Catch 22

I currently find myself in a catch 22......

I stopped smoking at the beginning of July (with the help of champix).  Already overweight this problem has been heightened with the slowing down of my metabolism.  My eating habits worsened the first week or two but are back to normal now.  So a bit of dieting and exercise are in order.
However I just CANNOT get into a dieting mindset. Probably because I know that it's not dieting alone that is gonna solve this problem - it never is!!! I need to exercise.  I need something that is cheap (preferably free) close by and something I can do with my daughter.  So we tried jogging together in the local park and I made my back problem worse for my effort  :-s  herein lies my catch 22 - my weight is worsening my back problem and my back problem is stopping me from exercising!!!!

What I need to do is diet anyway, get on top of my physio exercises and hope and pray that that will make enough difference to allow me to exercise properly again.  Swimming would be good but I'd need a babysitter & someone to go with regularly (yes I'm a coward in a costume!!) and I have neither!!!  Pilates is also recommended but with an instructor who can tell me which exercises to avoid.  Still, both are things for me to think about  :-)

Today, then,  saw the return of my physio exercising and a new determined attitude to keep positive and to keep on trying. The important thing is that I keep looking forward and don't give up hope. I could look back to my past where the smoking kept my metabolism (and heart rate) high PLUS it curbed my appetite and was a welcome replacement for a bar of chocolate or a packet of crisps.  But THAT isn't really the answer is it?!!

So yeah, I aim to keep positive, hopeful and forward thinking - in this and in another thing or two....watch this space  ;-) 

 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Romans 15:13

Hmmmmm......

Tomorrow it will be 6 years since I, along with 4 other girls, reaffirmed my baptism vows.  Nancy had the idea to go over the beach after church just to think on that for a while.  So three of us went over.

Such a lot has happened since then in my life.  I've become a single parent; turned 40; changed jobs; Mam & Dad's health has really deteriorated; I've completed a Living Theology Today course; been really involved in the community church where I worshipped; moved to another church for a while (and did a lot of learning & attitude changing while there); said adieu to some very dear friends who've left the country; and am now getting ready to move back to the church where my walk with God all started - to where I was baptised as a child, made my commitment to Christ, got confirmed there, grew up there, got married there, served there as Sunday school teacher and youth worker as well as singing in the choir there as a child.  I'm not going to be 'Cathy's daughter' or 'Glenn's wife'. I'm going to be me. I'm going to be Lynda.

Sadly we lost one of our little quintet that got dunked in the surprisingly warm North Sea that day.  Lisa passed away earlier this year. Nancy, Steph & I thought about her as we stood on the beach this afternoon.  They too have seen many changes over the last 6 years, as has Pam, who couldn't make it today.

Life is always changing, moving on, leaving things behind & embracing new.......we can choose to fight against it or go with the flow.  I, for one, intend to dance wherever my Makers melody takes me...........  :-)

new day, new term, new year!!!

Today had been dreaded for a while, for more than one reason - my daughter was starting secondary school and my return to work after the hols was to a place I'd rather not be;  there were things I needed to sort with my parents later in the day that weren't going to be easy and Pog had asked for a treaty tea to celebrate her new start (this meant takeaway and I was skint barring a couple of pound).....but hey ho I took it all in my stride as I always do and was rewarded with a pleasant surprise or two......


After following our children in my friends car to make sure they arrived at their new school safely (not that we're paranoid parents you understand) they rumbled us when they took a wrong turning and we went looking for them; knowing our 2 this could have turned out badly with ensuing strops and sulks but they found it highly amusing and weren't buying for one moment that Michelle was just taking me the long way to work 'cos she needed to chat to me.......smiles all round thankfully :-)

The next pleasant surprise was arriving at work to find that I'm not working exactly where I thought I was going to be.......this, along with my daughter's school change, has been the one of the hot topics on my prayer list all all summer, for me to have peace, patience.......... and mercy!!!!

Things weren't quite as smooth when I arrived at my parents however.............when Social Services arrived to see how things were going Dad disappeared out the back gate under the pretense of hanging the washing; it wasn't until Claire wanted a word before she left that we discovered what he'd done!!!! At least he took today's walk while Mam wasn't alone in the house so no harm done really :-s  Next job: The paperwork I'd come to help him find surfaced within 5 minutes of our 'search' beginning; we managed to unexpectedly solve a couple of other minor problems and he's finally agreed to a helpful suggestion his daughters have been cajoling him with for the past week or two :-) result!!!

The only hurdle now was to provide Pog with her celebratory tea!!!

On arriving home I found £20 had been put through my door......an anonymous love gift or the wrong house?!!!! who knows.......but if anyone out there DOES know...thanks very much :-)

There is a God, and He is Good.............keep the faith ;-)