Decorate To Feel Good

Dec. 23, 2007

Am pretty proud this year of decorations. It’s been a year to plan, to add more than usual to my usual red and green fare. At home I put red and gold “fake” holly and poinsettia among my aloe vera and Christmas cactus plants, and some gold garland arranged in a circle around knick knack sized angels situated on one corner of my TV stand (actually an old end table with a bottom piece under it for a VCR/DVD player). The always wide archway between the kitchen and living room is covered with xmas cards, thanks to good ol’ duct tape. Several colorful pot holders hang off the kitchen cupboard handles; a store bought snowflake, covered with silver sparkles, hangs over the doorway to our narrlow hallway. And the green and red garland borders our microwave stand. Isn’t that Christmasy?
Some people get stressed about decorating, but it’s really an individual thing. You can do as much or as little as you like. This year my husband and I decorated our church basement – everyone else was upstairs. We were able to string lights on a small fake tree with many limbs you attach. It looked pretty realistic from a distance, and the spouse accurately arranged the lights and decorations all around the little tree, which made it look big and grown up.
I put some starched snowflakes on the walls, and draped colorful cloths with poinsettia designs over two tables. Also arranged some green garland with candy red bulbs on either side on top of one table. We were proud of what we had accomplished and no one could take that away from us two middleaged folk. We went from there to Appleby’s for a gift-certificate paid lunch. I’d suggest more people decorate for special occasions in the future – the feel good business should be passed around.

Early Xmas Shopping, cancer luncheon

early Dec. 2007

I arrived a bit late (the invite said 11 0’clock to 1:30 p.m.) so had to quickly scoot into a seat to one side of the gathering. It was a December gathering, a Christmas luncheon for breast cancer survivors, and other survivors of cancer treatments, as it turns out. I met my former pastor there and he looked good. “Father Bob” was between leukemia treatments and handling it much better. Though he had to go every four weeks for these “combination” treatments because his leukemia had come back, he said it was much easier than the “fusion” treatments he had to take initially.
Even with my seeming ‘allergy’ to wheat recently, all the baked goodies with the broccoli and chicken casserole were too tempting not to eat. The fudge was good, though. Everyone in this group of 20 or so people talked about their background (how long it’d been since their breast cancer diagnosis – mine had been barely two years) what they were happy about and thankful for this year. I mentioned joining “Curves,” and was trying to get in better shape.
Some comments were rather tearful, but most were hopeful. You need that frame of mind as you go Christmas shopping and look to the days and months ahead. I hope for better things in 2008. Don’t you?

So you wanna lose weight

October 16, 2007

I was sent an email by a popular health magazine (ok, it was "Prevention"), and the come-on was a way to automatically lose weight. Ew, I know a way... eating less calories. (Duh.) How many articles can be written on the subject of weight loss. How many real possiblities are there out there for weight loss? And I know it can be difficult if you feel compelled to constantly eat. But I think sometimes these come ons torture people more than they help. Losing weight takes time.