoWriMo.

*SIGH*

I know!

I never, ever thought I would say those words out loud, or that it would ever happen, but yep, it happened.

I just can’t get excited about the challenge this year. I think, in large part, because my story just sucks. And I’ve been super distracted this year (which really isn’t an excuse, except it IS).

No really, we can be honest.

I don’t care about it. I wrote a little over 16,000 words of crap.

No really, we can be honest.

However, one bright spot in this confession is that I DID come up with better story idea. One that DOES excite me and one that I think definitely warrants an entire novel. I haven’t started on it yet, but I intend to very soon.

In the meantime? I FAILED.

I can’t believe how incredibly hard it is for me to admit that to you. I guess, after participating in NaNoWriMo for the past five years, I’m a bit burned out on the whole concept. I mean, I CAN do it. I’ve proven it to myself time and time again and when I put my mind to it, I can EASILY crank out 2,000 words in a few hours so I know I’m capable of producing quantity when I have to. (Notice I didn’t say anything about the quality).

I’m disappointed in myself, but not AS disappointed as I thought I would be. Again, I just think I’m burned out on the challenge and I have had absolutely NO desire to … get involved in any way this year.

I do plan on trying the challenge again in January though working with my new idea. Let’s see how far THAT goes.

*****

I haven’t started my Christmas shopping yet, though I have about five things in my Amazon.com cart that I will probably order today.

I don’t participate in Black Friday in any way. I think the whole concept is ludicrous – stand in line and save a few bucks? No thanks, my time is worth more than that. But no offense to anyone who does!! I just don’t have the patience, or the desire, to go through all of that. And it seems like stores are opening sooner and the chaos gets worse each year.

Nothing about Black Friday tempts me in any way.

Now Cyber Monday, on the other hand …

We plan on putting our Christmas tree up on Sunday. We usually put it up the day after Thanksgiving, but since Thanksgiving has been postponed this year, putting our tree up has been postponed, too.

*****

I finally set up my new computer. I’m now running Windows 7 and I must confess, IT ROCKS. I’m also working with a dual processor and OMG, I can’t believe how quiet, and FAST, this thing is!! I’m used to working alongside a jet engine so the fact that I can’t hear this machine at all is a little disconcerting.

I have one program that looks like it won’t run on Windows 7 – bummer. BUT, Kevin thought ahead and actually bought me a machine that has XP partitioned on the hard drive, so SCORE!

Now, if I could only figure out how to access it …

Politics

Repeal the 26th Amendment?

Karen

Warning! Political stuff.

If you don’t agree with me politically, then please skip this post. I do not publish these articles to provoke but to inform. Thanks.

Saw a link to this on Twitter today:

A question many of us are asking. Is this healthcare thing constitutional?

A retired Constitutional lawyer has read the entire proposed healthcare bill. Read his conclusions. This is stunning!

The Truth About the Health Care Bill
– Michael Connelly, Ret. Constitutional Attorney

Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.

To begin with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for rationing of health care, particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are involved, free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession.

The Bill will also eventually force private insurance companies out of business, and put everyone into a government run system. All decisions about personal health care will ultimately be made by federal bureaucrats, and most of them will not be health care professionals. Hospital admissions, payments to physicians, and allocations of necessary medical devices will be strictly controlled by the government.

However, as scary as all of that is, it just scratches the surface. In fact, I have concluded that this legislation really has no intention of providing affordable health care choices. Instead it is a convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated If this law or a similar one is adopted, major portions of the Constitution of the United States will effectively have been destroyed.

The first thing to go will be the masterfully crafted balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the U.S. Government. The Congress will be transferring to the Obama Administration authority in a number of different areas over the lives of the American people, and the businesses they own.

The irony is that the Congress doesn’t have any authority to legislate in most of those areas to begin with! I defy anyone to read the text of the U.S. Constitution and find any authority granted to the members of Congress to regulate health care.

This legislation also provides for access, by the appointees of the Obama administration, of all of your personal healthcare direct violation of the specific provisions of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution information, your personal financial information, and the information of your employer, physician, and hospital. All of this is a protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures.. You can also forget about the right to privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion regardless of what the 3rd and 4th Amendments may provide.

If you decide not to have healthcare insurance, or if you have private insurance that is not deemed acceptable to the Health Choices Administrator appointed by Obama, there will be a tax imposed on you. It is called a tax instead of a fine because of the intent to avoid application of the due process clause of the 5th Amendment. However, that doesn’t work because since there is nothing in the law that allows you to contest or appeal the imposition of the tax, it is definitely depriving someone of property without the due process of law.

So, there are three of those pesky amendments that the far left hate so much, out the original ten in the Bill of Rights, that are effectively nullified by this law It doesn’t stop there though.

[Read the rest of the article here].

Still think this law is a good idea? Let’s repeal this disaster and reform it RIGHT this time.

The Hill: Dejected Democrats wiped away tears on the House floor Monday night while Republicans congratulated themselves on winning back control of the lower chamber.

House members returned to the nation’s capital for the first time since Republicans captured the House two weeks ago.

Freshman Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.), who lost her reelection bid, wiped away tears as she hugged fellow members of the class of 2008, many of whom lost on Nov. 2.

Less than three feet away, ousted Nevada freshman Rep. Dina Titus (D) appeared to brush away some tears in a less obvious manner.

Seriously?! Good grief.

Did you guys hear about the boy, Cody Alicea, who was told by his school that he had to take the American flag off his bike? Well, Cody received an impressive escort to school and an even more impressive welcome AT school after this incident went viral.

This story makes me shout for joy because it’s about DAMN TIME people started standing up for AMERICAN rights and stop being so politically correct. Tell me, WHY does the person(s) offended always win?

NEVER be ashamed to fly our country’s flag. Ever. This is sweet, sweet justice, I must say.

If we don’t start standing up and fighting for our rights, they will be taken away. Just think about that for a minute. It’s enough to make a person shudder, isn’t it?

Sarah Palin’s open letter to the freshmen members of Congress:

Some of you have asked for my thoughts on how best to proceed in the weeks and months ahead and how best to advance an agenda that can move our country forward. I have a simple answer: stick to the principles that propelled your campaigns. When you take your oath to support and defend our Constitution and to faithfully discharge the duties of your office, remember that present and future generations of “We the People” are counting on you to stand by that oath. Never forget the people who sent you to Washington. Never forget the trust they placed in you to do the right thing.

The task before you is daunting because so much damage has been done in the last two years, but I believe you have the chance to achieve great things.

Republicans campaigned on a promise to rein in out-of-control government spending and to repeal and replace the massive, burdensome, and unwanted health care law President Obama and the Democrat Congress passed earlier this year in defiance of the will of the majority of the American people. These are promises that you must keep. Obamacare is a job-killer, a regulatory nightmare, and an enormous unfunded mandate. The American people don’t want it and we can’t afford it. We ask, with all due respect, that you remember your job will be to work to replace this legislation with real reform that relies on free market principles and patient-centered policies. The first step is, of course, to defund Obamacare.

You’ve also got to be deadly serious about cutting the deficit. Despite what some would like us to believe, tax cuts didn’t get us into the mess we’re in. Government spending did. Tough decisions need to be made about reducing government spending. The longer we put them off, the worse it will get. We need to start by cutting non-essential spending. That includes stopping earmarks (because abuse of the earmark process created the “gateway-drug” that allowed backroom deals and bloated budgets), canceling all further spending on the failed Stimulus program, and rolling back non-discretionary spending to 2008 levels. You can do more, but this would be a good start.

…

In all this, you should extend a hand to President Obama and Democrats in Congress. After this election, they may finally be prepared to work with Republicans on some of these issues for the good of the country. And if not, we will all be looking forward to 2012.

Remember that some in the media will love you when you stray from the time-tested truths that built America into the most exceptional nation on earth. When the Left in the media pat you on the back, quickly reassess where you are and readjust, for the liberals’ praise is a warning bell you must heed. Trust me on that.

I and most Americans are so excited for you. Working together, we have every right to be optimistic about our future. We can be hopeful because real hope lies in the ingenuity, generosity, and boundless courage of the everyday Americans who make our country exceptional.

Read the entire letter here.

Let’s hope the Republicans remain strong and do what they were sent to do.

Speaking of Sarah Palin … did you see her reality show premiere on TLC the other night?

I think they’re saying over 5,000,000 viewers. I bet the left just LOVES that. lol

I thought it was sort of cheesy, quite frankly. And I cringe anytime anyone says anything with the words “reality show” in the sentence, but I have to give the woman credit – I think it’s actually a pretty smart move on her part.

The media has worked hard to vilify Palin over the past two years so that some on the left view her as some sort of plastic figurine, a mindless mouthpiece for the conservatives.

The purpose of this reality show is to show people that she is indeed human and that she puts her pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of us. (I’m sure it’s also an attempt to make her more approachable, more relateable… 2012 anyone?)

I’m not a big Sarah Palin fan, and some of the things she says are just … embarrassing, (and when I say embarrassing, I’m referring to the awkwardness and timing – I think she tries too hard, not because I think what she says is stupid), I can take her, or leave her, but I do appreciate her willingness to be the face and hope of so many American people who need SOMETHING/SOMEONE to cling to right now because no one else is listening.

Honestly? I doubt I watch very many episodes.

https://twitter.com/#!/writefromkaren/status/3935100978864128

I thought Ann Coulter had an interesting point – if the kids aren’t responsible enough to pay for their own health insurance (as opposed to sucking off mom and dad’s policy), then perhaps they aren’t responsible enough to vote.

Thought provoking indeed.

More from Write From Karen

Getting into Shape

Think Before You Eat – It’s a Constant Compromise

Karen

Let’s talk about food. Not as in let’s swap recipes, but rather, how food affects your physical and mental well being.

There is no particular reason I’m writing this post, it’s just something I am forced to think about pretty much constantly and I go through phases when I eat more than normal and have to reign myself in and get serious about controlling my eating habits again – like now.

Before we get started, please note, I am not an expert, as in AT ALL. I can tell you my experiences, I can give you my observations and even my advice, but I in no way really know what I’m talking about. I’ve been battling weight issues my whole life (really, who hasn’t??) and I only NOW (I’m 45!) think I (sort of) have it figured out. Again, these are my views, this is what works for me. I hope it helps you, or at the very least, gives you an idea, or even encouragement to try and control your own eating habits.

Also? Eating is sort of psychological. If you’re eating all the time, it would be worth a look at WHY you’re eating. It probably won’t be an easy journey but if you truly want to conquer your eating demons, then beating them down will be more effective than if you try and shut the door in their face. You know?

I talked before about how we really MUST reach a point where we are comfortable with our bodies. Though we would all LIKE to look like Victoria Secret models (and the media knows this and of course quilts us into thinking it’s possible), get real. Though it’s certainly possible to lose weight and tone your body, the question is, is it HEALTHY for YOU to wear a size zero.

Personally? With my height? I’d look like a fence post, with breasts.

Thankfully, I have stopped aspiring to be a single digit size – I’m pretty comfortable hovering around the 10/12 size (and I say hovering because it truly varies from day-to-day. There’s the bloating/puffy factor that comes with being a female, and the sizes of clothes depends on who’s making them at what time of year and which style is hot at that time period. In other words, it’s never consistent so I end up trying on both sizes of everything I like because it’s a crap shoot. Tell me I’m not the only one this happens to).

But though I’m okay with this size, it’s not easy to maintain this size. My problem? Is I have a huge, as in GINORMOUS sweet tooth. If I could just curb my sugar cravings, I wouldn’t have to battle my weight so much.

But alas, I can’t control them.

Wait. Scratch that. I CAN control them, I just don’t want to.

Life is too short to deprive myself of what I enjoy. Though a little control IS called for here.

I don’t diet, but I do balance my sugar intake on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis. For example: If I’ve eaten a few donut sticks for breakfast, then I don’t eat anything sugary or fattening in the afternoon.

Or, if I eat something fattening after lunch, I don’t eat anything else fattening the rest of the day.

And I especially try not to eat anything really fattening after dinner where it will just sit and eventually turn into solid fat. (I’m not always successful though – especially when it’s getting close to Myrtle’s monthly visit. I CRAVE junk food for about four or five days before she comes knocking on my uterine walls).

I also try and eat a lighter dinner, (and by “lighter” I really mean smaller portion), again, because I’m less active after dinner and it doesn’t have a chance to fully digest.

Also? I AVOID soda. I don’t drink it, I don’t miss it. I’m pretty convinced that over half of our obesity problem is because people have substituted soda for water and drink WAY too much of it. Yes. It’s habit forming. Yes. It’s pretty delicious. And yes. It’s hard to kick the habit. But when you do, I promise you, when you break down and have that glass of soda at that party? You will gag because it will taste sickeningly sweet.

Look at this photo, people:

I want you to remember this photo every time you drink a soda – just think how much sugar you’re drinking. Now think how many sodas you have in one day. Then think about all of the sugary snacks you eat on top of that. Soda is liquid sugar. Soda is obesity’s secret partner. Is it no wonder you can’t lose weight when you’re drinking so much sugar??

Cut out the soda. Like I said, it’s an addiction and it will be tough to kick the habit at first, but you’ll see what I mean when you haven’t had one in a while.

I can barely stomach the thought of drinking soda anymore.

That’s pretty much my eating habits, in a nutshell. I don’t diet, I just try and balance how much I eat and when I eat.

I also avoid buying crap so that I’m not tempted to eat it – if it’s not around, then I won’t eat it, right? (Though I have been known to make special “junk food” trips now and again to the store).

Though this all sounds great, I get carried away. Like now. I’ve been eating like a cow. I am pretty much snacking all day long now because I have, once again, gotten into the habit of munching on something whenever I’m on my computer – and since I work and play on my computer all day long, well, there you go.

When that happens (I mentioned that it’s happening now, right?), then it’s time to hit the treadmill.

I’ll talk about exercising in my next post.

In the meantime, watch what you’re eating. Seriously. Balance when and how much crap you’re putting into your body every day.

  • 1. Eat breakfast. This one is really hard for me because I’m truly not hungry in the mornings. But I find that when I eat breakfast, and force myself to eat lunch, then I’m truly NOT that hungry at dinner and I naturally don’t eat bigger portions. It all evens out over the course of the day. Try it.
  • 2. Munch on dried fruit or granola bars instead of candy or pastries (that will help satisfy some of your sweet craving).
  • 3. Drink LOTS of water (stay away from the soda, seriously, it’s evil).
  • 4. And lastly, don’t have that crap in your house. Make it hard to obtain – like, if you really want some junk, then you have to physically leave your house to go get it. It won’t discourage you every time, but it will discourage you most of the time.

Look gals (and guys), if you want to lose weight, you’re going to have to change your eating habits. Will it be easy? Oh hell to the no, but how badly do you want to shed those pounds? How badly do you want to be able to fit into your clothes again? It’s EASY to overeat, disciplining your diet is HARD. But you just have to be stronger than your weakness. Don’t let your diet control you, take control of your diet.

Don’t be a weakling. Stop being lazy. Stop making excuses.

Start small. If you normally eat a few poptarts for breakfast, then stop. Eat cereal instead. If you normally have a Little Debbie in the afternoon, then have some crackers instead. If you normally eat a huge plate full for dinner, cut out 1/4 of that, then eventually cut it down to half. Eat more for breakfast and lunch then you’ll be less hungry for dinner.

It’s all about discipline. I’m tired of the excuses. I’m tired of the whining and the self-deprecation and “I feel sorry for myself so you should too,” lines. Get a backbone ladies (and gents) and start being PROACTIVE.

I will.

Will you?

And because I don’t want to end this post with me going all Army Sargent on you, watch this video and have a laugh – then get serious.

Because no one can stop you from over eating but you. Take charge.

Now excuse me, I’m going to make fried chicken for dinner. (But I will drain the chicken, pat them dry with a paper towel to remove excess grease, take off the fried part on my breast and just stick to the chicken part. I will also give myself the smallest piece of chicken and only scoop about half portions of potatoes and veggies onto my plate as opposed to heaping the guys’ plates full. See? It’s a constant compromise).

Life

Officially Putting the Accident Behind Us

Karen

This has been cross-posted at Kevin’s CaringBridge web page.

Hello!

It’s been a while, hasn’t it!? Let’s see if I can catch you all up …
The last time I wrote, we were getting ready to leave for our family vacation (the vacation that we weren’t sure we would still be able to take but that Kevin insisted he could handle); we not only went to New York City back in July for our family vacation, I think it’s pretty safe to say Kevin completely conquered New York City.

I’ll be honest, the trip was terribly hard on Kevin. We took his walker, but the only time he used it was when we walked around Central Park. The rest of the time? He used his cane. Though we tried to find the wheelchair accessible entrances to the subway, more often than not, there wasn’t one close by so Kevin also climbed a lot of stairs.

A LOT of stairs.

Looking back at our vacation pictures, Kevin looks pale and gaunt and you can just tell he’s not feeling the best. And though we took frequent breaks so he could catch his breath, we still worked him pretty hard. But the man kept up our rigorous pace around the city and rarely complained. In short, he was a real trooper.

And do you know that ever since that trip, he’s continued to do his normal day-to-day activities (even getting into our crawl space to fix our sump pump!) so that now? You would never even know he had been in the hospital for five weeks, had three surgeries, had his pelvis completely restructured and in essence, had to re-learn how to walk all over again.

I know I’ve said this before, but I have to say it again, the fact that Kevin not only survived this type of accident (and we’ve learned over the months, from both police officers and doctors, that people who were in similar accidents most times don’t survive), but went on to walk and resume his life as if nothing traumatic had ever happened is truly a miracle.

God was walking with Kevin the day of the accident and has not left his side these past seven months.

SEVEN months.

On Tuesday, November 16th, it will have been seven months since he was hit head on and left for dead on the side of the road on a beautiful spring day.

Though I will never forget that time period, seeing him lying in the hospital bed, seemingly unhurt and then being shocked to the core of my being when me and the boys saw his x-rays and learned that he would not, in fact, be spending just one night in the hospital but in fact, weeks in the hospital, it doesn’t seem real now. Now that Kevin is back on his feet and doing all of his normal activities, I look at him and have a hard time remembering him lying in traction, pins drilled into his shin bones in order to force his body to remain immobile until they could schedule him for surgery.

Though I will never forget what we all went through the last half of April 2010, it truly is a blessing that time heals all wounds. For though Kevin still walks with a slight limp, and the tendons in his right foot still haven’t healed completely (he sort of clip-clops as he walks), he gets better week after week and I know, without a shadow of a doubt, he will soon conquer these small setbacks and be fully functional and ready to tackle whatever life throws at him.

Our family has changed, we’ve all been through a lot these past months, but I firmly believe that we are all stronger, both emotionally and spiritually as individuals and as a family because of that fateful spring day.

This will be the last time I update Kevin’s Caring Bridge page, the doctor’s have given him a clean bill of health and he does not have to go back unless he develops problems. We have once again achieved normalcy (thank you God) and I have faith that we will all continue to grow stronger.

It’s hard for me to put into words just how much we have appreciated all of your kind words, thoughts, prayers and help these past months. I pray that our journey has inspired you to work hard, never give up and to trust our wonderful Lord and Savior to help guide you in your personal journey.

And now, it’s only fitting to give this journal up to Kevin for a final word.

God bless,

Karen

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Hello everyone:

Sorry that there have not been any posts to CaringBridge about my progress since July. Karen wanted me to write the last post, and I have been procrastinating.

I just read the last few articles that Karen posted. Everything has really changed since that time. I am still improving every day and I have essentially recovered from my injuries. Sometimes I am a little stiff if I sit still for very long, but I have figured out a way to avoid the stiffness…just don’t sit still. I am walking, driving, playing music, causing trouble, and doing everything that I was doing before the accident. (Well, almost everything. Karen has prohibited me from driving any vehicle with fewer than 4 wheels or doing anything involving danger.)

Last week I went to my orthopedist. He was very happy with my progress and he released me. Basically he said don’t come back unless something is really hurting or falling off.

We have been keeping track of the lady that crashed into me on case.net. Since my accident, in August, she added yet another DWI to her list of offenses, which now total over 13. The prosecuting attorney called me last week to say that they were finally going to file the felony “Leaving the Scene of the Accident” charge against her for my accident. At this point I just want her taken off the road so that nobody else is hurt or killed. That reminds me. Please make sure that you have the best uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage that you can afford. Approximately 20 – 30% of drivers do not have insurance and the drivers that don’t have insurance are usually the really bad ones. I thank God that he gave me the thought to increase our UIM coverage a few years ago.

I want to say a big thank you to everyone for your prayers and support over the last few months. I couldn’t have made it without your help.

Kevin

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ADDED: How ironic is it that the moment we finish his CaringBridge page, he comes down with a WICKED flu bug. The man has been down and out for 24 hours now. He ran 102 fever all day today. His fever is gone now, but he’s exhausted. He even skipped dinner and if Kevin skips a meal? You KNOW it’s bad. 😦