Procrastinator Anonymous

It's 12:48AM, and I am just finishing up two exams, a follow up discussion question, and a discussion question. It was all due by 12:30AM. Now, the exam was opened on October 30th and both the discussion questions have been open all week. I wasn't even going to do the discussion question since I thought that the exams was going to take long than expected.

As you all know I am entering my seventh or eighth year of doing college work, you would think that I would have learned now how not to PROCRASTINATE, but I haven't. I am going to have a big test on not procrastinating here in the next two weeks. In two weeks, I have a 8 to 10 page research paper and a book review due on the same weekend. This is the same weekend I am going to be in Virginia without access to internet. Also during this time, I will have my regular work load for all my other classes. Now, I will have to see how I do. The Paper and Book Review are a huge portion of my grade, so I have to do well. I obviously cannot wait to the last minute to do them. Before I leave Friday November 14 to go to Virginia, they both need to be turned in. I guess the next two weeks are going to be a tough one.

Now, all I have to do is start reading this book, at least a couple of chapters a night, and write a half a page or one page a day on my research paper, and I should be fine. See I know what to do, but will I do it. What is probably going to happen is that I will spend the Thursday November 13, which is my day off of work, and write the Research paper, and I will probably end up reading the book on the way to Virginia, and write the review either while I am in VA or on my way home, and submit it on the way home, which I have done a few times before.

Wish me luck.

I HATE ELECTION YEARS!!!

It's an election year, and as election day is coming, I am growing sick and tried of it. I wish it was over already. I hate seeing the ads on television bashing each campaign. I cannot turn on the radio or television without seeing one. Why can't they just run campaigns without all the candidate bashing? Tell us what you are "planning" to do for us, not what the other candidate has done in the past. I guarantee that they are people that don't vote for a certain candidate because of what another candidate has said.

I hate all the wasteful propaganda that litter our mailboxes and yards. This to me is a waste. When I received an ad through the mail, you know what I do. I get rid of it. I am tried of all this junk mail.

Millions of dollars wasted to get elected into office. Think of what could be done with that money instead of the ads. They could help the hungry or assist people who have been hit hard by the economy that some helped get this way. I can see better uses for this money than buying a thirty second or less spot on television that costs millions to produce.

This doesn't turn me off for voting. I am grateful that I get the right to vote. Many women, as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Burns, Alice Paul, and many more, fought for my right to vote, and if I had been born back before 1920, I wouldn't have had that. So I exercise my right to vote. I am going to vote based on my own research. I do not associate with any particular party. I vote with my heart. This may be silly of me, but I see what they are promising, and if they are an incumbent, I look at their record and what they have accomplished, that's how I decide who I am voting for. I think parties should be scrapped. I believe George Washington, even didn't believe in political parties.

Peaceful and Happy Thoughts,
--Rue.

MAMAW

The other day I synced an old email address to my new phone, which I forgot that had all my old contact synced to it from college. On my phone it has two people that I called the most, and could you guess who one of them was?

MAMAW!

She has been gone for over 2 years, and it shows you how much I talked to her. If you knew me in college, I was on the phone with her all the time. If she hadn't heard from me by noon, she was calling me. If I couldn't get ahold of her, I was calling Leslie, the boys, or Aunt Sue to see if they had heard from her. One of my fears while I was in college was that she would fall in the house, and couldn't' get up. She would be all alone. I was also afraid, knowing that she was aging, that she would pass away and I wouldn't get to say my goodbye.


As most of you all know, she pretty much raised me. From the time I was 5 years old, when my mom died, she became my mom. She never took mom's place. She didn't give birth to me, but she was my Mother. I was lucky that I had an amazing woman to look up to in life. We joke saying that were becoming like Mamaw more and more each day. But if I am half the woman she was, then I am okay with that. She was hardworking, headstrong, and just plain strong. She outlived two of her three children and her husband. She helped raised all three of her grandchildren and her two great-grandchildren. She was even helping with Lily. I am sad that Lily will not get to know this wonderful strong woman, but she will know who Mamaw was and how much she meant. She was our family's rock. But more importantly she was my best friend.

I miss her everyday, but I know she is watching over me.

--Rue.

Cute Plus Size Work out Clothes

I have been working on my health her lately, and went to a local store to look at there workout clothes. Being a woman, I want to wear cute workout clothes. When I went to the store they had NOTHING in my size. Yes, I am plus size, and working on getting healthier. But the biggest size I saw was an XL. Why wouldn't they have cute plus size work out clothes? I don't want to have to wear sweat pants all the time or men's work out clothes. I just don't understand.

45 pounds lighter.

Yesterday, I stepped on the scale for the first time in almost a year. I knew that I had lost some weight, but I did not know how much I weighed. I don't typically weight myself on a regular basis for I have learned that the number on the scale doesn't mean anything. I base on losing weight on how I feel and how my clothes fit. On Wednesday, I put on a pair of pants that I put on back in July, and they were too tight that I couldn't wear them. I put them on Wednesday, and they fit, and felt a little lose. I have been exercising more and not eating as much.

From the last time back in November until Wednesday, I have lost around 15 more pounds and kept it off. Right now I am the smallest I have been since my freshmen year of college. I am about 15 pounds from one of my goals, and then about 50 pounds from my overall goal. From November 2011, I have lost a total of 45 pounds and kept it off (which is amazing to me). Since I don't weigh on a regular basis, I could have lost more, but the weight from November 2011 is what I have to go off of.

Some goals that I am waiting to accomplish here soon:

• Run a mile in 12 minutes. I just started walking, and I can walk a mile in 22 minutes with a 3 year old coming with me.
• By next summer, I want to participate in a 5K.

Thank everyone who has given me encouragement. Even telling me that I look like I am losing is an encourage for me.

Peaceful and Happy Thoughts,
--Rue.

30 pounds down, 80 more to go... Oct\Nov 2013

This post was posted on my tumblr at ruesworld@tumblr.com back in October/November of last year, but I thought I would share it.

 

30 pounds down, 80 more to go...

First of all, I want to thank all of my facebook friends who commented or liked when I posted this following status…
I’m am about 80 pounds from my goal weight… I know it my be a long time but since November 2011, I have lost about 30 pounds and kept it off…. this is a huge deal for me… especially since then my mamaw passed away and I am an emotional eater… When my dad died I put 30 pounds on in about 2 months… So I consider it an accomplishment…
Now I am going to explain myself a little more and how I done it.
First, I am NOT on a diet. I am not following anything, and this is part of why I think I am losing. Yes, it may have taken over a year and a half to shed 30 pounds, but I am doing it and keeping it off. If I am not dieting then what the heck am I doing?
I still eat what I love, but I am not constantly snacking. I am not eating as much. I also have cut sweet tea out. I pretty much drink water all the time. (this really isn’t that big of a change most of the time I would drink water instead of tea anyways)
This biggest change is LILY! She keeps me going all the time. From the time she wakes up in the morning until her mom gets home at 4. She’s is on the go. Even though I am not actually working out, I am getting exercise. Lily was born in August 2011 and I hit my highest weight in November 2011.
I know this is going to sound horrible, but I think it has something to do with it. My mamaw constantly critized me about my weight. She kept after me to not eat as much and to exercise. I don’t have her hear to do that anymore. I think that I kept shoving food into my mouth to piss her off, but I really wasn’t hurting anyone but my self. I know she was going this because she loved me and wanted me healthy. Also I think she is up in heaven helping me now with losing the weight.
30 pounds in a year and a half. Maybe not sound like a lot, but for me I have been struggleing with my weight for most of my life. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure at the age of 5 and I was overweight for my age. I am a stress eater. When my dad died back in 2002, I gained 30 pounds in 2 months. I did lost about 60 pounds my freshmen year in college, but by the time I graduated I had put it all back on. Now, I have lost 30 pounds and KEPT IT OFF!!! I had a major death in my family, my mamaw, who raised me, and I was able to still keep the weight off.
Another thing, I see my sister and best friend, Kyla, and I see how she has gotten healthy. I was there when she started her lifestyle change. She is truly an inspiration to me. I may not tell you that Kyla, but you are.
This may seem shocking, but I want to run a 5K by the end of summer first of fall. I want to run the Color Me Rad 5K in September. It’s close to where I live and it just sounds AWESOME!!! Here’s a link about it if you want to check it out to see if there is a race close to you.
http://www.colormerad.com/about.html
I am not trying to be skinny as a bean pole. I am just wanting to be healthy. When I was 18 years old, I wanted to be under 150 pounds, but my doctor at the time looked me in the eye, and told me that I would look sick if I weight that much. I just want to be healthy. I don’t want to tell you my specific goal because I don’t want to tell you all my current weight.  I am not comfortable in telling you all that, but it will be under 200 pounds.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Love,
Rue. 

Recovering Pack Rat Diaries

Both my mom and dad were pack rats, and so was my mamaw. I am one too, and when they passed I inherited their stuff... When they died I am was not ready to purge anything they owned. I felt at that time I needed to keep it because it owned by them. Let's just say I have a lot of stuff.

This past week, Les and I started going through our stuff. I got rid of a lot. I am finally to the point that I can get rid of things that my mom, dad, and mamaw owned. I am mentally ready. I have gotten to the point, that their things will not keep them alive. It's my memories of them that will. Now, I am not getting rid of everything of theirs. If I have a memory of it with them, I am keeping it. But a lot of the stuff that I am getting rid of were things, that they either never used or just random stuff that I had decided to keep and really shouldn't have. Most of the stuff has been in boxed up for at least a year, with some of it being boxed up for over 5 years. It's not getting used, and some I don't remember it at all.

 I kept all of the pictures, and if you know anything about my mom, she took pictures all the time. She had over 53 FULL photo albums and that's not including all the pictures that are loose and framed. I can never get rid of those.

A lot of the stuff I got rid of, was things that I had kept from high school and college. When I was in college, I had kept ads for things that I went to, and if I had no memory of it, I did not keep it.

Some things, I was forced to get rid of. Only because it had been damaged while being stored. You know I am not sad about that because I feel if I was meant to keep it then it wouldn't have been damaged.

This has been a work in progress, and I have worked really hard on this. I am still a work in progress.

--Rue.