Blog Hopping

Yup, that's what I've been doing this morning. I should be sitting at my spinning wheel, or standing at my kitchen sink, or correcting lit girls' papers, or doing laundry or something. Maybe I should be doing my walk around the block, but I've been blog hopping. My usual bloggers have been rather quiet, so I went over to Owl of the Remove and hopped from there to Standing on my Head, and hence onward to blogs by converts, blogs by philosophers, etc. I discovered that the evangelical world is all caught up in the emergent church thing (which is really only the result of the seeker church phenomenon that sent me looking back at Church history about 14 years ago , which started me down the road to the Catholic Church). I must admit that while I sort of saw some of this coming, it's a loop I'm glad I'm out of. I also learned this morning that there are evangelicals out there (one notable evangelical author) who will admit that the reason they aren't Catholic isn't because they don't believe what the Church teaches, but because they lack the courage to take the step. This author admitted to a Catholic convert that she lacked the courage, that her readers would never understand. Since she's an author I greatly respect, I think I'll put her on my list of people to pray for more often. I well understand the gut wrenching, cold sweat experience it is to consider becoming Catholic. When it means that all those conferences you speak at and all those people who listen to you on the radio might disappear, it must be hard to consider the change. When your whole identity is tied up in being an evangelical phenomenon and you're no longer young... well let's just say this lady needs our prayers that she would have courage. I also learned that there are lots of relatively young evangelical philosophers who are becoming Catholic, apparently the two I know aren't as unusual as I thought at one time. And of course I learned that Father Ben dislikes Guiness and Father Dwight is going to be writing about Jane Austen. So that's where that hour went. Blog hopping, it's time to stop for nows. However, if you want to follow me down the primrose path, you might start at Owl of the Remove, then go to Standing on My Head, and see if you can follow the path I tread. My justification for all this blog hopping was that I needed new bookmarks. When we had to replace our hard drive, I lost all my bookmarks, so now I'm trying to create a whole new set of interesting places to visit. I know, I know, I'll find any way possible to delay doing the dishes.... Happy blog hopping and may the tasks you put off not be too important.

One Year Later

A year ago I told you that I was starting a new journey, a journey to try to find the skinny person I used to be. Well, she's still not quite back, but the year long totals are in. In one year I lost between 55 and 56 pounds (depending on whether the scale is being evil or friendly). I went from a size 18 tight to a size 8 comfortable. I went from raiding my son's closet for jeans to raiding my daughter's closet for sweaters (raiding my daughter's closet for jeans will probably never be a possibility, she wears between a 2 and a 4 and she's taller than I am).

I can now mow the lawn for an hour at a stretch (through tall grass) and not have to stop for a 15 minute rest break after the first half hour. I can actually run from my house to my in-law's without stopping to catch my breath. I just bought new sneakers so that I can actually increase the distance I can run (the old ones were worn and didn't provide good stability) A two times around the block walk is now a light workout not a major production. I'm using 12 pound hand weights at Bone Builders and need to buy some 14 lb ones.

Healthy eating appears to have become a habit, although I must admit that eating only one brownie last Sunday was a bit of a challenge. Next step, buying a swimsuit. Somehow that size 14 that looked so good in November is sort of big. Now it's more about turning this into less of a journey and more of a life pattern. I don't really expect to drop more than one more size, now it's about never being the fat lady at the circus (or the sheep show if you prefer) ever again. Some one of these days when the computer genius is home I'll have to try to get before and after pictures scanned into the computer so you can see the difference instead of just hearing about it.

I can't say enough good things about Weight Watchers online (www.weightwatchers.com) It's been a great program with lots of support on the message boards. It's not a program to lose weight fast in order to get into a swimsuit. It's a program to help you lose weight while adopting healthier eating and exercise habits that will keep you from having to panic every swimsuit season.

I may now have what Kris Franklin (www.catholicbabyboomer.blogspot.com) calls a "grandma body," (even though I'm not a grandma) but it's a healthy one, not an obese one (current BMI 24.3, current body fat 27.9% both numbers in the healthy range!). This time I can't wait to go to the high school reunion instead of dreading it.