Bee~ Journal of then...

[Beekissed]

Ps 5:3, "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up."

Ps 143:8, "Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee."

Bee, that's my special time of the day too.

MMD, I LOVE those verses!! So appropriate and shows others have found a need to speak to the Lord before beginning one's day also. Nice to put on the whole armor of God before heading out to do battle, for we do not do battle with flesh and blood, but with spiritual wickedness in high places.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

David and Daniel were both noted to pray in the early morning, and I'm sure there were others, but if ONLY them, then it would still be a good example to follow, eh? (Of course, they prayed other times too. Remember? It was Daniel's very consistency that gave the others the opportunity to throw him in the lions den.)

I have found that spending this time in the morning, before the day gets busy, really sets up my day.

I'll be really interested in seeing if your gout and joint pain improve with your new routine. It just occurred to me this morning that my husband hasn't mentioned his knees hurting in quite a while, but he lost at least 25 pounds this last winter when he was sick. And he's been eating healthier. I'll be waiting to see how you do.

 

[Beekissed]

David and Daniel were both noted to pray in the early morning, and I'm sure there were others, but if ONLY them, then it would still be a good example to follow, eh? (Of course, they prayed other times too. Remember? It was Daniel's very consistency that gave the others the opportunity to throw him in the lions den.)

I have found that spending this time in the morning, before the day gets busy, really sets up my day.

I'll be really interested in seeing if your gout and joint pain improve with your new routine. It just occurred to me this morning that my husband hasn't mentioned his knees hurting in quite a while, but he lost at least 25 pounds this last winter when he was sick. And he's been eating healthier. I'll be waiting to see how you do.

I'm counting on that very thing, especially the gout. Any pressure from excess weight being gone will also no doubt decrease the pain in my low back from old lift injuries and also any pain in knees and ankles, but the neck is here to stay, I'm afraid...no matter how much weight Dad lost, his neck continued to deteriorate~we have big, heavy heads no matter what we weigh and that may factor into it.

I'm loving the new routine, though still struggling with the early bed times, so losing much sleep. But God seems to be assisting me in getting up no matter how late I go to bed, usually at 6 am instead of when my alarm is set for half hour later than that.

 

[BarredBuff]

MMD, I LOVE those verses!! So appropriate and shows others have found a need to speak to the Lord before beginning one's day also. Nice to put on the whole armor of God before heading out to do battle, for we do not do battle with flesh and blood, but with spiritual wickedness in high places.

SOOO important to remember!! It is so easy to get caught up in "what the eye can see" when the real battle is fought in another realm.

Have a great day, Bee.

 

[Beekissed]

Progress on the diet and health regimen is great~down 27 lbs since starting to make a change, clothing is fitting looser(going to have to take some things in, but I'm not complaining!), and I'm feeling pretty good in many ways~more energy, more mobility, less abdominal pain and discomfort. Also have a better tan than I've gotten since I worked at the pool as a teenager.

Hair is getting thicker, slightly more curly since switching over to the CG method, very soft and I'm loving how it feels and looks.

The early morning time with prayer and reading of the Word is also progressing well and sets me up for each day. As I read through the Bible, I'm downloading teaching on the passages to listen to on my MP3 player as I work and walk, so get to study while I am moving about....that helps me absorb the material better. I seem to listen better if I'm busy with my hands at the same time.

God has really opened my eyes on different aspects of my body maintenance, things I had never really thought too much about, but now He's brought these to the forefront of my mind. Just as I am very different from most people in many ways, my body is different too and it's actually a blessing, instead of a curse.

I've always disliked the fact that I stay fat on way less food than others stay skinny on, but He has let me know there is a blessing in this that I never saw~it costs less to feed me, I don't have to prepare as much food, I don't have to take as much time on meals and, in a crisis situation wherein food becomes scarce, I'll be able to maintain homeostasis whereas others with a less slow metabolism will not. I'm specifically designed for survival in the north where a slow metabolism was much desired when food was not as plentiful.

Now I know I just need to get my portions down to maintenance level for my body type, while also wrapping my mind around the fact that this is my life and it's not a bad thing~others need more food to survive and thrive and I do not. It's all good! Doesn't mean I am deprived of anything good in this life, just means I need less of a good thing to fuel my specific machine type.

In essence, I'm a White Rock chicken! Cheaper to raise, stays muscular and healthy, while still producing eggs, on the same or even less feed than other, lighter breeds. Do well in the cold weather and have no need of an increase in nutrients to maintain even during the winter. If you view them beside a Buff Orp, they look the same size, but when you pick them up, they have a WAY bigger heft to them. Their muscles are compact, dense and fine in fiber and their bones are bigger, sturdier. Their feathering is thick and more luxurious than other breeds, but lays flat to their body due to the feathers being so fine in nature.

I'm finding out this is no bad thing, in fact it makes me versatile, frugal to raise and productive...I'm just different than a lot of the other chickens.

 

[Britesea]

I've been looking at body types lately and realized the same thing, @Beekissed I think you can guess where a lot of people's ancestors came from by their bodies. People from the northern or mountainous climes tend to be compact and fuel-efficient, as you've described; whereas people from southern areas (meaning, closer to the equator- naturally this is reversed in the southern hemisphere ) tend to be taller and more gracile- thus enhancing their ability to radiate excess heat. They also use more fuel because they come from areas where food is more readily available all year round. Of course there are exceptions wherever we go, but that just reflects the fact that humans roam.

 

[Beekissed]

The year has turned to winter chore time and today I'm clearing out my room, especially the large closet there, in preparation of washing down walls and painting. Will be doing an entire room makeover of this small bedroom, with a change of the type of shelving and how the closet is organized, removal of large pieces of furniture, extending a window seat to create a better seat and a little more storage underneath it.

I'll be making a custom rack/shelving unit from an old wooden ladder to hold baskets for the grandgirl's clothing to replace the dresser they have been using. This will be free standing but tucked back in one corner of the closet so that less space is used but is used more efficiently for storing their clothing.

Saturday we utilized a family meal and gathering to sort through family pictures with the goal in mind of dispersing all pertinent pics to the children that should have them. Then getting rid of old pics that are no longer relevant to family history. In the end, the remaining pics will be gathered into albums that are more easily perused and passed along when we pass along.

These pics have been stored in four very large containers in my closet up until now, but pics in tubs are of no use to anyone, especially not to my storage capabilities. Time for a change.

That's our mantra this winter....time for a change. Change can be a good thing, especially when you are the one making the changes and the changes are not being thrust upon you.

After my room is done and Mom has made over her bathroom as much as possible, we are moving inward to the center of the house, clearing out and making over each room as we go along. Not total makeovers but enough to brighten, lighten and make more usable the rooms and cupboards we have already.

We already had started on such things in the cabin this past week by clearing all our books off our various bookshelves~approx. 250-300 books~and eliminating doubles of some books and books we no longer want. Cleaning the shelves, putting a back on one set so that books can't fall behind the shelves and the addition of another shelf was included in all of that. The result was the removal of a large tote and a laundry basket full of books, to be donated to Good Will.

It was a good start. I'm looking forward to a whole winter of "spring cleaning" while the weather is prohibitive to more involved outside chores. It will be nice to roll up into spring having the house already cleaned out and cleaned up so that we can move immediately into outside spring chores that are so needing to be done.

 

[Britesea]

sounds like a good start!

 

[sumi]

Wow, Bee, you're doing well over there! I need to declutter some here as well. The spare bedroom soon, as my brother is coming in the new year and one of my best friends just moved to Belfast from S.A. and wants to come for a visit soon. The area under the stairs needs sorting as well, I'm going to do that soon, as I need to fish out the Xmas tree and decorations, which went there. I wish I had your drive though!

 

[Beekissed]

Wow, Bee, you're doing well over there! I need to declutter some here as well. The spare bedroom soon, as my brother is coming in the new year and one of my best friends just moved to Belfast from S.A. and wants to come for a visit soon. The area under the stairs needs sorting as well, I'm going to do that soon, as I need to fish out the Xmas tree and decorations, which went there. I wish I had your drive though!

Well...I must admit my verve has a duofold purpose. Not only does all this really NEED to be done but I'm also trying to stay REALLY busy this winter so as to keep moving, keep mobile and keep burning fuel in my efforts to regain my health and to lose wt.

All of this needed to be done last winter and we just never got around to doing it....completely unmotivated to get it done. This year I have an additional motivation. I need to keep moving, be it inside or outside, in order to burn the stored fuel on my body~FAT~and to keep my muscles toned so they too can help burn fuel.

That is what is driving this bus. Purely selfish motivation on my part to keep my body moving while also doing a productive thing. I'm no good for forced exercise of any kind, can't stand doing that over and over, so the cleaning vigorously is going to take the place of that.