Little Treats

Lately I have been allowing myself treats - like hot cocoa with whipped cream - almost daily. I know that with my weight I shouldn't be taking in the extra calories. But frankly I only have so much energy (physical or emotional), and stressing over my weight isn't fitting into the scheme of things right now. The fact that walking up a flight of steps still leaves me a bit winded does make exercise a bit difficult (though not impossible). And I'm just not willing to deprive myself of food at the moment. But that's neither here nor there. The point is that I've been having yummy treats. Why, you might ask. ... Now is where you say, "Why is that?" (Thanks for becoming an ACTIVE participant in my blog!). Well - let me tell you....

I have been extremely productive the past week or so. This past year has been very difficult for our family, and now that it's a new year (though not quite a year since I was hospitalized) it's time for a new start. Aaron and I both feel the need to purge. We've been going through our closets which are basically our only storage (5 done, 2 more to go) and throwing out what we really don't need or use. Tomorrow's trash pick-up includes things like the cards I received when I graduated from High School and candles whose scent I loved, but the wicks are all used up. The things that can be appreciated by other people (like the shoes I wore when I was 9 months pregnant with Alex and my feet were swollen a whole size bigger) are being passed onto friends or the Salvation Army. There's a cool website I found that lists the value you can ascribe to donations. We get a blank receipt from them, and then we list what was donated and the value. It comes off our taxes! If you donate more than $5000 a year there's extra paperwork needed, but anything less than that just needs a receipt from the Salvation Army / Thrift Store. Check it out sometime: http://www.goodwill.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=102123&name=DLFE-2302.pdf

We've also been purging some non-tangible things in our lives, and making some changes individually and as a family. We have a vision of what we want our lives to look like 1 -3 - 5 - 10 years from now. So, anything that doesn't help us get there is being eliminated (or added to our routine if needed - like daily devotions). I spend quite a bit of time conversing with God daily, and over the past year have learned to hear His voice. But I don't spend specific time reading the Bible daily. This is an area in need of improvement for me.

Next week begins our normal routine again (Bible Study, MOPS, etc.), and I'm hoping that I can stay as productive has I have been recently. The fact that Aaron took of work from Christmas to New Years, and was around to help more with the kiddos definitely helped me stretch my energy further. There are so many projects I want to tackle, that I'm hoping my energy holds up. I'm also enjoying my daily hot cocoa, so maybe looking forward to that will help keep me motivated too! But just in case I get tired of the cocoa, do you have any suggestions of another little treat I could try?