Tickle Me Senseless: Progress and Happiness

This week I have been doing a lot of listening to a teaching series by Nancy Campbell called Lovely Homes. You can find it in the online store at http://www.aboverubies.org/. In it she talks about the importance of the atmosphere of our homes, because not only do we and our loved ones live in them, but God takes delight in letting his presence rest in beautiful, fruitful, welcoming homes. So, I have been doing some work on my home ambience. I would love for my home to be a place of rest, warmth and welcome. I have also taken notice of a great example of this kind of atmosphere in the homes of one of my family members-- we dropped by my brother's house to visit him and my sister-in-law. They have two small children, and yet when you walk in their front door it is a beautiful, orderly, fragrant, and welcoming home. The lighting is warm, there's a rich smell of cinnamon (or one of those sweet/spicy fragrances), and there is plenty of space for sitting and visiting. I don't think that a delightful home must necessarily be completely spotless at all times. I think it's actually more comfortable to visit a home that feels lived-in. And anyone who gets the treat of enjoying my dear Rita's hospitality will be blessed by the atmosphere of her lovely home.

I have been inspired by my brother's home and have been making more of an effort in presentation. The fragrance part is hard when you have indoor cats, but I can look at it as boosting the economy through purchase of candles.

Another point of progress lately is that this morning my weigh-in heralded the loss of 30 pounds (according to the Wii) ! I have my next doctor appointment in about a month so hopefully I can lose a few more by then. I attribute my success to brownies. I have had them in the house for the last several days off and on, and their cooking makes the whole house sweeter. Also, I have switched to eating more fruit and wnole foods and less packaged snacks. I was proud of myself because the bread I bought and used for my sandwich yesterday was whole-grain, preservative-free bread. This is big for me because I am a white bread addict. I have also switched my go-to snack from chips and chocolatey granola bars to all-natural mozzarella cheese sticks. They have half the calories and 100% less preservatives and sugars.

David and I are still going to the gym at least 4 times a week. I have been working on building up my tolerance for the elliptical machines. They always looked like such fun, but just seemed too hard for me. I started with one minute at a time. I have slowly increased it by 10-second increments until now and last night I did 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Woo! And then I came home and had a brownie. (I also did an hour and a half of weight-lifting, walking, and stationary bike-reading, so please don't infer that weight loss will happen if you balance a pan of brownies with 2 minutes on an elliptical machine...)

This weekend David and I are going to go camping with some friends from church. This will be the first time ever for us to go camping together, so I am pretty stoked! We went and bought a tent for it and everything! We had to test the tent out, of course, so while my 3-year-old neice Kylie was over here we set it up in the backyard and had a little picnic in it. She thought it was great fun! Here are some pictures of our day with her: