Author: Dianne

Lost Control at the Car Wash

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After a drive in the mountains yesterday morning and another one out in the country to the Paint Mines last night, my car was pretty filthy. So I made a quick jaunt to the very busy automatic car wash. I never want to be very close to the car in front of me and I don’t want the one behind me to be close. It freaks me out. And though it’s a quick ride through, I don’t want to hold my breath all the way through.

I put my car in neutral and made sure all the windows were tightly closed and the rollers took their position under my tires and slid my little Rogue through the neon-lit shower tunnel. As foam began to scroll down my window, obscuring all visibility, I thought how it’s a little like my walk with God. I don’t really have control of my life and I can’t really see what’s ahead nor how far away anything is. But God knows exactly where I am, how far I am from all the things, and when to apply the soap, spray the rinse water, add the spotless clear coat, or activate the dryers. Because He knows just what I need and when I need it. It doesn’t matter whether or not I can see those needs. I just need to trust Him.

And at the end? I get to come out clean and shiny!

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Philippians 3:20-21

 

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Rant Turned to Gratitude

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My husband has a tooth that is broken and needs to be addressed. He’s been using some temporary filling stuff and that’s worked. Until it didn’t. It started hurting a bit on Friday (always!) and wasn’t much fun through the weekend. By Monday, it was getting bad. He called our dentist, but they are scheduled three weeks out. So he toughed out another day, taking far too much Advil and Tylenol, eating very little, and sleeping horribly. Then this morning he called to get a referral to someone else.

I rescheduled my massage took him to the oral surgeon this afternoon to get this taken care of. It just kills me when he’s hurting. Following his appointment, he was in a LOT of pain because the dental chair wasn’t comfortable for his neck, so that morphed into a bad headache. I don’t even know how his mouth is because his head hurt so much. I got him home and settled, then went to get his prescriptions filled. No, they weren’t electronically submitted, because the powers that be won’t allow one of them to be filled that way any longer. Okay, fine. Obviously this will delay things a bit more. I couldn’t stop on the way home because he hurt too much and needed to lay down.

It would take 30-40 minutes to fill them, the pharmacist said. Did I want to wait? Yes. He really needs some pain relief. I wandered around the store for a bit, picked up a couple things, put one back, and went to sit in the waiting area. Naturally, I pulled out my phone, figuring I could catch up a little on email, Instagram, or Facebook. Or something. Well, wouldn’t you know, the pharmacy area has no cell signal. Which I understand. But the waiting area? Come on, people, move things around and at least let your customers have service in the only area of the store they actually have to hang out for awhile. Ugh.

So I walked to the front of the store, leaned on a display out of the way, and scrolled through Facebook. But apparently I looked like I might need help, as the girl working in the Photography Department asked if I needed anything. Nope. Just waiting. About that time, they paged hubby’s name. Yep, 30 minutes later.

I got his prescriptions (all 4 of them), paid for everything, and headed home. As I was riding home, feeling a little annoyed about the extra time while my husband was in pain, it occurred to me that even in this, we are incredibly blessed.

We live in a place where he could get helped today. I was able to take him to his appointment (I don’t think he could’ve gotten himself there with the pain he had). We have dental insurance which will cover the majority of today’s bill. He could get prescriptions today. He has a home to come to and a bedroom with a bed in which to rest. He also has a number of people praying for him. Without posting it on FB. And his pain will be gone before long. It won’t be chronic.

It’s that perspective thing. I run into it often. Or more likely the Holy Spirit is reminding me that things aren’t as bad as they could be, even when they’re difficult. And so I am grateful and praying as he’s resting in the next room.

p.s. – thank you, no REALLY, THANK YOU to the oral surgeon’s office music for leaving me with Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys. {insert eye roll}

Small Shifts

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In December I signed up for Cathy Zielske’s FIT 2017 class. I would say “again” but the last time I signed up, it was for 2016. Yeah, details. In typical Dianne fashion, I pretty much fell off the proverbial wagon about a week or two. Oh, I’d think about tracking that wagon down every so often, but not for long.

So I really debated about even trying again. Would this year be any different? Did I have any chance of actually sticking with it? I guess that remains to be seen, but I have noticed a small shift in my thinking this time. For one thing, I’m all about the baby steps. That’s a big change for me. I’m usually an all-or-nothing kind of gal. Which lasts for an extremely short period of time since once I’ve slipped up, I’ve missed the goal of ALL.

water-tracker-optIt started with water intake, which I’ve already written about here. It’s still going well. I’m fairly consistent in drinking 8-16 ounces first thing out in the morning, which helps a lot.

I also began walking, usually with one of the boys, but sometimes by myself. It helps that Colorado has had some unseasonably warm temps this year. After the first walk in January, I knew I really wanted another Fitbit since my Zip had died last year. So I picked up an Alta and that’s helping to increase my daily steps, especially since it’s kind enough to remind you if you haven’t met your hourly goals. I find myself walking circles in the house sometimes just to get those steps in.

img_5438One more area I’m often not good with is sleep. Fortunately, the Alta tracks that, too, I’m doing a little better there, too, as far as getting enough sleep. Now I just need to go to sleep a bit earlier.

I just seem to have a small shift in my perspective. Making changes feels like it’s less of a big deal, but more of a matter-of-fact, just do what I need to do. Drink more water. Walk a few more steps. Whatever.

Even though a very small shift may seem unnoticeable in the beginning, after awhile you’ll find that you’ve actually made a significant course change. My overarching goal for all of these changes is to just keep at it. Even when I stumble, fall, or completely bail, just get back to it as soon as I can and be merciful and kind to myself.

I’m hopeful that small shifts in perspective will result in some eventual big changes.

More Water

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Here we are – January 31st – and I’ve actually achieved my water goal every day (well, most of one day) this month. I started out very small. I decided that a small, achievable goal was better than a big one that I’d likely bail on within a week or so. Turns out that was a good line of thinking.

My goal?

8 ounces a day.

Not very much when you look at how much water I should have in a day. But that’s okay. Considering how much I don’t care to drink water, I figured even 8 ounces a day was a big improvement. I also knew there’d be days when I likely would have more. Plus it’s January in Colorado. Not exactly water-drinking weather for me. The only way I actually like water is if I’m super hot and thirsty and the water is super cold and icy. So I decided that the goal would be to add 4 ounces each month and by the end of the year, I’d be in a decent place.

I was hitting my 8 ounce a day goal every day and often getting more. By the middle of the month, I upped my goal to 16 ounces. Which I’ve been getting…and then some.

there’s supposed to be a picture here of my tracker, but for whatever reason, neither WordPress nor Flickr is cooperating, so there is no image. insert sad face.

My Inkwell Press planner has a tracker page for each month, which has been a help, too. Seeing those little hexagons getting filled in is a bit encouraging, especially to now see an entire month. Yeah, I know, the 17th shows only half, but I’m pretty sure I got all my water in that day. I just don’t recall, as we were driving home from Kansas City that day and I may have come up a bit short.

The cool thing is that I never set a goal of drinking less soda. I just assumed that if I didn’t buy it to have at home and I drank more water, less soda would be a natural byproduct. And I was right. Oh, I still have soda when I’m out, but I’m drinking so much less than I used to. It’s a move in the right direction.

I’m already surpassing March’s water goal, so who knows where I might be by the end of the year?

1-7-17

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How’s that for a catchy title? Reached right out and grabbed you, I’m sure.

So that Photo-A-Day thing in December? Yeah, not sure what happened there. I did take some more pictures, but getting them off the card, onto the computer, edited, saved, and posted? Not so much. But I guess I have some material for future use, right?

Well, Happy New Year! A week into two thousand and seventeen. I’ve had a bunch of different blog post ideas, but they seem to be like the pictures – captured in my head, but lost between there and the posting. Actually, I’m pretty sure they’re still around – just like the pictures – and will pop back up somewhere along the way.

On a happy note, I’ve actually achieved my water drinking goal for the first seven days of this year! Even more surprising, since I’ve been sick since Monday night. I don’t care for the taste (or lack, thereof) of water and it’s even worse when my taste buds are on the fritz. But I did it. I signed up for Cathy Zielske’s FIT 2017 class (again) and the FB group has been a good support and encouragement. And my Inkwell Press planner has a cute little tracker in it, which is helpful. It’s also colorful when I actually accomplish the things I want to track. While I may need to cut back on soda, my thinking is that if I increase my water intake, that will automatically decrease the soda. We’ll see if my thinking is on track or just a bit wacky.

Christmas brought some fun pen and paper supplies for me. I got a purple Pilot Metropolitan Retro Pop fountain pen that I just love, along with some ink samples (Goulet Pens rocks!) and a bottle of J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor ink. This stuff is SO gorgeous and amazing. It’s a teal green, but when there’s enough ink on the paper, you can see gold glitter and even a magenta-red sheen. It’s just beautiful. It looks different depending on what you use to write. In the picture below, I used a dip pen with a fairly fine nib. I don’t think you can see all the colors, but I’m sure I’ll be posting more images.

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In the meantime, I’ve been sampling other inks (hmmm…have to find that photo) in the Metropolitan. This pen writes like a dream and is quite reasonably priced.

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I got some other goodies as well, but will save them for another post.

What Christmas gift(s) made your heart sing?

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Time for some ZZZZZs. Still recovering from the cold and I have an early morning tomorrow.

Photo a Day – December 2016

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I’m not sure why I’m subjecting myself to this type of self-induced pressure, but I am. I don’t tend to do very well with posting something every day or other such consistent projects. But I have a new lens that I’d like to challenge myself a bit with and so I’m going to attempt to shoot one photo a day for the month of December. But I want the pictures to cover a wide variety of subjects and composition choices. It’s a prime lens, which I don’t tend to shoot with often, thus the challenge to have such variety.

So here we go with Day 1:

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