Tuesday recap

<b>That stomach thing</b><br />I'm pretty sure the stomach bug I had was actually food poisoning from a nectarine or raw spinach that I ate Sunday morning. I could be wrong, but after reading about food poisoning it sounds like that was what happened. I don't think I was contagious. My husband didn't get sick (he didn't eat spinach or a nectarine).<br /><br />Today was much better and by this afternoon the only thing wrong with me was my broken wrist.<br /><br />Enough said about my health.<br /><br /><b>Shopping</b><br />About my crazy shopping trip yesterday where I tried on at least 30 pairs of pants. This was brought on by three weeks of watching several re-runs of "What Not to Wear" when I was home with my first cast. After gaining back almost fifty of my eighty pounds lost, I had become a What Not to Wear "before", a worst-dressed woman. I only worked three days last week and looked like a bum every day.<br /><br />For the past year I've barely bought any new clothes because I was going to lose thirty pounds, and get back into my size 10 and 12 clothes. That obviously didn't happen. If I did buy clothes they were of poor quality because this weight was just temporary. Just for the record, I really hate clothes shopping. It's like being tortured, especially shopping for pants.<br /><br />Somehow I seemed to skip size 14's on my way up and down the scale. I have several clothes in size 12, a few 10s, quite a few in size 16, but hardly anything in size 14. Not sure how that happened.<br /><br />I had planned to shop Saturday, but I didn't have time. Then you all know what happened Sunday.  I just felt a need to try to look semi-professional at work. It makes me feel better if my clothes fit me. <br /><br /><b>Terrible sad news</b><br />I saw someone today I hadn't seen in a few months. I knew they were diagnosed with cancer the last time I saw them. We had a long talk today. The cancer they have isn't a good cancer. I know all cancers are bad, but some are worse than others. This one has a very low survival rate. Not good odds.<br /><br />As they were talking to me, telling me they thought they were going to die, I thought I was going to burst into tears. It hurts even more because they're young with young children. It broke my heart.<br /><br />You just never know when the rug is going to be pulled out from under you on something like this. This person was leading a very healthy lifestyle, totally fit, not at all overweight, didn't drink or smoke, ate healthy food, then Bam!, you've got cancer. You have to wonder how cancer picks it's victims.<br /><br /><b>My exercise</b><br />I don't really exercise that much. Some people might think I'm an exercise machine, but I'm really just average. I go to the gym on most days (made it there this morning), some days I am an exercise machine, but most days (like today) I'm just average.<br /><br />My workouts burn calories, work my muscles, but a lot of the time, they're nothing spectacular. I usually spend an hour working out, 30 minutes cardio, 30 minutes weights (or less if it's upper body since only one arm these days). Sometimes I'll do more, occasionally a little less. I'll never quit working out unless I'm bed-bound or dead. It's part of what I've done for 3 1/2 years and what I plan on doing forever. Just saying though, it's not a big deal. I probably talk about it too much so I sound like some big exercising person. I'm not. Just normal.<br /><br />Also, I know I can do a million squats and lunges, and I'll never get slim hips and thighs. It's not my body type. Big hips, big thighs, that's me,even if I did weigh 135.<br /><br /><b>Last thought of the night</b><br />Good night and have a great Wednesday. :)

Tuesday recap

That stomach thingI'm pretty sure the stomach bug I had was actually food poisoning from a nectarine or raw spinach that I ate Sunday morning. I could be wrong, but after reading about food poisoning it sounds like that was what happened. I don't thi…

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Live From Quito 6 (Part B) The End

In addition to the dramatic resolution of the crisis in Ecuador Central and taking the first step toward a major restructuring of the church, we adopted a pastoral teaching on the environment, particularly about how environmental degradation hurts the poor. A lot of the education sessions had been preparing us for this. It is incumbent on us to share what we learn. A pastoral teaching is one way to do that.<br /><br />As I look back over my descriptions of this time with the House of Bishops, I see that I have missed much of the quality and feel of what has been happening. The missing pieces are obvious. I have not told you that we celebrated the Eucharist together every day, that we began each day with Morning Prayer followed by Bible Study, that we stopped in the middle of each day for Noonday Prayer, that we ended each day with Evening Prayer, or that we said Compline once. I did not tell you of the special prayers said at other times for people in need or the many prayers of thanksgiving. I did not tell you of the moments of silence for disaster victims, for family members who died this week, for bishops who died since our lasr meeting.<br /><br />Scripture, prayer, and sacraments were, as always, the supporting structure of all we did. Simply, we continued in the fellowship of the Apostles, the breaking of bread, and in the prayers..<br /><br />A bishop is a bishop not because of personal gifts and talents. Nor is it enough that a bishop be elected. A bishop has to be plugged into episcopacy. That starts when three or more bishops consecrate him or her. But it does not end there. The authentic exercise of episcopacy depends on connection to the gathered assembly of bishops. Each individual bishop represents this body, which is immensely wiser and holier than any of us could ever be on our own.

Live From Quito 6 (Part B) The End

In addition to the dramatic resolution of the crisis in Ecuador Central and taking the first step toward a major restructuring of the church, we adopted a pastoral teaching on the environment, particularly about how environmental degradation hurts th…

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Chilla in Vanilla Milkshake

I made this AWESOME milkshake on Monday for a lunchtime treat.  If you love vanilla milkshakes, you will be sure to love this amazingness.  This is <a href="http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1255">Hungry Girl's version</a> of a vanilla milkshake, and I think I would honestly take this over the fast food version any day.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID660/images/hungrygirl123.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID660/images/hungrygirl123.jpg" width="163" /></a></div>I snatched up this recipe from her Hungry Girl 1-2-3 cookbook.<br /><br />I thought for sure that the vanilla ice cream and vanilla soymilk alone would be enough to form a substantial vanilla flavor, but with the vanilla extract and vanilla powdered creamer there is no doubting what flavor this is.  It is incredibly vanilla-y & I loved every single ounce of it.  <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkFBC2N5kObMrl86hRjaBW0M-7vyIXg0CCmn6MdR-r6o4suTIFnzk7E2RI4eqNplwmpf9EAsfRE2NCTp2TNZgYPkjY5fOAAp2SyT9SUVVeksWcYFdmLM0mzdFkgmK8JRECRIj2He3Ojn8/s1600/Milkshake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkFBC2N5kObMrl86hRjaBW0M-7vyIXg0CCmn6MdR-r6o4suTIFnzk7E2RI4eqNplwmpf9EAsfRE2NCTp2TNZgYPkjY5fOAAp2SyT9SUVVeksWcYFdmLM0mzdFkgmK8JRECRIj2He3Ojn8/s400/Milkshake.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Ordinarily I would be wondering how I could incorporate chocolate into this, which, of course, would not be difficult.  However, I loved it just the way it was - all vanilla, all the time.<br /><blockquote><b><u>Chilla in Vanilla Milkshake</u> - <i>4 Points+</i> </b><br /><i>Ingredients:</i><br /><ul><li>1/2 cup Breyers Double Churn Free Creamy Vanilla fat-free ice cream</li><li>1/2 cup light vanilla soymilk</li><li>1/2 tbsp. Coffee-mate Sugar Free French Vanilla powdered creamer</li><li>2 no-calorie sweetener packets (like Splenda or Truvia)</li><li>1/8 tsp. vanilla extract</li><li>1 cup crushed ice or 5 - 7 ice cubes</li><li>Optional: 2 tbsp. Fat Free Reddi-wip</li><li>Optional: maraschino cherry</li></ul><br /><i>Directions:</i><br />Place powdered creamer in a small dish, and add 1/2 tbsp. very hot water. Stir until powder dissolves, and then transfer mixture to a blender.<br /><br />Add all other ingredients except the Reddi-wip to the blender. Blend at high speed until completely mixed. Pour into your favorite glass and top with Reddi-wip. If you like, finish it off with a cherry!<br /><br />MAKES 1 SERVING</blockquote> Milkshakes/icecream are a huge weakness of mine.  Do you crave milkshakes too?

Weight Watcher Recipes Chilla in Vanilla Milkshake

I made this AWESOME milkshake on Monday for a lunchtime treat.  If you love vanilla milkshakes, you will be sure to love this amazingness.  This is Hungry Girl's version of a vanilla milkshake, and I think I would honestly take this over the fast foo…

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Live From Quito 6 (Part A)

The crisis in Ecuador Central was resolved today. The settlement is complicated but this is the crux of it: Bishop Ruiz, the Standing Committee, the Legal Representative, the Chancellor -- in short the entire diocesan leadership -- will resign, ceding all authority to the Presiding Bishop until they can have a convention to elect new leadership. Bp Katharine has appointed Bp Victor Scantleberry to serve as interim bishop and oversee a process of reconciliation.<br /><br />Coming to Quito was not easy. It was a long flight for many of us. Quito is the most dangerous airport in the world. One bishop was mugged yesterday. Today a bishop spouse was hospitalized with altitude sickness. A lot of us have been impaired to varying degrees by the altitude. But if our presence helped bring about this step toward peace, where before there were threats of violence, it was worth it. Though the crisis is past, the troubles here did not begin recently and they will not be resolved soon. But this was a big step. We gave our friend Bishop Luiz Fernando Ruiz a standing ovation. We laid hands on him, his wife Tanya, and their baby for healing at the closing Eucharist. You can see the toll this ordeal has taken on them.<br /><br />Today the new Chief Operating Officer of the Episcopal Center (815), Bp Stacy Sauls, made the case for a major restructuring of the the Church. We suffer from "death by governance" (Bishop Katharine). Up to 45% of the church budget goes to overhead. We have 75 standing commissions. He gave examples of ways to save millions of dollars from governance so we can redirect that money to mission and social ministries at the local level. We do not have a specific substantive proposal,but a proposed resolution for a special commission to create a restructuring plan to submit at a special convention. Note the point is not just to spend less. It is to redirect money and human resources from governance to mission, from centralized to local, while streamlining the governing bodies of the Church.<br /><br />The same goals are behind our proposed canon to merge our two diocesan governing boards. Western Kansas and some other small, financially challenged dioceses are dong the same thing this year.

Live From Quito 6 (Part A)

The crisis in Ecuador Central was resolved today. The settlement is complicated but this is the crux of it: Bishop Ruiz, the Standing Committee, the Legal Representative, the Chancellor -- in short the entire diocesan leadership -- will resign, cedi…

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Twenty pairs of pants later...

Around 3pm yesterday I finally started feeling better. A little bit nauseous if I I moved too fast or even thought about certain foods, but much more normal.<br /><br />Breakfast was an egg and Canadian bacon on a Thomas light muffin. Big mistake. It made me really sick (still makes me sick to think about it). Lunch was five low-salt saltines. Dinner was homemade chicken soup (leftovers). I went to bed hungry, but hunger beats nauseousness any day.<br /><br />Around 4 pm I tried to go to the gym, but only made it to the parking lot. I still didn't feel quite right, I was getting hot, sweaty flashes, then freezing cold. I decided it was probably a stupid idea to workout so I left.<br /><br />Then I decided to torture myself with a pants shopping trip to Macy's. My first trip into the dressing room with twenty pairs of pants (I could barely carry them all with one hand), and nothing fit right.<br /><br />I've noticed my fat has come back in different places this time. My hips and thighs seem bigger and my waist smaller. I've been this weight many times in my life, usually going up or coming down, but I don't remember having this problem of not being able to find pants that fit. 12's are too small and 14's are too big. I'm sort of wondering if it's my age. Gravity sucking everything down.<br /><br />I guess this means I need to do more lower body workouts, which are not my favorite. My old trainer told me everyone hates squats and lunges. You're working the really big muscles in the thighs and butt and it hurts. No kidding.<br /><br />I finally found two pairs of pants that fit me perfectly. This was on my third trip to the dressing room. By this time I was hot, sweaty, tired and a wee bit angry about trying on all these clothes and I didn't like anything. The brand that fit so well is Charter Club (I think it's a Macy's brand but not sure), and a style called Slim It Up. This is what is says on the tag: "Curves appear slimmer and firmer. Slim It Up with lockstitch control panels tummy appears flatter."<br /><br />I also bought three tops and a dress. I rarely wear dresses to work (or anywhere), but I think it would be fun to shock everyone with me in a dress.<br /><br />Almost 5 a.m. (yes, another bad night of sleep, up since 3:30 a.m.). I'm going to try the gym again, I feel better, just a little bit nauseous, but not terrible. No coffee this morning and no eggs (gross...what was I thinking?). Maybe saltines for breakfast. Then back to work today.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

Twenty pairs of pants later...

Around 3pm yesterday I finally started feeling better. A little bit nauseous if I I moved too fast or even thought about certain foods, but much more normal.Breakfast was an egg and Canadian bacon on a Thomas light muffin. Big mistake. It made me rea…

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