Wednesday Word of the Week Balance

Merriam-Webster states that Balance means:

Main Entry: 1bal·ance
Pronunciation: \ˈba-lən(t)s\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Vulgar Latin *bilancia, from Late Latin bilanc-, bilanx having two scalepans, from Latin bi- + lanc-, lanx plate
Date: 13th century

1: an instrument for weighing: as a: a beam that is supported freely in the center and has two pans of equal weight suspended from its ends b: a device that uses the elasticity of a spiral spring for measuring weight or force

2: a means of judging or deciding

3: a counterbalancing weight, force, or influence

4: an oscillating wheel operating with a hairspring to regulate the movement of a timepiece

5 a: stability produced by even distribution of weight on each side of the vertical axis b: equipoise between contrasting, opposing, or interacting elements c: equality between the totals of the two sides of an account

6 a: an aesthetically pleasing integration of elements b: the juxtaposition in writing of syntactically parallel constructions containing similar or contrasting ideas

7 a: physical equilibrium b: the ability to retain one's balance

8 a: weight or force of one side in excess of another b: something left over : remainder c: an amount in excess especially on the credit side of an account9: mental and emotional steadiness

We need to find balance in this journey, or we'll drive ourselves and each other crazy!

Challengers Weigh IN!!!

Challengers it's time to weigh in again. Send your stats to getfitafter40 at aol dot com.

This week in the comment section I want to hear what has been the easiest for you on this challenge so far..

Go ahead I dare you tell me the easiest thing..

Road Trip Again

In just a few short hours I will get on the road with Cousin Hillbilly as she likes to call herself here in blog land with me, and drive to TN.

I'm still trying to adjust to the time zone change.

Water is not what it should be, but will be improving I'm sure. I do crave it..Is that possible to crave water? And did I just say that? I was tempted today to have a soda/pop..but didn't give in..I have given myself permission to eat whatever on this trip that I want to get the urge/craving/whatever out of my system..If I gain, I can lose. If I lose it's just an added bonus.

I enjoyed her family's cooking today, kept it in check for portion control. I didn't eat as many veggies as I should have, but ate a lot of fruit today. Tasted my first gooseberry yesterday. Those buggers are tart!But I kept grabbing at them and eating more, so I must have liked them. Ate watermelon cantaloupe, and banana. Ate a small corn on the cob. Tried some of her dripped beef, and pulled pork, potato salad, and tried a cookie, and small bites (I think 4 pieces or 5) no bigger than my thumb of something called Texas Sheet Cake..I made 1 egg, and 2 pieces of Canadian bacon with oj this morning. Yesterday was 2 eggs, 1 c hash browns for breakfast, and a banana for dinner. I wasn't going to pay $11.00 for a chicken salad on the plane that was the size of nothing. Airway robbery!

My cousin and her family have been an absolute gem. She took me out today to a historical battlefield, and then to a couple of cemeteries to show me where her husbands family is laid to rest. I could eat this stuff up all day and she wants to know if I'm bored.

I could get lost in mazes of books, original documents, and letters that speak of my family's ancestors, and then to walk the places they walked. Breathe the air they may have. See the trees, the grounds, the homesteads, the creeks. I have never seen wild strawberries before. I saw them in a cemetery she took me too today, sprouting up all over the place.

I have never seen a Mimosa Tree before and saw the blossoms of one on the ground..Pink..It reminded me of Dr. Seuss's Characters with the fluffy heads..(then I thought of MizFit) I did take pictures of the tombstones but didn't think of taking pictures of the Mimosa Blossom until it was too late.

I am anxious to get to our destination, and begin digging into the papers that have been archived and saved to learn about my g-g-great grandfather and his family before him. I am anxious to walk the land where we learned they came from. I am anxious to see what they called home.

I swear at times I have been living in the wrong place. I mean I do love my home and all because that is where my family lives. But I also love been here, and I've only been here twice. But it feels like home. There is so much history here. There are so many battlefields here. And the old homesteads. I try to learn more about it every time I come. I can see why they like it here and call it home.

Well I best scoot off to bed..5am will be here soon enough.

Wheels are Spinning to Nowhere

Do you ever feel like you are just spinning your wheels and going no where fast?

I sit here and look at the calendar refusing to change it to the month of July. I look to the sidebar, I'm so far behind where I was last year this time last year. So why can't I seem to get it together.

I set goals. Finances seem to be detouring me from some. While others seem so far ahead. Too far. I made plans. Didn't finish them. I started projects. I quit..

These last 6 months, have just been losing, gaining, losing, gaining the same pounds, the same inches, the same thoughts.

What is different about my mentality these 6 months compared to last year? Why is it so different? The ultimate goal was to lose the weight, become healthy, and become fit. Have I lost sight of this? Have been to preoccupied by blog creativity? Too preoccupied by the house, the kids, the hubby, the grandma? Too preoccupied with how to do it, rather than just doing it.

The kids have been home two weeks and of those two weeks I have hardly been home. On the go, traveling, and then back here on the go running errands. Not what was planned a month ago.

In the barrage of finding dead family, I'm seriously going to be thinking of what I need to do to make these next six months count. I will not end the year, as I have these last 6 months.

Fruit Plants

Blueberry

Blueberry

Tomato

Tomato

Strawberry

Strawberry

1 out of 3 allergies isn't bad..(Allergic to strawberries)

Can't wait for the tomatoes and blueberries to come in..

Wednesday Word of the Week Denial

Merriam-Webster defines Denial as:
Main Entry: de·ni·al

Pronunciation: \di-ˈnī(-ə)l, dē-\

Function: noun

Date: 1528

1: refusal to satisfy a request or desire

2 a (1): refusal to admit the truth or reality (as of a statement or charge) (2): assertion that an allegation is false b: refusal to acknowledge a person or a thing : disavowal

3: the opposing by the defendant of an allegation of the opposite party in a lawsuit

4: self-denial

5: negation in logic

6: a psychological defense mechanism in which confrontation with a personal problem or with reality is avoided by denying the existence of the problem or reality

— in denial : refusing to admit the truth or reality of something unpleasant

Denial is such a strong word that represents the truth and lies we tell ourselves. Denial represents aspects of our journey that we refuse to face until it may be too late, or until we can't move forward until we move past this. Denial that we are eating according to plan, and oh by the way we forgot to count those tastes, bites, or samples. Denial that we are exercising a minimum of 30 minutes and getting in a good sweat, working in our target heart rate zones. Denial that we are working on our mental or spiritual aspect of our journey..Did we erase the negative tapes that play over in our head. Did we say something positive about our journey to ourselves? Did we compliment ourself? Denial that some of our supporters could be our number one saboteurs. Denial that we allow our eating buddies to dictate our food choices because we are too weak? Denial that we have food buddies? Denial that friends could be jealous of our success. Denial that our family could be jealous of our success..Denial we are not scared of our own success. Denial that we are addicted to food. Denial that we are emotional eaters. Denial that we are stress eaters. Denial that we use food for any reason to eat or celebrate.

Look into your denials and work with them and through them.

Door Prize #2 Contest

Alright Challengers.

Here's a fun, easy challenge for you.

Ground Rules.

Leave a comment and link back to your blog with a picture of your "UGLIEST SCALE" on your blog..

Oh and to prove it's your scale? You have have to have your blog name written on a piece of notebook paper and have it in the photo with the scale.

I'll pick the top 5 ugliest scales and then I'll put a poll on the blog let you vote for the ugliest scale for the month of July.

The winner will be announced August 1st!

Show Me Your Scales!