Welcome Friends
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You've found a great place to come
and vent, share or ask for prayer support.
This is a great group who will be very
encouraging, caring and loving....
....anyone is welcome to join!

A Servant's Prayer --

Jesus, My Jesus....How marvelous are your ways....
Far more splendid than my mind can envision.
What an honor to be chosen by you.
A lowly child I am, but empowered by the Holy Spirit
to fulfill the great hope to which you have called me.
I give myself totally to you, Lord.
Take my imperfect heart and make it perfect.
Peel away the hardness.
Close the doors I have opened to the temptations of this world.
Gently remove the roots of painful memories, sins, doubts and fears.
Discard anything that separates me from you.
Lord, fill the emptiness with the light of your love
that I might be a beacon calling the lost back to you.

To love as you love.....
To serve as you serve.....
To forgive as you forgive.....
Always mindful of my nothingness while doing great
and marvelous things in your name and for your glory.
This I pray, Jesus, in YOUR name ...
Amen.

Well, another month has come and gone -- is summer almost over already? Well, it does extend into part of September they say, so we do have some good weather coming yet, I'm sure. I hope things cool off for you all down in the southern states as well.

Southern Canada had some really temps this summer too. Our temps have cooled off up here (yeah!); and we were blessed with some the last two days -- we even had some hail during the night that woke us all up. I thought my fan was spitting at me; thank goodness it wasn't ...

My beans are flowering and starting to grow baby beans now, so we really need the precip at this time. My hanging Cherry tomato plant really produced well (it just continues to produce more & more as I pick them); I think this is the best one we ever had, so I hope the nursery gets them again next year.

DH is zooming around on his new bike; having so much fun -- it was worth every penny, just for that! I'm just doing stuff around here: light housechores, some sewing, some reading, some light gardening chores like deadheading & watering, and some walking.

Eating went really well for July in spite of a few close calls and a bit of hunger a few days; turns out I was a bit short on my calories those days. Some people may think that's a good thing, but if I go too low, my blood sugar levels plunge.

My goals for August are to eat more nutrient-rich and high-fiber foods to feel more satiated, and to continue my walking regime each day. Of course I'd welcome some lost lbs and inches too, so we'll see how I do this month. So far, it's starting out real good.

Hope you all have a great month; and feel free to update your posts from the last two days into this new thread, if you like ...

LAURA ~ congratulations on reaching your first mini-goal. I know that you will accomplish many, many more ...

Thanks Rosebud, I was really excited too! My new goal is to lose 13 pounds by Labor Day.

Well, my sweetheart left. We had a great visit. We didn't workout today except for a 1 mile hike. We were still sooo sore from yesterday's hill climbing! At least we stayed on plan and we had lots of cuddle time.

When we get together we tend to eat out a lot. And go for treats like icecream. But this visit I made every meal at home. Counted my ww points the whole time. Our only "eating out/treat" was a stop at McDonalds for a lemonade after a really long walk yesterday.

Tomorrow I hit the Y again and I have a 3 and a half hr workout planned so I'm praying for strength!

Chubbygirl, congratulations on staying on plan, you will see great results as you continue.

thanks Bargoo!

I'm tired following my workout but I'm glad I did it. I still have a short hike later with my mom. Today at the Y my workouts were:
*30 min spinning/ stationary bike
*45 min yoga
*1 hr deep water aerobics
*30 min strength training
With the hike that should make it 3 hrs and 15 mins exercise logged for the day. I'm happy with that!

diet is going great too. So how is everyone else doing?

EVERYONE ~ We've been having some amazing storms up here the last few days/nights -- with unbelievable winds tossing our trees and plants to and fro. We had to tie up my vines today as they were almost knocked down completely by the storms the last two nights. Lots of water came down; sure glad our water pump is working well, or we could have been flooded here ... phewie!

Eating is going well for this month already; so very glad for that. We had lovely bbq spit chicken for dinner tonight with new potatoes, green & yellow beans, and baby carrots -- so yum!

I have been doing some of my laundry on the weekends as the hydro is half off on weekends, nights, and holidays. We had in the AM so I was able to do my bedspread set for our bed today. It dried just before another mini-rain storm passed through. I hope some of these little storms work their way down south to those places that need it becuz they sure dropped a lot of precip for us.

Monday is a "civic" holiday in our province; so stores/businesses are closed so workers can have an extra days rest, which is nice for them and their families. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and a great week coming up too ...

LAURA ~ are you resting from all that exercise? Hope you didn't overdo it now.

I did rest today after working out so much Friday! It was in the 90's all weekend so the pool in the backyard came in very handy today. Even though the temps were near 100 we all kept cool in the water most of the day. (water temp 75 or so) I was glad my mom who is almost 68 came over and spent the majority of the day in the water because I think yesterday she was having some heat exhaustion symptoms. She thinks 70 degrees is a heatwave and just doesn't fare well in the heat at all. But she was comfortable all day here and we had salad and chicken breasts we bbq'd on the grill for dinner. So my only excercise was playing in the pool. But I didn't just float around on a blow-up raft. no, no! I did handstands to the delight of my 2 yr nephew, somersaults, jumping, swimming, splashing, etc. I know my hours upon hours of playing in the water burned some calories. My only cheat today was taking my nephew for an hour to a birthday party down the street where I had a red velvet cupcake with homemade cream cheese frosting. yikes.

Oh-- I had a nsv yesterday!!! Mom and I walked around the track of the high school down the road. I alternated walking and jogging in 1/16th of a mile segments. I can't believe I jogged half a mile in total (and walked the other half mile.) It took everything I had, but I JOGGED! unbelievable! I'd like to work on getting better at that when we get out of this heat spell. I was sick last night afterwards because that was the hottest part of the day and the track was in direct sun. I should have known better.
But I'm better now! Ready to hit the Y for yoga, spinning, and water aerobics tomorrow.

Chubbygirl,
Great job with your running! Running/walking is great for you. And I happen to love exercising in extreme temperatures (wisely, of course). Give me 100 or -10 and I'm out there. Rain, too, is fun. I like feeling "tough", even though I'm totally not!

Chubbygirl and Jen you two make me feel like a sloth.

Noooooo Bargoo! You aren't a sloth! Although I move like one after a hard workout. You should see me at the end of the day, I get up from sitting several minutes and I feel like I'm 99 years old. I just have to keep plugging away at it.


So sometimes I find myself in a situation where I realize I need to pray for a bit more grace. I found myself in one today. And I'm still irritated about it. I was in my shallow water aerobics class. The pool isn't that big and it's always very crowded. Especially the deeper end. The deepest end of the shallow pool is about 4.5 ft so my friend and I like to be on that end because we are tall. I'm about 5'7 and a half, she is 5'10. The shallow end doesn't even hit me at the waist. The class is full of little old ladies who could easily stand in the shallow end and be comfortable but they choose not to. And although I wish they would move over I know they pay their dues just like me so I understand they can stand where they like. Fine. But it is hard to ignore when they are pushy and they try to strong-arm us into scooting to the shallow side. It's a bit like a clique. We are newer to the class and they feel like they own it. The pool is theirs and we're in the way. They aren't very welcoming of newcomers, probably because they feel the class is too full as it is. Today one woman kept puposely pushing us further away and when I quit budging because we were already so close to the people behind us she scolded me. She asked me to move over because the exercises were causing our arms to brush. And I responded that there was no more room on that side for me to move, that there was twice as much room on her side. By that time her and her 2 friends had monopolized the entire corner for the 3 of them, where as the rest of us in that area were piled on top of each other. I wanted to lash out and tell her she was being selfish and rude. I wanted to scream 'how come 40 other people in this pool manage to share the space but you and your 2 friends wanna push and shove like bullies in the schoolyard?' I wanted to point out that those 3 ladies barely attempt the exercises, they mostly talk. But I bit my tongue the way I was taught to act around my elders. My mama would snatch me bald if she ever heard me talk to an older lady like that even if they were being childish. So I'm reminding myself that they don't need to be the welcoming committee. That I don't need to be the water aerobics police. If they wanna chit chat instead of burn calories, so be it. I'm reminding myself that the Y has recently put out surveys about offering additional classes and are in the process of trying to do that so I need to be patient. And I might not be comfortable in the 3 foot deep water where the water barely meets my hips but I might have to tolerate it. And I'm going to keep working on my grace.

Chubbygirl, to bad you didn't go to church with me yesterday.The title of the message was "Christians At Work" . I could change it to "Christians In The Swimming Pool." The scripture was Ephesians 4: 1-16. He spoke about having patience and showing love, sometimes very difficult to do. We need to pray for patience and love in getting along with others especially with those who make it difficult. Just thought I would share that with you.

thanks Bargoo! I'm trying to not be upset over it. My choices are to deal with the rudeness and crowding and continue to test my patience and stretch my grace beyond its capacity or to make a little more room in that pool and take a different class. The only other water aerobics class doesn't work with my schedule as well but I can make it work even though I will have to wake up quite a bit earlier. But I'll be getting my workout with nicer people in a pool that I actually have enough room to exercise in. When I am losing pounds it will be worth it. So I'll try that option for a while. Maybe another class will open up. If nothing works out the way I hope, I can always go back to the crowded class and either camp out in the shallow water or find a way to put up with the rudeness gracefully. What I'm not going to do is let the situation slow me down!

LAURA ~ yes, it seems there are all kinds of situations that can test our patience for sure. I have a few in my life too -- I think we all do. Some people share about it, and some don't. Definitely sounds like your aquatics class is over-crowded; the teacher should be able to see that and pass that on to the powers that be, so maybe they will offer another one soon. Good for you for being so gracious to those ladies ...

We had a busy day; lots of errands and pick-ups to do today. So, I got in lots of "extra" walking, which did stress my back again, so I had to lay down for a while this evening. I walk every day, but I have to be careful too. In the past, I used to walk anywhere from a few times a day to several times a day depending on how I felt or what else I was doing. I walk indoors and out. DH and I want to resume our "extra" walks a few times a week. Right now, I do short walks many times a day. I am very pleased how I am progressing considering the challenges I face with my body.

The weather is much nicer here; it's mish-mash of , , breezy, , and some too; but this allows me to go outside more this year than other years. It is cooling off a bit more and I enjoy that for walking more too. Eating is going well. BTW: we had so much the last few days that I noticed that some of my beans are ready to pick (will do that tomorrow AM).

Hope you all have a wonderful week ...

take it easy Rosebud! Don't over-exert yourself!