Another Week Gone

I cannot believe another week has gone by! I haven't felt real well most of this week. Don't know if it had to do with the late night blood sugar crash on Monday or if I've had a touch of what Tom's had. Anyway, I did get up and exercise MTW which wasn't perfect, but more than I had been doing. Tom and I picked Monday evenings to listen to the Dave Ramsey CD's and work through the workbook. Oh! And Tom and I were able to get tickets to see Dave Ramsey on February 19th in OKC. A girl from church had bought them but couldn't go so she sold them to us. She got them when they first went on sale and were only $9 each (compared to $39 regularly).

My washer pipes and drain are frozen again. I sure hope that they thaw out before the next big freeze next week!

Snow Day!

Well, I got a snow day today. No kids and Tom got to come home at lunchtime. I was up at 11:30 with my blood sugar crashed (scary low) and so I am drained and tired today. Getting ready to take a little nap, I think. Hope everyone stays warm!

More on Changing my Attitude

Another thing I've been working on the past few weeks is not letting other people's moods affect my own. Just because my teenager is cranky, it doesn't mean I have to let it get to me. Just because a child in my care is cranky doesn't mean I have to let it get to me. Now obviously, this is easier said than done. A bad mood seems to rub off much easier than a good mood. Ever noticed that? So I've been working really hard at being conscious of it when it happens, taking a deep breath and redirecting my thoughts. Telling myself "I'm sorry they are having a bad day and I wish them well. But I am having a good day!".

This weekend, I told myself that I was going to get up and exercise Monday morning. If I only felt like doing it for 5 minutes, that's all I had to do, but I was going to do it. Since "trying" to do it wasn't working. LOL. So I got up this morning and did my Walk Away the Pounds workout. I did 1/2 mile, so go me! I'm going to do that workout MWF this week and the Yoga for the Rest of Us DVD on Tu/Th this week. I am only going to do 1/2 mile on the walking workout, but it's a start! I haven't exercised at all since my surgery or for several months before. So...GO ME!

In other news, I've continued working on the office and getting it de-cluttered and cleaned up. I also did a detailed vacuuming session yesterday (which was a workout in itself! Phew!).

Finally, my goals for this week:

1. Tom and I discussed listening to our Dave Ramsey CD's and going through the workbook again to "jump start" ourselves. I will talk to Tom and we will pick a day each week to do that.

2. Spend a few minutes each day continuing to work in the office.

Being Assertive in Your Own Health Care

An important lesson that I have learned in the last several months is how important it is to be assertive in your own health care. I have known for a long time that something was not right with my breathing and that none of the asthma medicines had helped. I kept telling the doctors and they kept prescribing different medicines. It all started almost 6 years ago. I had been coughing and coughing non-stop for months. I went to my regular doctor's office and they did a breathing test on me and decided I had asthma. But for several years before that, I had been fighting recurring bronchitis several times a year.

Last August, I was to the point of despair. I felt terrible, both physically and mentally. None of the asthma medicines helped. I had NO energy to do anything. I went to see my pastor, thinking perhaps the problem was spiritual. He insisted that I go back to the doctor and gave me a list of items to ask them to check out. At that time, I didn't have a sub available for my child care very often and wasn't sure how or when I could go. But I knew that week, I had a day that I was only scheduled to have one child and sometimes that child didn't come on Thursdays. So on the way back from the church, I prayed that if there was a physical problem, then God would work it out where I didn't have any kids on that day and could go to the doctor. He worked it out and I went to the doctor that week. To make a very long story short, this eventually led to me finding out what was wrong and having the tracheal re-section surgery. We also learned that I had entered menopause. I'd had a hysterectomy several years ago but they left my ovaries, so I had no um...monthly way of knowing that I had entered menopause. LOL

So...what is my point? Well, I had known for years that something wasn't right with the breathing. I kept letting the doctors throw different medicines at me instead of insisting that they look deeper. It would be really easy to be angry with the doctors (and I am a little bit). But, in all fairness, the lady at Medford had suggested last year that I go see a pulmonologist and I put it off, not really seeing the point. I had also suspected for a while that I was in menopause, but hadn't asked them to check my hormone levels to see for sure. So, my main point is: You KNOW your own body. You know when something isn't right! If you feel like a doctor isn't listening to you, then either switch doctors or insist that they listen. Make a list, keep a chart of the problems, whatever it takes. But be assertive! Stand up for yourself if you know you're not feeling right.

Lessons Learned, part one

So I have been thinking about how this blog has seemed to stray away from my original goal of being about our journey to get out of debt. Then I realized that this is all part of the journey. Life isn't a straight line, it's curvy, hilly, and has mountains and pits that we go through. On that same note, I need to stop being so hard on myself when we do not stay on the straight and narrow. Just get up and dust myself back off and keep going.

Next time, I plan to share about lessons learned regarding my health.

Have a Happy Day! Remember: God is in control!

Two New Kids Starting

I started two new children today. Well, one is a return and the other was new. I am tired tonight, but a good tired. Just wanted to drop in and say hi! Things have been pretty busy. I had a child care class Friday night and all day Saturday. Then a Sunday school class party on Saturday night. Then church morning and evening on Sunday and went to Ponca City last night to speak. I have some stuff stewing around in my head I want to share, as soon as I have time to set down and type them up.

Hope everyone in my neck of the woods gets out and enjoys the beautiful weather!

Changing my Attitude

I've been working on changing my attitude. I've always wanted to have one of those personalities where I could be happy and have a good attitude, no matter what was going on around me. After my hospital stay last month, I realized that "I" can't do it, BUT God can do it through me. So on that note, today I'm thinking about laundry.

Laundry, the bane of my existence. It's always there and there's always more of it. But wait...let's look at this in a positive way.

I'm really lucky that my family has plenty of clothes to wash and wear.

I'm really lucky that I have a washer and dryer at home to do laundry with.

I'm really lucky to have running water to my home to do that laundry.

When there is no water (like when it was frozen last week), I'm lucky to have a laundromat here in town to go do laundry at, rather than having to drive to Medford or Enid.

So, when you look at it that way, laundry is really a blessing!