35 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-4-16”

  1. Good Morning Everyone. I trust I didn’t miss too much over the weekend. Time to tackle 2016. I have joined a Trailblazers 66 day Challenge. You must log at least 10,000 steps per day. I do not have a Fitbit so I am using my phone to track which puts me at a disadvantage….I don’t always remember to take it with me to get a refill on coffee. I made it Saturday, but didn’t Sunday.

    I have a funeral to attend today. I will see my friend who now lives in LA. I wish it were under better circumstances but his stepfather was ill for a very long time.

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  2. Cheryl and I have Fitbits too. We’re in a program her employer runs. She gets 10,000 a day, when her leg isn’t broken, and I get about 5,000 due to my physical limitations. As long as you hit 3,500 points a quarter, you get to pick a $50 gift card of your choice. So we do it because we like free Amazon gift cards. 🙂 A free $400 a year is a good incentive. 🙂

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  3. Good Morning….I knew that photo had to be from Janice….lovely!
    Wow Kim…I’d think one could get 10,000 steps just getting coffee refills alone!! 🙂
    I determined that this year I would get back on track with my walks and runs…logging at least 3 miles a day…this is day 4 and so far I haven’t missed
    ( Lulah goes with me, she gets her exercise and things are a tad bit more calm around here when we get home…she is a wild thing!) …361 more days to go!!

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  4. 10,400 steps for me equals out to 3.95 miles of walking. I get more on Sunday because of church. 10,000 sounds easy, but it’s more walking than you would think. 🙂

    Plus, it burns nearly 2,900 calories. 🙂

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  8. I was wondering about that calorie count, AJ. I was given a Fitbit from my children and have enjoyed using it. I am not as faithful using it as I once was, however. I still do check my steps and the number of floors climbed. I used to check the steps and activities and adjust my eating for the calories remaining. I found that was easy when I ate out. More work when I am figuring out all my homemade items. I do have a good idea, though, from keeping track during my gestational diabetes phase and from doing it for other weight loss and with the Fitbit.

    The downsize of the calorie count on mine is that it does not count housework, gardening, playing with grandchildren etc. 🙂

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  9. Pauline, not sure if you saw my post about making sure your bottom unit on your oven is still working. You can replace it, if not and save the price of a new stove.

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  11. Working from home it is especially difficult this morning to get back into work mode. I am in panic mode because we leave on Friday, my ex-MIL will be staying in my house to keep an eye on BG —Talk about pressure to have a spotless house when I leave!!!!!! Trying to get all of the first of the year stuff done business-wise before I leave. Not to mention what needs to get done before I leave today for a funeral!!!!

    I had what I thought was a stress free holiday too, but my TMJ as been particularly bad. My teeth won’t fit together when I close my mouth. You don’t realize the precision with which I teeth fit together until something is off. It has also been popping when I chew and a sharp pain goes through my bottom jaw. You would think it would have stopped me from eating,but I have persevered!

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  12. I get at least 2 miles in the summer when giving cave tours. And I stand a lot when teaching. If sitting I tend to fidget a lot, so I burn about 500-600 calories a day while sitting.

    So I suppose I should look for a fidget bit.

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  13. I check the steps on my phone (it’s usually with me) — hard when you have a job that primarily is stationary at a computer, though. I need to add more. But, yeah, even walking through the office a few times (we’re really spread out on the first floor of a leased building) can add up.

    Well, Monday came way too soon. I have a 10 a.m. interview at the unlocked mentally ill residence overlooking the waterfront — it’s in a beautiful old multistory art deco building that once housed the YMCA for military guys who needed places to stay when in port. Now it’s come under fire by some in the community who say it’s not well managed. Personally, I wonder if a very large facility like this (200-300 some beds, I believe) isn’t, essentially, unmanageable. Seems like a poor model for mental health care to me.

    One incident I need to ask him about is the death of a woman there (likely a self-inflicted but accidental drug overdose) after she locked herself in a bathroom to use. She wasn’t found for THREE days. 😦 How does that happen?

    Meanwhile, we woke up out here feeling like Santa Claus hadn’t come. We were told there was a “90%” chance of rain throughout the night and we didn’t even get a sprinkle. Story of our poor drought-plagued lives.

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  14. It’s been a busy go-go Monday after a vacation week for me. We went early to the lab for Art’s pre-op work-up. Then I had to take returns to Walmart and shop for other items. Then I picked up Miss Bosley. She cried all the way home. They told me I need a new carrier for her. The hand me down one will not lock together as it should. Does anyone have suggestions?

    I found some 75% off buys at Walmart on Christmas items. FYI they had dog toys with a Christmas theme, even a big stocking of dog toys which I got to send from Miss Bosley to my friend’s dog, Charlie.

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  15. No Fitbit here. I just have an Omicron pedometer. But I have not been using it the past couple of months. All of the outdoor chores have been transferred to the fourteen year old boy, which leaves me in the house. But I ride my bike and use the bowflex during school upstairs with the younger set. It gives me an hour to do something. I could use the treadmill. But over Christmas I did absolutely nothing and I did not want to remind myself of that with the pedometer in my pocket.

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  18. I also have a fit bit. I don’t even try for the 10,000 steps a day. I’m doing well if I get that in a week! AJ, that 2900 calorie burn is probably your basal metabolic rate combined with your activity. The majority of the calories we burn would be burned even if we never got out of bed. Obviously that would cause other issues!

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  20. No fit bit here unless thought of in other context as in fit to be bit by Miss Bosley which seems to be unlimited in number of times she thinks a little nip would be fun. Perhaps she should be a resident in the plastic surgery unit of a hospital. She can routinely perform nip and tuck (put her head down and run so as not to get swatted). 🙂 Partially kidding (about the tuck, but not the nip).

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  21. It was 44 degrees and the sun was in my eyes when we left Spartanburg.
    It was 30 degrees and snowing 50 minutes later. Just flurries, Won’t stick.
    Actually, I was glad for the clouds, when they came. the winter sun was blinding.

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  22. So, after my comment on Saturday about my Biddy bio, my agent called me in and brainstormed. She wants me to change it out of the linear basic-biography format into a story.

    Back to the drawing board for me. It’s all for the good of the story, of course, but it could be discouraging if I let it . . . maybe this should be on the prayer board? 🙂

    No fit bit or other measuring device here in RAINY northern California. I’ve been walking an hour a day, 4-5 days a week since the sword of Diabetes appeared over my head 29 years ago. In recent years, I’ve amended that requirement to one hour of exercise 5 days a week and dance most of those. That and eating better have been very helpful.

    Speaking of food, today at the grocery store, I was shocked they only had 9 carrots (not already bagged up) and no broccoli at all in the produce section. I bought all the carrots and went to the frozen foods. Frozen vegetables are generally just as good as fresh if that’s all they are, nothing added.

    In that long aisle of frozen food doors, only two were for straight vegetables. One was for vegetables with sauces and other add-ons and NINE were for frozen pizza.

    Since I always make pizza with pizza dough and my own ingredients, I never understand the allure of frozen pizza except maybe convenience, but in my mind, that’s part of the nutritional problem in the US right there at Safeway!

    (Was able to buy frozen chopped broccoli, thankfully.)

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  23. Michelle – So it wouldn’t be a biography of Biddy Chambers, but a story with her as a main character? Is that what you mean?

    That disappoints me. I was looking forward to a biography of her. If I read a story about her, I would then like to follow up with an actual biography. Are there any bios of her out there?

    Another question: Have you considered aiming Poppy (& maybe the Biddy bio) to a secular market instead of the insular Christian book market?

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  25. Wow, Donna! Three days in an institution without being discovered? That is more than disturbing!

    I suppose, Michelle, one could think that there was a run on fresh carrots and broccoli. Fresh fruits and vegies have gotten so expensive. Most of us are more than willing to pay as much for empty calories, though.

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  26. I am back. I have much to tell but will do it tomorrow. It took me an hour and a half to get from Mobile back home….a distance of less than 40 miles. Bayway traffic is ridiculous and if I had to do it every day I would kill someone…probably me!

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  27. Comments about the writing.

    Because I do not have a wealth of information about Biddy–she deliberately obscured herself–my agent suggests writing the story differently. I have to think through what she’s suggesting, pray and consider how my linear-thinking mind can construct a story that is non-linear.

    My husband loved the idea, because I’m a storyteller more than a biographer, and thinks I should mold it after my own spiritual memoir (which you’ll remember has never sold). That makes the book more thematic than linear, but the point is still to learn about the woman’s life. Thematically writing the book enables me to include more of My Utmost for His Highest insights, which is a compelling argument, frankly.

    As to Poppy, it’s only been held because of conditions in the market. The selling point for that book is the Chambers connection, at least within the Christian bookselling community, and that’s what interests the editors. I’m not sure where it would go in the regular book selling community, because of its strong spiritual slant, and we don’t have editorial connections there anyway.

    As to self-publishing–that’s always an option but there is much to be said for having a publisher behind you in terms of getting the book into more hands. Since the point of Poppy is to tell an interesting story AND to send readers to examine OC, to my mind it stays where it is.

    Waiting.

    The contemporary novels I’ve written haven’t gotten much traction and since all my published work except the SEAL novel is historical, it may not be able to get any traction in the current clime despite positives in my CV. Besides, contemporary isn’t selling now anyway. Indeed, little is selling. 😦

    To that end, part of my goals this year is to nail down exactly how self-publishing works, rewrite portions of those books, have them professionally edited (which is expensive) and self-publish. Realistically, that probably won’t happen for another year or two.

    Thanks for the questions! 🙂

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  28. Michelle, is there a tourist location where there is a gift shop that sells O C items? Maybe you could market a novella series there based on your larger writings to stir market interest.

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  30. Actually, I should have said that being unable to move my eyes laterally is a pain in the neck, which sometimes it literally is, as I twist my neck to see something way to the side of me.

    What prompted me to write that before was that as I was reading on my laptop, Forrest was sitting on the back of the couch right behind me, & snatched something off the endtable, but I couldn’t twist my neck around far enough to see what it was. Usually, I don’t even think about my eyes not turning.

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  31. Michelle- Self publish an e-book to cut down on distribution. Amazon and a few other on-line sites would be a lot easier than dozens of mortar and brick stores.

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  33. Peter, self-publishing is a more viable option every year. But still, if a book can be published traditionally, that is a preferable route. Michelle has been published enough that she at least has a more credible chance at trying to publish.

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  34. Long day and no one’s happy to be back at work. 😦 Grump. I said we need a staff retreat but we’re not sure we’d all survive it.

    Had my 90-minute tour of the mentally ill facility — director says woman who died was in the bathroom in her room overnight, not 3 days. But I thought I’d verified the time with the coroner’s office a couple weeks ago, I’ll have to go back to my notes to double check. At any rate, that is in dispute now.

    Other story I worked on today was (of course) our big news about El Nino. Everyone is just SO excited — 4 storms lined up off our coastline. It’s been so long and so dry. …

    It’s supposed to start by morning and we’ll get a lot of rain tomorrow alone apparently.

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