lots of random stuff from Wednesday

Menu change from yesterday… I ended up having lunch at the Japanese Restaurant that doesn’t serve miso soup… I had hibachi chicken and rice. Fairly healthy. No major derail. I went lightly on the yum-yum sauce (while Stasha had a little shrimp and rice with her bowl of yum yum sauce!) – which I *think* is mayonnaise based and used more of the ginger sauce which seems to be healthier. Not sure but it seems to be. I had my snack as planned BUT… when I got home… I decided to reward my son who has been so cooperative with our new eating plan. A big bag of chips that I bought the day before Christmas has gone unopened and he has chosen instead to enjoy oranges and kiwi and star fruit and tuna wraps and grilled chicken and salmon. He’s doing a great job and he looks thinner. So we… um… well… you see… we ….

Ordered pizza for dinner. And garlic bread. And as a “thank you” from our small town pizza place… they sent a free order of breadsticks. SOOOooo. I had two pieces of cheese pizza, a piece of garlic bread and a breadstick. An unscheduled deviation from plan but… would you believe that I got up this morning and was down a pound from yesterday? Crazy.

I did, however, notice that I had a harder time going to sleep last night. Without a doubt it was all those carbs… got me sugared up… I didn’t sleep as well… woke up at 3:30 and again at 5:30. So… yeah. I’m not beating myself up over it… we’re eating 90-95% healthy… an occasional pizza is ok. Once a month instead of once a week. I’ll have to look at some healthy way to make pizza. He’s been really receptive of the other small changes – such as brown rice instead of white rice.

Austin was complaining about his jeans being too tight and I sorta just ignored him. His autism makes him super sensitive to how things fit and – although you might not be able to tell by looking at him, the little ragamuffin – he’s really picky about his clothes. Obsessive might be a better word. My dad found some golf shirts for him that he LOVES because they’re a softer knit than usual. He wears those all the time… sleeps in them even because they’re so soft. He wears only soft sided shoes – can’t stand leather – so they wear out quickly. He’s very particular about his shoes. He has certain jeans that in his head are designated “nice jeans” that he will only wear on special occasions. He can be completely out of clean laundry and he’ll wear dirty laundry instead of wearing the nice jeans in a situation that he doesn’t deem worthy. Crazy kid. Anyways… yesterday when he complained about his jeans being too small I caved and said, “fine. I’ll go buy you a new pair today”. Totally not in the budget but… what can you do? I had him turn around so I could see the tag to see what size was too small so I knew what size to go up to and… he had Cody’s jeans. Which are smaller. Duh.

Been another busy morning. My head is spinning. I love my job and I love when the days go by fast.

I got an email about our disaster relief certification next weekend. I am SO excited about this! We have a meeting about it after church on Sunday to discuss travel arrangements and lodging. I guess I better figure out what to do with Austin overnight. Maybe he can stay with Devin. (just called and left message for Devin’s mom) (she just called back and said he could stay with them! Yay! That’s a relief! Austin will be soooo excited!) There are several people going for the certification that I really enjoy so I’m looking forward to spending time with them.

So far today I’ve had ½ a pomegranate, 1 cup of fat free greek yogurt and 1 tablespoon of milled flax seed. YUM! I skipped snack – was too busy – but was still really full from breakfast. Have I mentioned how much I love pomegranates?

I’m not going to talk about what I’m eating the rest of the day. Apparently my plans change often. But… unless something changes in the next twenty minutes I’m having pinto beans and brown rice with celery, peppers and onions for lunch… with a fresh tomato.

And now it’s a done deal. The pintos, rice and tomato were awesome. A perfect and filling lunch! Yay!

I’ve been reading a lot about Tim Tebow’s controversial “pro-family” Super Bowl commercial…. And how it has no place at a sporting event. I’ll wager that the bulk of the commercials aired that night will have sexual undertones. What does sex have to do with football? Or beer? Or for that matter, the majority of the things that will be advertised – what was the big one? Godaddy.com? – what do websites have to do with football? Why do I, as a Christian, have to accept everything the world wants to expose me to… yet non-Christians have to be insulated from anything remotely biblical? It’s ridiculous.

There’s this huge “no hate” campaign to promote acceptance of homosexuality – and you know I love me some special gay people in my life. I don’t hate. But my rainbow love doesn’t change God’s word. I don’t hate people who have had abortions – but it’s still a sin. I’m sick of having to accept what the world has to offer and having MY faith and my beliefs and my God and my bible be mocked and discarded and shunned or referred to as hate.

You ain’t never felt loved until you’ve been loved by a group of God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians. Not the self-righteous people who play church… but people who truly follow the Lord. My very survival has come only by the grace of God and through the love of my Christian brothers and sisters. There are people in my life who might have been in a better financial position to help me… but instead it was the hard working, blue collar, living paycheck to paycheck saints who made sure we kept our heads above water... who sent me walmart gift cards and anonymous donations... who paid bills I couldn't pay and bought things I couldn't afford to buy. It was the people at the church who cried with me... picked me back up... dusted me off... made sure I had what I needed... didn't judge me for being poor... didn't judge me for being divorced... didn't judge me for being sad or weak or sick or lonely... they just loved me. Talk about no hate... there's no hate in TRUE Christians.

AS YOU KNOW… I adore Timmy and think he’s going to do amazing things for the cause of Christ. I have watched his career with great interest – not just because I love to see the Gators win – but because I love to see the example he sets of a compassionate Christian young man who lives his life according to the will of God. Anyone who attacks Tim Tebow and what he believes, attacks me.

Well… lunch is about over. Gotta regain my focus and try to sell some stuff this afternoon. I have a great prospect from this morning but no big ticket policies. Gotta put my telemarketing hat on and start ringing some phones. Good times.

Hope you all have a Wonderful Wednesday!