The Plunge--week 6

So I am now at the 1/2 way point of the 12 week plunge. One of my team mates had major surgery last week, but is still on track, another is losing tons and looking fantastic. I think the third one has sort of dropped out--we don't know as she is kind of private and hasn't shared with us how she is doing. Me--I have gotten rid of a total of 8 pounds so far and am now up to 8 1/2" gone. These are the totals that my trainer has been keeping and not the radio station. Each week I go in and they put down a number that is on the scale, then tell me that I have gained a couple of pounds--are they crazy?? The number is less than the week before, how could I have gained?? So I am going to go by the scales at the gym. It is what I will continue to do once the 12 weeks are through. It isn't enough to see yet, but I am happy with my progress. Mostly I am happy that over all I am feeling stronger.

The weather says that there will be storms by the end of the week. Last year we had the worst storms. It took out our power for 3 days and we learned that being prepared was more difficult than we thought. Winter brings more challenges--see if you get a generator, you have to have gas to run it, but it the power is out the gas stations are closed. This year we were better prepared than last. Water storage, alternate cooking source, and alternate heating source, were just a part of the things we prepared for.


Many trees were taken down. Crews made up of men and youth from our ward, spent days clearing the roads so that cars could go through. The power company worked around the clock taking a full 14 days to return power to all of St Joseph.
It was an experience that we will never forget. The meaning of the story in the Bible of the good shepheard took on new meaning as we, the ward leadership searched to find all of our ward members homes and move them to homes who had heat and or electricity. Some opted for the shelter. I learned so much, but even with the gain of this knowledge, I hope we never have to go through that again.

We have had 3 ice storms so far this winter, however the only thing they have produced is slick roads and really pretty pictures.

The ice coats everything. It lookes like the entire world is incased in crystal. My best method for getting into my car is to use my scrapbooking heat gun to melt the ice around the door. Of course that is dependant on a very long extension cord.

The sun makes everything sparkle, like the world is shiny and brand new.

The Blessings of HOT water

After 3 weeks of sometimes sort of tepid water, but mostly cold water, today was the day. We have endured, ok and enjoyed, showers at the local YMCA. But today was the day. We have heated water on the stove to wash dishes. But today WE GOT A NEW HOT WATER HEATER!!!!!!!!! I took a long HOT soak in the tub to celebrate.

Yarn Therapy

I woke up today and felt as though I had been hit by a freight train. About 5 years ago, my doctor at that time told me that I had fiber myalgia. I looked it up on the internet and found out that basically it meant that I had muscle pain that they couldn't find a reason for. Most days I can ignore it, but today it took me down and made me grumpy. On grumpy days I find that a good dose of yarn therapy helps my outlook and that makes the pain seem less. So I got out several skeins of my yarn and, I guess for lack of a better discription, well played. My stomach really hurts today as well. Stress--I haven't been knitting as much so the stress gets to me more. I need to remember to take time for me each day. This is a small yarn pile. I believe that if I piled all of my yarn together, it would be about the size of a large dresser. I worked a whole bunch of it down into projects and was worried about the possiblility of running out in the next couple of years as I haven't been buying much yarn lately, I am working on my yarn addiction, but then a dear friend saved me--she sent me 40 lbs of yarn for Christmas. By the way that fills 1 uhaul dishpack size box. It is a very great blessing. I believe that I will work on Jessica's scarf.

Family

Family means everything to me. This is my husband Bill and myself. We have been married for 25 years. There has never been a time in my life when Bill wasn't there. I have known him since I was 6 months old. So far our life together has been a tremendous adventure. We have lived in 7 states, and have learned so much about people. We have gained many friends, some who have become almost like family. We have had many trials but the Lord has blessed us with great joy as well. I can't wait to see what the next 50 years will teach us.

We have 6 unique and wonderous children. They have added craziness to our everyday lives. Most of all they have added joy. They are Rachel, Mandy, Matthew, Jessica, Joshua, and Daniel. When they were little, I wondered if they would ever grow up. Then I blinked and now they are mostly all grown up. Each child is so different from the others, unique with their trials and talents. The most constant thing in our everyday lives is change. Each time we moved we not only had to make new friends, but learn new cultures as well. One thing that hasn't changed is their ability to have fun. We have been very blessed in that they are very good friends and love each other.

On December 2, 2007 our Rachel added Marcus to our family and made Bill and I the dreaded in-laws. We spent several months wondering if that meant that we needed to or got to be wicked, but then decided that it just meant that we were blessed with another son to love. They are working hard going to school in Idaho (which seems so far away.) Last June we had the entire family together for the first time in 2 years so we had pictures taken.

The best part of being a family is the love that we share. We know that we can be together forever. That being an eternal family is part of our Heavenly Father's plan. What a blessing it is to be sealed in the temple for all time and eternity. Be are a very blessed family.

My Dear Sisters---February

My Dear Sisters

Each year as February approaches, I begin to think about the topic of Love. The love of a parent for a child, the kind of love between sisters and brothers in a family, the love that is shared with our husbands, are just a few types of love that exist in this world. In John 13: 34-35 it states: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall men know that ye are my disciples, it ye have love one to another.” We are meant to love and care for each other while we are here on earth.
Loving those around us is not always easy. “When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else. (Elder David A. Bednar Nov 2006 Ensign, pp. 89-92)
By showing Christ like love, and forgiving those who have offended us, we can have great peace in our hearts. I know that by loving each other like Christ loves us, we can have greater joy as we live and work together.

Sister Cheryl Helm

So Far

So this is week 4 of the Pound Plunge. The first 2 weeks were disappointing, in that I worked really hard, however there were no changes. Week 1 of South Beach had just too much meat, and well I couldn't stomach it, quite literaly, I couldn't keep anything down for 4 days. So I moved onto phase 2, which adds other protien alternatives as well as some complex carbs and have been doing pretty well. In week 3 I finally lost 1 lb and 1/2 inch from each thigh and upper arm for a total of 2 inches lost. I was very excited about the 2 inches gone, however after talking to my my swim instructer (I am now calling her Atilla the Ann) we were a bit down about not losing anything from my considerable stomach. So we upped the ab work. When you are the only one in the class, you basically have everything catered to you personally, so basically for now I have a personal trainer. Wow, Ann went to the weight machines and then came back into the pool, finding exercises that worked the muscles in a spacific way. We started out with 10 ab exercises at 1 minute each. As of yesterday(the pool gets a bolus of chemicals on Thurday mornings so no class) we had dropped 2 of the exercises and I am now up to 4 minutes on each of the other 8. Well it paid off!! This week I lost 1.6 pounds, and 1/2 inch from my waist and my hips, along with another 1/4 inch off of each arm and thigh for a total of another 2 inches. Pretty much I am having fun, however along around 6pm each night, the achy muscles kick in. I am reminded of signs in our basement that my dad put up when I was growing up--NO PAIN, NO GAIN. Well I am feeling the pain, so there had better be gain!! No, this is working far better than I thought. Being part of a team helps tons. This is the fist time in 5 years that I have stepped on a scale and had the number go down. I don't care that it is tiny and I am not losing as fast as my other team mates, all that matters is that it is going down instead of up.