Dear Friends, Happy October! How time has flown as we now enter into the fourth quarter of the year. I’d like to share with you an update or review of 2018 and my word of the year “Ease”. When “Ease” was placed on my heart, I never knew what it would entail. At the beginning of the year, when I chose “ease” as my word, here is what I wrote
In thinking what EASE means to me, in my mind, ease doesn’t mean easy. Instead, ease means being a little gentler and kinder to myself. It means giving my cares to God and letting Him do His work in me. Ease means love. It means slowing down and seeing beauty. It means enjoying the moment, being present in the moment and giving thanks. Ease means saying no sometimes as well as the opposite in saying yes and acceptance. It means releasing; releasing the Bee club, releasing myself from addiction to sugar and releasing excess weight, releasing myself from clutter and releasing anxiety. Ease also means love; loving myself, loving my family and loving all who are in my life – which includes you. And finally it means to do all these things with out anxiety, guilt or anger. Ease has me rewriting my goals and plans for 2018.
I have truly been trying to appreciate each and every day. Our oldest daughter will say, “I have to get XYZ finished, not having it finished is causing me so much stress.” I’m sure she has picked that up from me. How I wish I would have taught her, yes, you do need to finish XYZ, but it shouldn’t cause you all the stress. It is the journey, the day-to-day we need to appreciate. The day-to-day is our life and every day holds value and goodness and although this sounds cliche, we need to ‘enjoy the journey.’ And enjoying the journey is what I’ve been trying to do.
I last updated you on April 3 and you can read that blog post here. You can see below what I had planned for the spring and summer and in red is what was actually accomplished or how I want to move forward.
I’ve lost 16 pounds – 14 more to go – I’ve lost another 8 pounds, 6 to go. I have found that eating sugar just doesn’t make me feel well. I crave it and then regret eating it afterwards because of how I feel.
Get out of the house more and be around those who share similar interests – I’ve enjoyed my monthly sewing club, see the mini quilt above. I took a Jelly Roll Rug class – Fun! I’ve attended the monthly local women’s business group when I could.
Continue exercise 3 times a week minimum – Most weeks.
Continue eating healthy – I do well for about a few weeks and then fall off the wagon, then do well for a few weeks and repeat.
Continue studying autophagy and try some occasional short-term fasting – I have tried fasting until 6:00 PM maybe 6 or 7 times. Then at 6:00 have a good sized healthy meal. I actually feel pretty good when I do this and a crazy thing is I’ve found I sleep really well on the nights that I do this. I continue to experiment with this, fasting until different times of the day.
Continue reading – I’m finished with my good books and need some more recommendations I don’t think I’ve read a single book since I last wrote this. I read a lot, just haven’t been reading books lately.
Spend regular time outdoors – the yard needs lots of attention now that winter is coming to an end. – Yes, but not as much as I would have liked.
Continue monthly applique classes at the sewing store – scheduled – Yes, unless I was out of town.
Attend Michigan Embroiderers Spring event – scheduled – Yes and that was so much fun!! And I will be speaking at the Spring 2019 event!!!
Attend a Kimberbell event – scheduled – It was cancelled.
Trip to Phoenix to see my in-laws – scheduled – Yes!
Weekend trip to Mackinac Island here in Michigan for our anniversary – scheduled – Yes! Such a wonderful trip and if any of you ever get the chance to go to northern Michigan I highly recommend it!
Host a dinner in our home everyone who went to the Holy Lands with us – scheduled – Yes, done!
Plan birthdays for my children – one in May, June and July – Yes, Done!
For my Embroidery It business
Blog more here – I’m feeling a calling to do more writing on this blog – I haven’t blogged as much yet I still feel compelled to blog more.
Continued monthly sew-alongs – Yes!
Continued free weekly alphabet letters – Yes!
Plan the Embroidery It Birthday Party – Embroidery It turns 4 on June 20th – Nope…Sigh. There was too much going on at that time. I considered postponing it but even that didn’t happen. I created several designs for it and I’m thinking I’ll just hang on to them until next June. I’ll be ahead of the game.
Plan to have new designs out every couple of weeks – For the most part.
Continued caring for my family and my mom’s needs – Yes
Other things that happened since April that were not originally scheduled have been:
Christy Wright was in Grand Rapids and I attended her Business Boutique conference
Restarted Weight Watchers
Bathroom remodel
Drove mom to Kansas City for my Niece’s graduation
Attended an Anita Goodesign event
Our oldest daughter Katie became engaged – Wedding July 2019
Had various family members visit
Two short trips – one to Kentucky and another to Hershey, PA with one day to Washington DC
Moved two of the kids back to college
It has been a lot, and I’m trying to enjoy each moment and each day. It’s the journey friends. It’s life and I’ve only been given one, so I better use it the best I can.
Now in moving forward, here is what’s on the docket.
Lose those last 6 pounds
Continue to get out of the house monthly for a sewing or embroidery event or class – I have a great local store and I found an amazing fabric/sewing store in Lansing, MI which is only an hour drive.
Continue to exercise 3 times a week minimum and walk daily
Continue to do my best to eat healthy
Try to get outdoors every day to either walk or spend time in the garden while the weather is nice
Host an Oktoberfest party for hubby’s co-workers
Become a certified barbecue judge – Random I know, but hubby wants to do this, especially when he retires so I’m going to get certified with him so we can do this together.
Attend the Michigan embroiderers Fall event
Continue playing handbells at church
Hosting Thanksgiving at our house for my brother and his family.
Hosting Christmas at our house with my in-laws visiting.
Continue caring for my mom’s needs.
Plans for Embroidery It this year
Blog twice a week
Continue sew-alongs but increase to 2 times monthly (one new design, one past design)
Continue YouTube videos
Free weekly alphabet letters
A new design every couple of weeks
A Christmas embroidery event
Future plans for Embroidery It
Write a book – I’d like to compile all the sew-alongs into a book. I have no idea how to do that but I can learn.
Friends, this is my wrap up over the last several months. As we enter into the last three months of the year, I plan to both finish strong and continue to embrace “ease” while enjoying the journey.
Happy April to all of you. I hope your Easter Sunday was full of blessings and a beautiful day for all. Our children were home from college and we had my mom over for Easter brunch and early dinner. We celebrated in church where I got to play the handbells and had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. They never get to old. 🙂
We are now in the second quarter of the year and it is good to reflect how things have been going and make any changes as needed.
My word for the year is Ease and when things seem to feel like they are getting out of hand, I bring that word back to the forefront of my thoughts. It hasn’t been a stress free quarter, but everything has been manageable with thankfully nothing spinning completely out of control.
One thing I told myself at the end of last year, I was going to do a better job taking care of myself. Since the year has started I’ve exercised at least three times a week, either going to the gym, walking, or joining my daughter at the YMCA. (The YMCA has been a lot of fun for us. I’m not a member but on Fridays during March she could bring a friend or family member for free). The closest YMCA is about 30 minutes from our home and is affiliated with rehab of one of our local hospitals. Emily receives physical therapy there as part of her recovery from her rollover car accident last July. (PS. She is doing so much better. She faces one final foot surgery this year and has been accepted into nursing school! God is so good!)
I’m eating better and have lost 16 pounds, 14 more to go. I’m determined to do this. I’m reading and studying about “Autophagy.” You can google it to find out more but it is basically a system in our body that clears away cellular waste and by doing things to activate it can improve our health.
I’ve tackled most of the furnace room – aka junk room. That area of our home was out of control and I’ve taken several loads to charity. It feels good to have space back and to move around there and find things.
Another big thing is I’ve been feeding my mind and reading much more than in 2017. I rarely read fiction. Most of what I read are true stories or business and self help books. I’ve actually already finished more books this year than listed here, but I’m sharing here only the best ones that I recommend and think you might enjoy as well.
Josiah’s Fire by Tahni Cullen – This book was recommended to me by my friend Michelle who owns Needle Little Embroidery. Oh my goodness friends, this boy is autistic and he writes on an iPad. He sees God, Jesus, angles and his story is just so amazing I cannot recommend this book enough. If you like books like Heaven is for Real and 90 Minutes in Heaven, you absolutely MUST read this book.
Believe Bigger by Marshawn Evans Daniels – I heard this woman speak on a podcast and just knew I had to read her book. She speaks about being open to God’s plan for our lives. I started to read this book and then started over as I knew I had to journal as I read it. There are so many nuggets in this book and it would be a good read for a book club.
Glow 15 by Naomi Whittel – This book speaks about the autophagy I mentioned earlier and speaks about the science of improving our health. Some of it I’m sure you’ve heard, but some of this is new to me and having been a nurse for many years I find anything with our health fascinating.
The Most Powerful Goal Achievement System in the World by Mike Pettigrew – When you are having trouble achieving your goals, this is the book to read.
Massive Action Equals Massive Results by Sunil Saxena – He says to believe you are capable of doing 20 times what you are currently accomplishing and suggests doing things like 30 day challenges, developing mini habits, setting a schedule, blocking uninterrupted time and believing in your goals.
Mini Habits by Steven Guise – This is an excellent book if you have a habit you want to create. There is a huge benefit of doing mini habits. They create success quickly and easily to propel you forward to even bigger habits.
Finish by John Acuff – If you are a starter and not a finisher, this is a must read. Lots of great suggestions on ways to get through the difficult part of any project and finish.
Anyway, if you are looking for a good read, I think all of the above books were just excellent.
A final area of my life I wanted to work on was getting out of the house more and to be around others who share similar interests. I signed up for a monthly class at a local sewing store. You can see the applique April egg in the photo above. We are gong through the months of the year making mini quilt blocks from the book Count on It – Art to Heart by Nancy Halvorsen. I’m also enjoying my weekly handbell practices at church.
So now moving into the second quarter of the year here are my plans.
Continue exercise 3 times a week minimum
Continue eating healthy
Continue studying autophagy and try some occasional short-term fasting
Continue reading – I’m finished with my good books and need some more recommendations 🙂
Spend regular time outdoors – the yard needs lots of attention now that winter is coming to an end
Continue monthly applique classes at the sewing store – scheduled
Attend Michigan Embroiderers Spring event – scheduled
Attend a Kimberbell event – scheduled
Trip to Phoenix to see my in-laws – scheduled
Weekend trip to Mackinac Island here in Michigan for our anniversary – scheduled
Host a dinner in our home everyone who went to the Holy Lands with us – scheduled
Plan birthdays for my children – one in May, June and July
For my Embroidery It business
Blog more here – I’m feeling a calling to do more writing on this blog
Continued monthly sew-alongs
Continued free weekly alphabet letters
Plan the Embroidery It Birthday Party – Embroidery It turns 4 on June 20th
Plan to have new designs out every couple of weeks
Continued caring for my family and my mom’s needs
Whew, that seems like a lot but really most is easy, fun and relaxing. I hope the first quarter of 2018 has been good for each of you and that you are following your path to reaching your goals for the year.
One thing I’m trying hard to do with healthy living is clean eating. But wow, there are so many different ideas as to what clean eating is. Some say no wheat or grain, some say no dairy, some say no meat. Makes my head spin. There are more books on clean eating than you can shake a stick at.
One thing I’ve learned in my life is that most everything should be in moderation. Any time we swing the pendulum to one extreme or the other we are usually asking for problems. Of course there are exceptions to this.
My definition of clean eating is that if it came from God, then it is good for me. I’m all about fruits and vegetables and trying to get more of them in my diet and to make them the majority of what is on my plate. I’m also for meat and dairy products. Finally I am for healthy carbohydrates but in moderation. No more of the food pyramid where we have been encouraged to eat 6 to 11 servings of grains. I’m personally limiting myself to one serving of a healthy carbohydrate a day. I’m also ok with healthy fats and oils but again sparingly or in moderation.
I’m also ok with one cup of coffee a day and stevia as a sweetener in it. Limiting myself to 1 cup, not 1/2 pot due to the atrial fibrillation. Yep, that was me.
I’m ok if my food is not organic. Costco sells quite a bit of organic fruits and vegetables and many times all they offer of a certain food is organic which is fine. I’m just not going out of my way to buy only organic or free range or all those other ‘supposed to be good for me’ foods at twice the price.
What I’m not ok with is sweets. This is an addiction of mine. I’m telling myself I can have one desert a week. Not one after every meal which I had been having. And if that one a week fires up my sweet tooth, I may have to consider eliminating it completely.
I’m not ok with processed or pre-made food with the exception of condiments. I’m not going to the trouble to make my own ketchup, mayonnaise, or barbeque sauce as an example. I am, however, making my own Thousand Island salad dressing. Recipe below as it is easy peasy. I’m also personally ok with milk, yogurt, cheese and butter in moderation.
I’m not ok with deep fried anything. I love French fries so this is another tough one. Boy-oh-boy my eating habits were just out of control.
I think we all need to look at what works best for our own bodies and take that into account when deciding what we will or won’t put on our plate.
And here is my Country Style Thousand Island Recipe I told you about. Just click on the picture to enlarge and then print it out to add to your recipe box.
It has been quite some time since I have updated you on my health. When it comes to doctors, sometimes it can be a very slow process. As you recall, a few months ago, February 10th, I went to the ER and my heart was in atrial fibrillation. They shocked my heart to get it back in a normal rhythm. You can read about it HERE if you are interested. I think/hope that things are finally coming to a conclusion here.
Since that time I had an echocardiogram and a stress test. Both of which came back normal. Thank you Jesus for that. In fact the cardiologist says my heart is fine. I still on occasion feel my heart ‘pop’ which I know to be a PVC because I watched it on an EKG so I know what that feeling is related to. The doctor is not concerned about the ‘popping’ and it has been occurring less and less. Again, thank you precious Jesus.
What I have been tested for lately is sleep apnea. I go in for another sleep study on the 26th of this month and they are going to fit me for a CPAP machine. Over 50% of people who have atrial fibrillation have sleep apnea and I am one of them. I’m actually looking forward to getting the machine because having the atrial fibrillation was so scary and I NEVER want to go through that again. I’m just praying now that the CPAP machine will forever solve the problem.
Friends. I heard this phrase and it has truly struck a chord with me. “We are not living longer, we are dying longer.” I am not in bad health, but I’m certainly not in excellent health either. I haven’t been to the gym since this heart episode and I still eat some foods that are unhealthy and you know I struggle with my weight. I’m at the point I would love to lose 30 pounds. You may remember reading in the past I wanted to lose 25 pounds. Now look at me.
Since hearing that phrase, “we are not living longer, we are dying longer,” I have had a change of mindset. I will be posting here at least weekly about my journey to better health. My posting here is not to bore you, as is a form of accountability for me. I also hope I may serve as an inspiration to some of you.
I finish off most of my blog posts with “be creative daily and live life beautifully.” Well, caring for ourselves with healthy habits is most certainly one way to live life beautifully. If you are on a journey of improving your health, I’d love to hear your story.
I raise my water glass with a toast, “Here’s to living longer.”
We are already through January. 1/12 of the way through the year! At the end of each month it is a good time to look back and to reflect. I hope in your reflection time you find you have made progress towards some of your creative goals.
Looking back at my schedule of creative plans is something I enjoy doing. It lets me see how far I’ve come and what I still need to do.
Take a moment to reflect back as well as to look forward. What worked for you last month? What didn’t? Did you enjoy your creative time? Use that knowledge in moving forward. What creative plans do you have for this month? How will they be fit into your calendar? How will you most enjoy your creative time?
For me, two things that really worked were scheduling creative time on the calendar and daily journaling. I journaled 23 out of 31 days and it became a great way to process thoughts which in turn helped my productivity immensely. Because of such good results, you better believe I plan to continue scheduling and journaling.
Here are some of the creative things I made during January.
I embroidered two shirts for Mike’s birthday. Both designs came from Designs by Sick.
A Valentine Treat Bag for Emily with her sorority letters. My own creation.
I have also found a new quilt shop here in Grand Rapids!!!!! Yippee!!!! It was total eye candy. I am hoping to take a class that will be in April which will be a lot of fun.
Another thing I did here in January which relates to creativity is I joined a local group of business women entrepreneurs that meet monthly. It’s nice to get out of the house and share ideas with others in person. It’s easy for me to stay at home–too much so I need to make a real point of getting out of the house more. I came home from the January meeting fresh and inspired and look forward to our next meeting.
If you would like to look back and refresh yourself on any of the A New Year, A Creative New You posts, you can find them here:
I hope you are all doing well this summer. This morning it is a cool, rainy day here in Michigan but I am hopeful the sun will come out this afternoon. I’m trying to grab hold of all the summer days we have left as I know it will be only a few short weeks and the beautiful green leaves will be turning bright yellow orange and red.
Now that my travel is over with it is time for me to hit hard back with my weight loss journey. This past week I’ve been back to the gym every day. I went to Weight Watchers on Saturday and I am also following the Daniel Plan in conjunction with Weight Watchers. It is a Christian lifestyle program based on Faith, Food, Fitness, Focus and Friends.
From my original weight, I am only down 8 pounds now. At one point I was down 14 pounds. Oh how they can quickly come on when we are out of our routines. Anyway, now I know I will have a stretch here where I can focus on healthy eating and exercise and I am truly trying to turn some of this into good habits. Portion control and sweets are both my downfall.
If any of you have tried the Daniel Plan or are using it currently, shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment. I’d love to hear how you are doing.
Forward Strong Goals and Happy New Year from Embroidery It
Dear Friends,
I’m sending very Happy New Year wishes to each of you. May 2014 be a year of health, peace, joy and prosperity for us all. God is great and may he bestow an abundance of blessings on each of us.I wrote in a previous post HERE that during 2013 my focus was on the word SHINE. I mentioned that this has been a year of service for me. I feel that 2014 is to be a year to care more for myself and I have felt the words FORWARD STRONG placed on my heart a few weeks ago.
Our son Timothy and beagle, Cindy moving forward strong.
I always write goals down each year in all areas of my life. Some of these goals overlap into different areas so you will see some listed more than once. These are not what I consider resolutions, but they are things for me to work on throughout the year. I don’t beat myself up if I fall short in attaining them, it just gives me something to focus on. It helps me move Forward Strong to have goals and know what I am to move towards. I also think that sharing them helps me be more accountable in accomplishing them so here goes:
Family Goals
Spend quality time with family when they are home. Say ‘yes’ to family games and movies.
Visit Katie and Emily twice a year
Home Goals
Remove paper from the home and keep remaining paper organized (#1 goal and more on this below)
Tidy home daily
Clean home weekly
Grocery shop one time a week- instead of several times a week
Menu plan weekly
Go to bed with a clean kitchen
Spiritual Life Goals
Continue habits of Daily Audio Bible and weekly adoration in addition to Sunday church
Become actively involved in the women’s group at church
Read St. Faustina’s Diary
Attend a women’s retreat like Captivating
Notice God’s blessings daily
Finance Goals
Pay bills every Thursday
Pause before making purchases
Balance checkbook and reconcile credit card statements monthly
Friendship Goals
Become actively involved in the women’s group at church
Join Crafters with a Cause
Maintain monthly contact with friends from New Mexico and other locations we’ve lived
Grow online friendships on this blog
Creativity Goals
Take one art class or attend a quilt guild meeting – monthly
Learn a new craft
Learn to digitize embroidery designs
Knowledge Goals
Learn a new craft
Learn to digitize embroidery designs
Learn to set up a true website
Business Goals
Follow written business plan and get my business up and running (stop talking and start doing here)
Create a true website
Learn to digitize embroidery designs
Blog 2 times a week
Listen to Entrepreneur on Fire
Develop a newsletter
Create a contact list
Personal Goals
Clean eating
10,000 steps a day
Classical stretch daily
weekly creative time
Community and World goals
Choose a cause to support
Blog
YouTube videos
Women’s group at church
My all time #1 focus goal this year is to get the paper out of the house. I mean ALL paper. If it doesn’t get out of the house then there better jolly well be a place for it. When I look at this house I see WAY too much paper and that includes books, magazines, cards, receipts, trash, mail you name it. This is going to be hard because I enjoy paper crafting and I also enjoy journaling with paper and pen, but if I don’t have a specific space for paper, then I’m going to do my best to get it out of here. I have a real weakness for purchasing magazines when I go to the store. It stops now.
This may seem like a lengthy list, but I think it is good for me to stretch myself. If I would reach all my goals, then I don’t feel I would be stretching myself enough.
It is a good feeling to look back at this list several times a year to see what has been accomplished. Then I also need to see what goals need to be modified and what goals need to be scrapped. It is a fluid list and subject to change and I’m quite ok with that. Last year I hit about half of my goals. This year with my focus being on FORWARD STRONG, I am focusing more on myself which means focusing more on my goals.
As I said before, God is Great and He wants great things for us. God has given each of us gifts that He wants us to use for His good here on earth. By moving Forward Strong, I plan to be using my gifts and talents for the betterment of my life and the lives of others.
Please know I am praying for greatness for each of you in 2014.
With much love and blessings,
Happy New Year,
Nancy
Dear Friends,
If you remember my focus this year is to SHINE. You can read more about that HERE.One of the things in my life that has been lacking is to “shine” upon myself and to really care for myself. I need to lose some weight and get my blood pressure in check. I’ve made a focus in working to get in 10,000 steps each day and to really change my eating habits to real or natural foods.
Let me begin by saying that since December 29th I’ve lost 8.5 pounds. I want to lose a total of 25.
With Emily, our middle child who is 17, having dealt with Lyme’s disease as well as Hashimoto’s disease, she has made radical changes to her diet. She is quite disciplined as she knows how much better it really makes her feel to eat foods in their natural state. I’ve always felt nutrition is important, but it has been a weakness of mine to reach for the sweets (after every meal) and I love bread. Emily has been a huge source of inspiration to me.
I’ve done my best to cut out as many processed foods as I can. My next step is to make more of my own salad dressings. I’ve cut out most all simple sugars (candy etc.) and have cut way back on the complex sugars (rice, oatmeal, bread). In fact, I’m limiting the complex sugars to one meal a day. Finally I’ve basically eliminated anything fried as well. I’ve given myself a one meal a week as a freebie or a treat meal in which I can have a dessert. Side note here: I used to work as a nurse at a weight loss center. I know what to do, it is just the mind set of DOING it that is difficult.
For the last couple of months I’ve been wearing my pedometer. It is surprisingly difficult to get 10,000 steps in each day. If it is a quiet day, I’ll normally get 4,500 to 5,000 steps. If it is a clean the house day I get in about 6,000 steps. If it is a shopping day I get in about 7,000 to 8,000 steps. This means I have to do some intentional walking/exercise each and every single day.
I’m doing it. I’m working hard to care for myself. I’m worth it. I’m shining.
Go Through the Bible in One Year as a New Year’s Resolution
Happy Happy New Year to You!!!
Dear Friends,
I hope today, wherever in the world you are that it is a BEAUTIFUL day! Happy New Year!
I’m talking today about the Daily Audio Bible as this is my third year to go through the Bible in audio form. It NEVER gets old. Since I was a little girl, I’ve had Christ in my life, but going through the Bible has changed my life forever and I’m truly blessed.
Brian Hardin reads a passage in the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs each day. Then he applies it to our lives today and finally callers who have called in with prayer requests or praise reports previously on a recorded line have their requests and praises played. It is a privilege to get to pray for them, who I consider my Daily Audio Bible family, and they have prayed for me too. What a blessing to know that hundreds of thousands of people are praying and joining together.
If you’ve thought you would like to go through the Bible in a year as a New Year’s resolution, consider listening to it. Brian’s voice is comforting and he is so knowledgeable. On occasion his family is on the air as well. His wife Jill helps him and two of his children record Daily Audio Bible Kids. It is precious.
So Friends, during 2013 and beyond:
May the Good Lord bless you and keep you,
May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you,
May He lift up his countenance on you and give you peace,
May the strength of God go with you,
May the wisdom of God instruct you,
May the hand of God protect you,
May the word of God direct you,
May you be sealed in Christ this day and forever more.
