A Random Explosion of Groovy Thought

Ah, my friends, it has been much too long since I posted here. I've been busy, but not that busy. It's more that I've been in a writing funk. I've not even had any wandering thoughts that begged to be pinned down.

In other words, I've been more boring than groovy.

Fortunately, that's about to change! In fact, this post will probably be so chock full of flying thoughts that you'll need a butterfly net so you can catch and examine them. Maybe TWO butterfly nets!

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First of all, The BHE and I are trying raise money for the American Lung Association again. We're both planning to ride in the 180 mile Trek Across Maine - and this time I. AM. GOING. TO. FINSH. THE. RIDE!!!!!!!!

You can make your tax deductable (USA) donation with a credit card by clicking one of the donation links in my sidebar. You can also read more about our Trek preparations on my other blog: Groovy Trekkers: Suffering Pain for Others Gain

Training thus far has been limited to weight lifting, the treadmill, and snowshoing due to the copious layer of snow that is still on the ground here. But we'll get the bikes out soon. I promise you!

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I suppose, since I've started off by mentioning a hugely athletic event, this would be a good place to talk about dieting.

I hate dieting.

I love food. I hate limiting food and living by rules that say, "Don't eat this, Don't eat that, yadda, yadda, yadda..." I've eaten low fat, low carb, vegetarian, Mediterranean, "Flat Belly", no sugar, no processed, and all organic. I've counted carbs, counted calories, counted MUFAs, and counted fat. I'm "good" for about 3-6 days and then BAM, I'm back to me - eating what I want, when I want it (and too much of it). Twice I have lost 11 or 12 pounds (on low carb and Flat Belly) and been oh-so-proud, then....You guessed it. I got sick of eating by the "rules" and gained the weight back.

I know, I know, it's not about a "diet" it's about a "permanent lifestyle change". The problem is WHICH lifestyle? If the science keeps changing and the rules keep changing as to what's the healthiest way to eat, then how am I supposed to keep up?

They have told us that fat was evil. Now they tell us that fat is good, though there is some debate over which types of fat are beneficial. Some of them say, "Mono-unsaturated fats from nuts and olives ONLY". Others say animal fat is best. Now grains are evil (I've even recently read that corn is gonna kill us all) and sugar is worse. But I found this awesome ad in a 1968 edition of Woman's Day magazine:

I'm told that I should count calories -spend more than I take in and voila, I'll be lythe and lovely. Then moments later I'm told to NEVER count calories.

It's all starting to get to me!

I am working out quite regularly now, but the eating - OY! Truth is I'm only 15-20 pounds overweight. That's not bad, really. But those extra pounds DO weigh me down in long distance biking and in hiking with heavy gear for Search & Rescue. I'd really like to see them go. Permanently.

Sooooooo. I made donuts this morning. And they were yummy.

;-)

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And now, on to puberty. Not me, I've already been there. But both my very young girlies are there now. Silly-Head, at 9 and 1/2, seems unphased thus far - except that she has quit wetting the bed AND quit sucking her thumb. We are all doing the dance of joy on her behalf! (And fear not, she will not be embarassed if I write about this here. She does not read my blog.)

But Girly-Girl is 11 and she is in turmoil. She is asking questions of deep, emotional amd spiritual import pretty much every day. She struggles constantly with a HUGE sensitivity to sin - real or imagined. ie. She is constantly "confessing" to us. Little things, "I touched the kitchen counter, but I'm not sure if I washed my hands first." (???) and big things, "I was rude to so-and-so at my birthday party last August." or "I'm sorry, I wasn't listening to anything you or Dad just said."

I'm glad she has a tender heart, but she worries WAAAY too much. We've tried to reassure her and redirect her. We've looked up Scriptures on sin and confession and repentance. After all, when there IS sin, it needs to be dealt with. But most of her issues are with false guilt and mistakes and imperfections, not sin. We've prayed with her and remind her constantly that she's loved just the way she is and that we are proud of her. Nonetheless, she struggles.

She reads her Bible VERY faithfully and makes sure we all read ours as well. The BHE and I don't mind being reminded - we want to read the Word every day, but Silly-Head was starting to balk at her sister's well-meaning legalism and we had to tell Girly-Girl to back off.

Girly-Girl and I did go away for 24 hours or so. We stayed in a Bed & Breakfast and listened to Dr. Dobson's tape series Preparing for Adolescence. We also shopped and ate out and watched all 3 of the original Star Wars movies - though now she wants to know why we watched them when we believe young ladies should dress modestly and Leah was NOT dressed modestly in the scenes with Jabba.

I still have to deal with that one. But, the tapes and our ensuing discussions about thoughts and crushes and feeling insecure, etc. did help alleviate some of her thought tornadoes.

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Man, those donuts were GOOD!

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It's raining today. It rained most of yesterday and all night long as well. The trees and powerlines are covered with ice. I am praying we don't lose power. Without power we have no heat or water. We've looked at generators, but it seems like a lot of mony to spend for insurance against a possible power loss...

The ice is so beautiful and yet, so treacherous!

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OK, enough fluttering thoughts for one day. I need to work out and get the girls rolling with some schoolwork. I'm reviewing an educational site called Time4Learning. I need to plug the girls in so my review will be more thorough. I should be writing that quite soon, so stay tuned.

Oh, and before you leave, Have a donut. They're really yummy!