TheNewMe

One more work day left until vacation starts. I have enjoyed my precious alone time with my husband of 25 years (next week), but I am missing my children. I can't wait to see them and to visit family and friends over the next week. We will hopefully be in NC sometime tomorrow evening and will be there for a whole week. I am excited, not for the driving part but for the fellowship of family and friends that I have not seen in quite some time. Work update: I started a new position last week, however I will not be able to fully get into the role until later in July due to vacation and having to cover phones when I get back. I am looking forward to new responsibilities. Right now, I pretty much have nothing to do until that happens. Oh well, I will be so thankful that I have a job and anticipate the coming work that will greet me upon my return from vacation. Family update: Lee and I will celebrate 25 years of being married next week while on vacation. I love this man so much. He i

    I want to begin by saying that I am a reviewing an advance copy that was provided by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of review. I received it through the Blogging For Books website . You can purchase the book  HERE  .   This book is supposed to be a satire about how to experience depression in a fulfilling way. I found the book to be somewhat funny, however it seems to be more of an excuse for the author to speak opinions in vulgar ways with no purpose. Each chapter says basically the same thing over and over again. I found it hard to make it through each one. There are some practical suggestions regarding navigating through relationships while in depression mode. http://www.jokesnovak.com/

What a weekend! What a weekend! Let me say it again...What a weekend!!! I was finally able to get my hair cut and colored on Saturday and it feels great! Plus, I have the best family in the whole world. God blessed me so much through them this past weekend. First, Geoffry came up to PA to pick up his car. He brought with him Lee's dad Steve and step mom Frankie, his wife Rebecca, and my beautiful grandson Marcus. If my heart wasn't already full enough, within an hour of them arriving on Saturday, I found out what Lee had been secretly plotting for 2 weeks prior - one of my very best friends from high school Chelley showed up with her son Aydin to surprise me. What a shocker! We were able to go out to dinner and ice cream and then I went with her to see her campsite. Sunday they were all at church with us and then followed back to our house for a marvelous BBQ chicken Sunday dinner that we were all able to sit at my kitchen table and enjoy. We played cards and just hung out whil

I want to begin by saying that I am a reviewing an advance copy that was provided by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of review. I received it through the Blogging For Books website . You can purchase the book   HERE I enjoyed this book very much. Ms. Lodge doesn't fail to keep the story interesting in this follow-up in the series. The heroine continues to get to the bottom of understanding her family roots. It is a continued tale of love in hardships and the threat of lost loves during a time of war and secrets due to Jewish heritage. All of the characters were well played and the ending left me wanting more from the story. Hillary Manton Lodge has once again proven herself to be an inspired fiction writer and I look forward to reading more from her.   http://www.hillarymantonlodge.com/

Well, here is my 18 month weight loss check in results: I am no longer obese. I am not sure if I ever thought I would hear these words or not. My doctors are pleased with my progress and say that I am at a good stage. I am holding between 160 and 170 pounds and have finally made it out of the obese category. That feels good. I finally feel "comfortable" with myself. I know I have further to go to my original goal, but honestly if I don't make it that far, it will be okay because of how far I have come. 160 pounds is a lot to have lost. I am proud of myself. I can be the person I want to be. Thanks to all my supporters (you know who you are). Many friends and relatives have gotten me to this place with much encouragement. Most of all, thanks be to God to whom I owe everything. You make me want to be a better woman.

This book should receive 5 stars for couples in new marriages. This reader is 25 years into marriage so there was not a lot of new material. With that being said, there was still a lot of great material to revisit and definitely good material to help newer couples. The suggestions are right on and funny because they are so true. I enjoyed reading this book and would encourage anyone to read it even for entertainment purposes. "I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

I don't normally post so close together, but I felt I needed to say something about today. I have been facing anxiety and depression for a while now. Like yesterday, I won't put it up on Facebook because #1 - I don't want everyone to know my business or rather I don't feel comfortable confessing this to all people and #2 - I don't want pity from people and that is what I will get if I tell this to some people. I feel embarrassed because as a Christian, I don't know how I could possibly be facing something like depression. I know God has me in His hands always so why am I feeling like this? I don't question Him, I question myself. He has brought me through many other "down" situations and I have no reason to doubt He will do it again with me being stronger on the other side. Here it is: I feel like crying every single day that I get up. I am experiencing health problems like chest pains and just not feeling good on a day to day basis. In the cours

I am having a hard time acclimating to my new job. I don't feel like I fit in AT ALL. I wish I could say different and pretend how much I love my job, but honestly I don't. I don't love it. I feel sad every single day. The "language" around me is constant and although I realize to many, this is not a big deal but to me it is and when you hear it all the time it gets to you. I am alone. Very alone. I am part of a secretarial staff that is hugely underpaid and underappreciated.  The direct supervisors in my department do appreciate me and that feels good but it only scratches the surface. When I started this job, I did so to get my foot in the door and at first it was great because there was an abundance of work to do. I set forth to get so much accomplished and I did so with fervor. Once it was all done, however things changed for me. No longer did I have something to do but I have to go asking for things to do. It is embarrassing and humiliating to ask people if I

Okay so I have 20 pounds of fat to go. I was able to get on this really cool machine that gives every detail of mass in your body. With the exception of extra skin that could come off with surgery, my muscle and skeletal mass looks good. I have 20 pounds left to go before I am at optimal weight for my height and age. Will I do it? No clue. Will I try? Absolutely. We are doing this challenge at work right now called Everybody Walk Across PA. It is an 8 week walking challenge and we have created teams at work to see just how much we can walk each week. The goal that Penn State Extension encourages teams to accomplish is 10 miles per person per week for 8 weeks. So far in this first week, I have accomplished 9.25 miles and it is only day 4 of the 7-day week. I think the challenge with teams will push me to do more just because I am competitive and whether we win or not makes no real difference. On a side note, I have not been feeling my best lately. If you could please pray that my doct

So I wonder if anyone else who has had weight loss surgery and lost a lot of weight still feels "fat" sometimes. Don't get me wrong, people tell me I look great and it feels good to hear it but when will I feel like it is enough? Will I ever stop trying to lose more? Is it wrong for me to keep going? I realize this is all superficial and thankfully God sees me for who I am and who I want to be, but I wonder if I will ever have the "realization" that I am just fine the way I am. I thought this way once upon a time when I was obese. I don't know if I ever believed myself when I said it but I still put it out there. I feel guilty for feeling this way because I know for a fact that I have lost a solid 165 pounds and I still struggle every day to make the right choices. I also know that if I could shed this extra skin, it would make it pretty close to my goal weight. Does any of this matter? Not really, I am still just processing how to feel in my new body I gues

Well, I am down 7 pounds and 3 inches from the beginning of February until now. I'll take it! 17 pounds to go until my goal weight. Every small step counts and every movement counts. Every new day is a new opportunity to take charge of your life. Yesterday's mistakes are today's victories if you choose to make it reality. Make a small step whether it is slowly adding small workouts or movements or taking away a bad habit and replacing it with a new healthier one. Every day is a challenge, but today's choices equals next month's body. This past weekend, I got my hair cut and colored and started making new resolutions to make a simple change every day. I still struggle with snacking urges and I will continue for the rest of my life. The key is to recognize weaknesses and curb those by constant prayer, determination, and asking support from family. I feel great and know that my hard work has and will continue to pay off. God is still creating a good work in me. He

Well, it looks like my hard work is paying off. I am finally moving on the scale again. I started something new in January and started something new again yesterday. I am down 5 pounds and down 5.5 inches. Hooray for me!!! Every little bit counts and feels great. I started my new job yesterday as well. It went good as far as first days are concerned. I look forward to learning more today and with each day ahead. Blessings to anyone who reads my blog. I hope you have a wonderful day filled with all God has planned for you.

I have started moving again. Now if I don't lose anymore most know that I am completely okay with that and am extremely proud of how much I have accomplished. I am 26 pounds from my goal weight which is 145 and what I weighed when I got married 25 years ago. I am within a pound of being reclassified in BMI of being "overweight" versus being "obese" and within 30 pounds from being considered "normal". I don't remember now what I was because I have a new normal. I remember being unhappy and not knowing which direction my family or I were headed. What a journey this has been. I am still learning that I can't give in to cravings because it makes me feel bad when I do. Not always but always the rule.  I will start a new job in a week and a new diet of sorts at the same time. Those are not hard, just new beginnings. The hard part is making the decision every day of putting exercise among the most important "things to get done" everyday

-A New Year means something different to everyone. To me, it is a fresh start to do things right that I didn't get right last year. It means a new beginning to the life God created for me. It means greater opportunities in work, in my spiritual walk, in my family and friend relationships; and new goals set for myself spiritually, personally, and physically. As I reflect back on 2015, this is what I see that happened: I became more aware of God and his ability and grace to take care of me and my family. I witnessed the birth of my first grandchild, whom I miss terribly since he moved back to NC. I got to have a reunion of so many friends on a wonderful spirit-packed weekend. I defined my body more and lost a ton of weight ( I have lost 155 pounds to date since December of 2013-105 since my surgery in September of 2014). I didn't think it was possible to find more love, but I found more to love about my husband of 24 years. My children are for the most part happy and blessed. I w