Day One

 ".. of the rest of my life.

It's day one of the BEST of my liiiife!"

~ Matthew West

  Who's ready to hear me ramble about my favorite two topics? Being healthy/ losing weight and orphans/ living with less. Of course I tend to only really dive into those lovely subjects when I have not been eating healthy or feel tired a lot, and after I have spent far more money on stuff I don't need than I should have. (But not too much that we can't pay it back right away. I'm still mostly responsible! And we're still putting money back in savings.) 

  I thought I'd kick off this post with some old pioneer photos. I am just now posting them, although you can see the link here - Living History Farm, from 2014 - because I like keeping my stories in chronological order. Sometimes I have to bring all my levels down to get me back into a strong starting point of what I need, and what is important, versus what I can live without (so much!) even if that means using candles instead of electricity. Michael loves candles!

  My thoughts seemed to be far more in order as I was driving home, while listening to Christian music, like the song above. Such a great flow of words drifting through my mind, of course since that is when I wasn't able to write my thoughts down. And now I'm staring at a blank screen, wondering if I should even been writing about how I don't know what to write about. I did that once for an English paper at Full Sail. I got a good grade on it!

  I have many rhetorical questions that I ask myself too late. Until we move and have to box up sooo much stuff, or I go on a big shopping spree, I don't consider myself to be a materialistic person. But I do feel that way right now. Taking five minutes to pick out what I want to wear the next day, when if I only had one pair of pants and two shirts, it would give me more time in the day. To go for a walk or all the other things I should be doing instead of watching TV and being a lazy bum. 

   I often think about what my life would be like if I were to trade for a week with some of the people I see crossing the street when I drive through the less privileged areas of town. Do they have a show like that? Yet at the same time, I know I need to just be sooo thankful for ALL of the stuff God and our parents have given us. I have thought so many times before about how great my life is and how I have been given so much that I feel like I don't deserve (mainly Michael). Back in the summer of 2008 I never thought I would meet someone who would want to marry me. I figured I'd just have a boyfriend for about three months until they got tired of hanging around me and then a year later I'd have another boyfriend for three months. And so on, for the rest of my life. How terribly sad. 

  Then a year later, God's like ~ BAM! Awesome time at Full Sail and super fun best friend! BAM! Oh, and here's your husband you've been asking for. BAM! Also he's got a cute dog! BAM! Wipe those tears away, you get to live in Los Angeles for 11 months. BAM! You often wondered what it would be like to work at an alarm company, enjoy! BAM! You met someone from Glee.  BAM! Back in Orlando, instant full time jobs. BAM! Here's a beautiful house just two miles from that trail you love. BAM! Yeah, yeah, yeah. *dancing*

   What does this have to do with losing weight? This post is all over the place. Spaghetti brain for sure. I'm just excited to get back to being extra healthy and walking four miles on all of my days off and having more skinny photoshoots!  For living with less, it's more about watching my money and really -seriously this time- not spending it on anything else besides groceries.  Normally our budget is $200 per person, but that is also supposed to include new clothes, going out to eat with friends, tattoos (stuff we don't really need so it makes us prioritize). Since I went over on my phone data, I'm putting $40 of my October grocery money towards that bill (which is what I should have done the last two months), and will ration my $160 for this month. I've already been thinking about which foods fill me up for less money, while also getting stuff that is somewhat healthy so I can reach my Skinny Slytherin goal by December 1st. I tend to forget that Walmart is sometimes cheaper than Dollar Tree, like having canned veggies for 68 or 72 cents! And how they sell a 24-pack of butter popcorn for $5! Spending five bucks at Dollar Tree would only get me 15 bags. I may not buy any (many) salads this time just because I feel like they are too expensive and don't fill me up enough.

  I'm looking forward to it as much as I'm worried about not keeping up with it. Nope! That is a bad attitude. This time I will do it and I'll be super proud of myself and Michael will be really happy with me. Hooray! Ramble, ramble. You were warned. Time for my blind shower (in the dark). Thank you for my working eyeballs! Amen.