sick

I'm not complaining about being sick...quite the opposite. The title of this blog is 'sick' because I am merely sick today. I've been feeling pretty bad since Saturday. I think my amazing husband gave me a bug that started giving him trouble last Thursday. It started with a cough and then got really mucus-y, then an ear ache, body aches, no energy...when it finally moved to my chest and I was scared my lung was going to pop out of my mouth I decided to take the afternoon off and go to the doctor. He confirmed the obvious...I'm sick. Asthmatic bronchitis, accute sinusitis and ear infection. I'm not too sure what the 'asthmatic' means...I don't have asthma, but whatever. Steroid shot to the hip, antibiotics and cough syrup. I'm in bed with my dogs this afternoon with no plans of running, lifting weights or bootcamp until...hmmm...this weekend? I have a race Saturday morning that I don't think would be smart to run...but don't count me out yet. So, I'm left here blogging and watching some woman on Oprah who apparently had A LOT of money and lost it all. She did say something I like just a minute ago.  When asked if she was now living from pay check to pay check she said 'no, I'm living prayer to prayer.' That's good stuff. I got a couple of magazines at Walgreens when I went to get my drugs and I have no plans of leaving this bed to do anything other than eat and go to the bathroom until tomorrow morning. And then, only if I'm feeling better, will I go to work. Do you know how many dreary days I've sat at my desk and thought of how nice it would be to snuggle up in my bed with my dogs? A few. But, I'm never able to do it because of obligations or other responsibilites. Today, I get to do it. And I don't feel bad about it. Sunny, Dallas and I are all snuggled up enjoying each others company. They aren't saying much...its really just me doing the talking, but its fun to just hang out with them and do nothing. Yay for this little blessing...of being sick. ;)

*Biggest Loser/Body Transformation weigh in #6...down 3 lbs for the week for a total of 27.5 in 6 weeks! I'm thrilled that I haven't slowed down in my losses yet. I'm at 203 now...lighter than I've been in some time. I'm seeing big gains in my lifting too. I'm getting alot stronger and getting more definition.

busy

Wow, its been a while! When did my life get so busy? I used to not have a life outside of working, working out and sleeping. Now Michael and I are both training for a half marathon, I'm training to be assistant director of AWANA Cubbies, I'm doing EE, we are teaching Sunday School, I'm on the planning committee for the Jonesboro Marathon, I'm still working, I'm trying to get in two workouts a day and I still have to find time for at least 8 hours of sleep a night. Throw in a diabetic dog, five or six meals and a gallon of water a day and you have my life as I know it, right now, in a nut shell. I also have an article for fitnessforus.com that I'm supposed to be working on (BTW great site! Check it out when you can!). Whew! I say all of this because I'm really bummed I haven't had more time to blog. Who am I kidding, I haven't had time to even think of a topic to blog about. So tonight, you get me blogging about my busy life...that I would have NO OTHER WAY! I'm so blessed I can't even wrap my mind around! Yeah, my stress level is higher than normal, but I'm not stressed out. When I approach stressed out I stop everything I'm doing, find a quiet place, take a few deep breaths and pray. Immediately I'm brought back to my reality which is that God is in control and everything will work out according to his plan. Then, I get back to it and give it my best, which is all I have to offer. So, there you have it. I hope to improve on my time management skills and have the opportunity to blog more soon. But in the meantime, rest assured that I'm doing one of the above mentioned activities and loving every minute of it! :)

*Tuesday marked the end of Week 5 of my 12 week Body Transformation/Biggest Loser Contest. Its also the end of Phase 1 in the program I'm following. I lost 24.5 lbs and I'm pretty excited about my results so far. That's more than 10% of my initial body weight which should have me close to if not at the top of the competition. I also posted progress pics on my bodyspace profile which can be found by clicking on the link to the left. I'll spare those that don't want to see them, but you really can tell some big changes are happening.

**My sister is having her baby Tuesday! Cruz Smith Haralson should make his appearance around 2:30. I'm pretty stinking excited about it! Please keep Leann, my sister, in your prayers. Thanks. :)

ham

There is a story about a little girl who was cooking Christmas dinner with her mother. They were preparing a ham and the mom cut off both ends of the ham before placing it in the pan and into the oven. The little girl asked her mom why she cut off such a large portion of the ham. The mom replied that she did this because her mom did. The curious little girl went to her grandmother and asked, 'Grandma, why did you cut the ends of the ham off before cooking it?' The grandmother replied that she had always done so because her mom had. Still not satisfied the little girl went to her great grandmother and asked 'Great Grandmother, why did you cut off the ends of the ham before cooking it?' To which the great grandmother replied 'because the ham was too big for the pan, honey.'

Really? You mean to tell me these crazy women have been wasting all this ham for no reason! Its a good thing Great Grandmother was still alive to tell the poor child the reason she cut the ham in the first place. Now little Suzy, or whatever her name is, can stop the vicious cycle and be the first woman in her family to get her money's worth out of her Christmas ham. Sound familiar?

Situations like this are happening in families from all walks of life all over the world. Some little girl is learning behaviors and beliefs from her mother, who learned it from her mother, who learned it from her mother, who...you get the point. And its not just ham we're dealing with. We're dealing with all aspects of life. Behaviors and beliefs that are taught without explanation. Behaviors and beliefs that are learned and never questioned. Behaviors and beliefs that are passed through generations.

I'm not saying that all behaviors and beliefs little girls (or boys) learn from their moms (or dads) are wrong. The point I am trying to make is that they are accepted without being understood. Unfortunately it is often both the parent and the child who don't understand. We need to step back and ask ourselves why we behave and believe the way we do...and 'because my mom did' isn't going to fly.

Think of the possibilities of change that exist if everyone took a moment to self evaluate. I've pondered this all afternoon and the three things that I can't stop thinking about are religion, health and prejudice.

What if every Christian studied the reason they believe? What if they attended church every Sunday because they want to obey God, learn and worship instead of attending church only because they grew up thinking it was the right thing to do?

What if young adults stopped accepting their obesity because their parents are overweight and got out and exercised? What if they were proactive with their health instead of accepting what they think they are genetically predisposed to?

What if adults asked themselves why they use racial slurs? What if they questioned why they raise their children to be less accepting to people of a different ethnicity?

And how many more days of Christmas leftovers could have been had all those years if the ends of those hams had never been cut off?