Time for Health

I just finished putting together a pot of my favorite vegetable soup. It is soooo good--even people who aren't veg soup fans seem to like it! I got the recipe from Weight Watchers some years ago, but since the original was rather bland, I added some things to spice it up and give it more flavor, and boy does it! It makes a ton of soup, seems like it lasts forever, and is both economical and tasty.

But the main thing about this vegetable soup is that whenever I make it, I seem to re-set my attitude towards healthful behavior. Which is exactly what I need at this time of year. It's time to be finished with the excesses of the holidays--chips & dips, rich desserts, cheesy casseroles--all the things that I do so love but that do NOT love me back! I can feel my clothes getting snug and the scale inching upwards, and I know that it's time.

Time to get back to Weight Watchers and the "paid accountability" that it gives me. Time to start pushing more at the gym and maybe take advantage of the pleasant weather to walk a bit more. Time to write out menus and become a little more focused on "fresh" at the grocery store and less on "quick."

It's funny, I've always heard people say (and even said myself), "There's a skinny girl inside me just waiting to get out." Well, I've learned (the hard way) that there is a fat chick on the outside who can't wait to get back inside me--and I'm determined to keep the door locked!

But as much as I want to get (and keep!) the weight off, what I really want is to keep focused on health. With a family history of diabetes and heart disease, the only way to fight those battles is to eat right, exercise, and keep my weight under control. And when I see my mom having to test her blood and give herself insulin shots every day, the importance of this goal becomes more evident.

Well, that and the fact that I really, really don't want to buy clothes with X's and W's on them anymore! OK, so I am vain. Could be worse.

Not much, but it's a start

Having been challenged to give blogging a try, I am about ready to stick my big fat callused (but very nicely painted) toe into the blogging pond and hope that it does not get snapped off by an alligator!

So, what does one say on a blog? Any damn thing you want, I'm told, as long as it's not illegal, immoral, or fattening (and only the last one is really forbidden, I think).

Following good journalistic principles, then, I suppose I should start with the basics: who-what-when-where-why.

• Who? On the cusp of my 5th decade, I play several roles: wife to a wonderful man, daughter, mother of two grown children and stepmom to three more, and Mimi to four adorable grandchildren. Also, I am a part-time graduate student studying sociology, public policy, and political economy.


• What? I think I want to use this blog to make sense of my life...ponderings on the world I live in--relationships, school, work, whatever.


• When? I can't guarantee that I'll write every day, but I'll try to be consistent at least.


• Where? I live in a mostly affluent, aging suburb of Dallas. Lots of socioeconomic contradictions here!


• Why? For more than eight years I have been in school, first at community college, then on to the university, and finally to graduate school. Nonstop, every semester. Even summers, mostly. And I've realized that in the process I've lost a piece of myself...my heart, my love for people, for my family, and even for my God, has gradually gotten a little colder, hardened by the passionate pursuit of knowledge, achievement, and grades. This is a sad situation that I want to change! Also, I've always enjoyed writing, but the requirement to produce academic papers has snuffed out the pleasure I once found in playing with words. I want to regain that piece of my life, and in the process, hopefully exchange that "heart of stone" for a "heart of flesh," as it says in Ezekiel 36:26.

So I guess that's a start. Who knows where it will go from here? I don't know, but I am going to keep my eyes open for alligators!