Tuesday, January 29, 2008

What's YOUR Beef?

What's YOUR beef? The ladies in the sauna today had much to gripe about. The sauna and steam room at our very upscale and very full of itself gym were down for 10 minutes. Ten minutes! I must tell you, dahling, the world was practically coming to an end!

I love my gym, don't get me wrong. We chose it because it was cheaper than joining both a gym and a pool separately. We got the two together for less than the total of each, plus we also have 24 hour access, indoor and outdoor pools and whirlpool spas, saunas and steam rooms (oh, you already knew that!), and a full fitness array...even a spa with all sorts of wildly priced pamperings from which to choose. It's an amazing place and everyday I go there I think I'm blessed, I'm lucky, and I'm wondering when they'll go bankrupt!

But, back to the beef! Now, these ladies seemed like nice gals, like caring souls, however THIS is their problem? The steam room and sauna issue?

Is it me, or does that seem a trifle trivial?

Pastors at my terrific church went to Kenya a while back and piped fresh water to the orphanage we sponsor there. Picture children laughing with glee and gulping down fresh, clean water pouring out for the first time. No more filthy, brown, disease-filled liquid in their glasses. Just fresh, pure original aqua God intended us to drink. I simply read the blog and saw the pics (jonathanbow.com) and I was moved to tears. Can't imagine being there and the joy that filled all those hearts.

But I'm off track again. The point is, how much of our life is made up of making OUR beef outta something small and inconsequential? How many times do we spoiled North Americans--as my Canadian friends like to lovingly lump us--gripe and moan about stuff we'll forget in a day...in an hour...in a few minutes?

If our discomfort with encountering injustice, poverty, et. al. ignites us to take action for the betterment of society, then what will spur on us coddled and indulged North Americans? Kinda makes me think that if what is rankling our souls is insignificant, our impact on this earth is going to be insignificant.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Cafeteria Christians

So my newly Reborn Virgin friend, we'll call her Sophia, confronted her boyfriend last week. Told him that she's taken the oath and won't be having sex until she's married. Seems the guy cut and run.

She's smiling as she telling me this--I just LOVE her!--and she says she keeps thinking about the part in my book where you're just supposed to say, "NEXT!" She's saying, "Next! next! next!" and nearly spilling her coffee she's so excited. The pain is there, yes, don't we ALL know that hurt? But, she's elated in her new found strength.

Here's the kicker: he's a Christian. A Christian man who won't give up casual sex, even when confronted by a fellow Christian. Hmmm...that's something to ponder for a while.

Too many Christians and other religious people are of the "cafeteria variety." By that I mean that they pick and choose the items they want to follow in their religion. No wonder atheists and agnostics have such an easy time slamming us. We don't even take our own religion seriously, so how can we expect it of others?

Unmarried single Christians who have casual or recreational sex are losing the loving and huge gift of abstinence from God. They don't understand the damage they are doing to themselves, their relationships and their children. It's sad that they don't have the support or knowledge that waiting for sex until marriage is a blessing. (Trust me, I KNOW this!)

What can I do to promote this? How can I reach more women and men who need to benefit from abstinence? I'm beginning a journey into the desert with this, and perhaps starting with the most needy: domestic violence and homeless victims. I'm tired of the brick walls I keep running into. There has to be a path here somewhere...

Friday, January 25, 2008

The 300 pound woman

Lunch was a chicken burrito. Yum. I slathered it in salsa and Tabasco with just a smidgen of sour cream (yes, the real stuff, and yes, only a TINY dollop). It was spicy...and cheesy...and satisfying...and it was over way too fast.

Before this self-imposed scarcity eating program (not to be confused with my self-imposed scarcity financial program), I would've chowed two or three of those nasty little buggers today for lunch. Instead, I had only one with sensible condiments. Is this how normal people eat? Wow.

Food for me has always meant two things: taste and volume! Comparing what I used to eat with what I'm eating now I'm really surprised, no, shocked that I'm not 300 pounds. Seriously, looking at the before and after serving size comparo, I should be needing the "special scale" at the doctor's office.

Well, it's nice to know that while all the dieting I've been doing over the past four years hasn't paid off in fitting back into my size 8 capris, at least I don't weigh more than my 6'4" XXL husband!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Diet and Toast

Oh, sure, it's not a diet, it's a LIVE-it! Blah, blah, blah...yuck.

How am I supposed to keep alive living on the small amount of food I'm alloted? I'm craving toast, fer cryin' out loud! How pathetic is THAT? Toast?!?!? Me, of lobster thermador and mousse au chocolate fame? Toast. Just gimme a piece of frikking toast!

It's day 3 of a massive undertaking to lose weight. Hubby and my hands were forced last week when the doctor finally put his stethoscope down firmly: 30 lbs for me, 60 lbs for hubby. ('Course, the way men and women lose weight, hubby will probably beat me to goal! Oi!)

We visited the Jenny Craig center on Monday and immediately signed up. We made a pact, hubby and I, to stay on the diet regardless of how awful the food until we reached goal--or most likely the rest of the year.

Surprisingly, the food is DELICIOUS!! Having done Nutrisystem in the past I was scared, but Jenny's food beats Nutisystem's by a long, long, long shot! The NS food made me gag, but Jenny is some kinda good cook, lemme tell ya. I hate to sound like an ad, but I would eat these meals if I were NOT on a di--uh, live-it! The food is THAT good!

And the toast? Well, just between you and me, it was delicious, too.