Knock, Knock, Knock

Posted on October 4, 2018 by DorothyMarie

If I’m going to keep writing daily, then I’m going to have to be clever in titling my blog entries.  That’s one area where I literally suck to be honest.  However, today’s title is fitting.  I title it that way because that’s pretty much what I’m doing these days. I’m knocking on the door of life what seems like constantly hoping God will open the door and someone will hire me and let me on their team to work. I need a job so very badly. I’m trying to keep my chin up and be positive. But I have to admit that there are days when I just sit in my room and cry into my pillow.  Why doesn’t anything come up for me? I’m doing my best to keep the faith though. I will not give up.

Tomorrow I have to give a call to some law offices. They are looking for a full time secretary.  You don’t need to have any legal experience either. They are willing to train the right person. Wish me luck!

I woke up this morning to find that my internet was shut off! I was so bummed.  I was $172 behind on the bill so it was shut off. I was able to get $80 from my daughter and I scrounged up the rest and paid the past due amount.  I’m so grateful to have my internet service restored. I am lost without internet! I need it for school and everything else of course too.

Well, that’s all for today. I’m going to bed early tonight. Today was a little emotional as well.  Wherever you are in this beautiful world, I wish you peace, love and happiness!

❤ Dottie

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Day 30 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on October 4, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Friends!

Well here we are! The final day of this challenge!  I can’t believe it!  I can’t believe we are into October already.  Today, I went out to Lake Michigan and read chapter 8 from my text book “How to Run Your Business by THE BOOK”.  It was so nice out today. The temps actually made it about 80 degrees.  Tomorrow, it’s only supposed to be in the 50’s.  Before I did my reading, I actually took a bit of a nap.  I put the windows down a bit, leaned the seat back and just enjoyed the sound of the waves hitting shore and nice breeze.  It was so perfect.  I really enjoy spending time by the water.  It’s so soothing to my soul and helps with my anxieties and depression.  I don’t know what I’ll do when the snow comes and I will not have much desire to leave the house. I don’t like driving in the winter.

Today’s topic is a rather tough one for me.  It is “Your favorite song.”  I say it’s tough because I really enjoy all kinds of music and to pin it down to just one song is nearly impossible.  I honestly don’t know if I can narrow it down to one song.  How about if I change it up a little and share with you all, my favorites from a few different genre’s?  That would be easier for me.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Christian – “In the Eye of the Storm” by Ryan Stevenson
Country – “Heaven” by Kane Brown
Pop – “HandClap” by Fitz and the Tantrums (this was tough because there are a few I like)
Rock – “All Summer Long” by Kid Rock
Love – “To Love Somebody” by Michael Bolton

There are so many more that I really like.  My tastes change all the time.

Well, that’s it my friends. The final day of the challenge.  Whatever will I write about tomorrow?  I want to continue writing daily. I’m not sure if I’ll look for some more journal prompts or if I’ll just simply write about my day and my feelings, perhaps write about what I ate?  I’m not quite sure.  Do you have any ideas?

Wherever you are in this beautiful world, I wish you peace, love and happiness.

❤ Dottie

 

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Day 29 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on October 3, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Friends!

Oh my gosh! We only have one more day of this challenge! I can’t believe I have successfully blogged every day for an entire month!

I am happy to report that today the brakes on my car were fixed! But I found out that the rotors need to be repaired too. I’ll have to wait until I can afford it. Hopefully that happens sooner than later because I don’t want the bad rotors to ruin the new brake pads.  A friend of mine from church did the work and all he asked in return was a hug. I got plenty of hugs to give!  God bless him!

We’ll just go ahead and jump into the topic of the day. “In this past month, what have you learned?”

Hmmm…well, I’ve learned that I can blog daily. I’ve learned that there are people out there that actually do enjoy what I have to say both on my blog and on my YouTube channel.  I’ve learned that I need to do better with scheduling my time for school work. It seems I’m always cramming the work in at the last minute. I need to do better with that.  I have a whole week to do the work, so why procrastinate?  I have learned what it’s like to be without, to be extremely poor and to have to seek help from wherever I can find it.  I’ve learned to swallow my pride and ask for help.  I have learned that there are some really big jerks out there in the online world who lie about who they are and take advantage of innocent people.  I’ve learned that there are some seriously nice guys who deserve a nice woman but feel like the women out there don’t want the nice guys.  That’s just so sad.  Why is it that us extremely nice people with the huge hearts get overlooked and ignored?  It’s not right.

What else have I learned?  I’m stronger than I ever realized.  I’ve been getting through a lot of tough times.  I know I’m not doing it alone, but when I compare the me I am now with the one I was even a year ago…what a difference!

I suppose that’s about it.  I’m sure there’s more that I’ve learned, but that’s all I have for now.  Just one more day and I’ll be done with this 30 day challenge.  Amazing!

Wherever you are in this beautiful world, I wish you peace, love and happiness!

❤ Dottie

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Day 28 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on October 2, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Friends!

Oh my gosh! I can’t believe that I’m nearly done with this 30 day challenge.  Just 2 days after this one.  It’s 1 a.m. exactly right now.  Again, I’m late in posting. But I’ve just come to expect it from myself.  Today, I had an appointment at North Kent Connect. They basically just took down all my information and collected Kara’s (my daughter’s) pay stub information. They added me as a client and gave me access to the food pantry. I can go there once a month to get food.  I also signed up for a free beginners knitting class which gets me $20 to spend in the store.  I’ve always wanted to know how to make my own dishcloth and that’s what they’re teaching.  The class isn’t until November.

Monday is also my weigh in day.  I am 22 weeks post op VSG (vertical sleeve gastrectomy). I was down 2.6 lbs this past week and a total of 73.2 lbs since pre-op weight of 355 lbs.  My current weight is 281.8.  My BMI has gone from 62.9 to 49.9.  I’m very happy with my results thus far.

Alright, on to the topic of the day.  “A picture of you from last year and one from now. How have you changed?”  This is a good one, considering I’ve been losing some weight.  I had to jump on Facebook to look for a picture from last year.  I actually found one from October of last year as well so it’s pretty close to being exactly one year apart as well.  Here they are:

October 2017
22 Weeks Post Op

I think you can see the difference in the two pictures.  I wish the one on the left wasn’t so close up.  I do have different glasses, but that’s not the difference I am referring to.  And, my hair is a lot thinner in the photo on the right.  But so is the rest of me as well.  I have more of a neck in the photo on the right and you can see my collar bones.  My face is a bit more chubby in the photo on the left.  I definitely can see a difference.  There’s some truth in that old saying, what a difference a year makes!  I think I’m glowing more in the photo on the right as well.  Despite my current situation of no employment and no money, I’m happier. My life has improved. I’m no longer held down. I’m free. I’m being the me I was meant to be.  This was a great topic.  It’s great for me to look back and see where I was a year ago.

Wherever you are in this beautiful world, I wish you peace, love and happiness!

❤ Dottie

 

 

 

 

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Day 27 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on October 1, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

Dang girl! It’s nearly 2:30 a.m. on Monday October 1. I’m really late with this post.  I’m not even tired yet. What’s up with that?  I had a pretty productive day if I do say so.  I went to church. After that I stopped at the Dollar General and bought a broom because I haven’t been able to find one around this dang house.  I also bought some paper towel as we were out.  When I got home, I decided to start dusting and then sweeping.  It had been way too long since I dusted off the TV stand.  So embarrassing how much dust was caked on that thing.  You’d think I lived on a dirt road and had the windows wide open all the time.  I also cleared off the end table and swept up all the dog hair and dust bunnies.  I moved the couch and there were so many dog toys piled up under there.  Along with dog toy stuffing from toys that had been destroyed.  I think those dogs seriously know how to shove that stuff under the couch to hide it! LOL!  After doing that cleaning I lit a candle and started to do some school work.  I’ll be spending time on Monday doing school work too.  And I have an appointment at North Kent Connect also.

Tuesday, I’m going to clear off my kitchen table and clean out my desk drawers.  Slowly I’m going to start purging stuff around here, whether that means trash stuff or sell stuff.  It’s going to feel good to get rid of things that have been sitting around taking up space and making it look cluttered.  I have not had the energy or desire to do it in so long, but something inside me wants it done now.  I think I’ve been divorced long enough now that I want it all to be mine…my space… free of the clutter that was ‘our space’.

Alright, enough of that.  The topic of today is “Why are you doing this 30 day challenge?”  Well, to be honest I’m doing the challenge because I wanted to try to get more views on my blog.  I actually enjoy writing and wanted to make something of it but knew it wouldn’t go anywhere without getting views.  I get a little more excited each time I get a new follower.  Now, on top of blogging, I’m also trying to get more views on my YouTube vlogs.  So I’m going to do something similar on my YouTube channel. I’m going to do a video everyday and talk about something different.  Similar to the challenge I did here on my blog.  I just want to inspire or help people with either weight loss or mental health challenges or heck, maybe even divorce challenges.  I’m no expert in any of those areas, but I’m a survivor I will say that!  That’s it in a nutshell, get more views, inspire more people.

Wherever you are in this beautiful world, I wish you peace, love and happiness.

❤ Dottie

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Day 26 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 30, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

We are on the last leg of this 30-day trip! I can’t believe it’ll be October very soon! It’s just after midnight.  I have two friends celebrating their birthday today and they’re both the same age too.  So to Alan and Richard, I wish you both a very Happy Birthday!!  Alan won’t see this, but Richard might.  H A P P Y   B I R T H D A Y ! ! ! !  ❤

Why don’t we get on to today’s topic?  Oh, because I don’t feel like it.  Hahaha.  Today’s topic is “What you think about your friends.”

There’s not a whole lot to say, other than I really do love all of my friends. Each one of my friends is special in their own way.  They’ve all been so helpful and supportive. I really can’t say enough about them. I just know that I’m incredibly blessed to have each and every one one of them.  I’m not going to name any names because that would be unfair.

This was a rather short post. Wherever you, are, I wish you peace, love and happiness.

❤  Dottie

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Day 25 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 28, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Wow! I can’t believe it’s already Day 25 and just a few short days, we’ll be in he month of October already!  Fall (or Autumn) has arrived and it’s been a little chilly outside.  I said it before and I’m saying it again – I AM NOT READY for this cold weather!!!

We are nearing the end of this 30 day challenge.  What will I write about then? Should I look for another challenge to do? Should I just blog about my daily life…even though it’s rather boring at the moment.  If you’ve got ideas, let me know.

Today’s topic is “What I would find in your bag”.   I have a rather large purse that I got from Thirty One.  Let’s see what’s in there?  I have my wallet (which matches the purse), my notebook, my checkbook, the book I’m currently reading, mints and a few jolly ranchers, some Motrin, some dental tooth picks, a pencil and an ink pen, wireless headphones, chapstick, lotion, and my YMCA membership card.  I don’t wear makeup so you’ll find none of that in there. When I leave the house, then my cell phone is put in the side pocket.  And, that’s all there is.

Well, look at that! My post is done before midnight!

Wherever you are in this beautiful world, I wish you peace, love and happiness.

❤ Dottie

 

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Day 24 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 28, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

Once again, it’s after midnight. I apologize.  I just don’t think I’m going to get better at this.  I just started a new class this week. It’s a business class and I’m not really all that excited about it.  It’s BUS 234 – Current Problems in Business: Case Studies.  I’ve already got quite a few assignments due for week one.  This is the shortest class I’ve had thus far as it is only four weeks.

I had a therapy appointment today. It went alright. My anxiety is higher right now due to my current no job and lots of bills situation.  It’s a tough spot to be in…no income whatsoever.  I need to find some income.  I need to start selling some things around here that are no longer used/needed.  We currently have three refrigerators in the house. One really large stainless steel one in the kitchen, one in the basement where Kara “lives” and one side-by-side in the garage. I’m thinking I could sell the stainless still one from the kitchen because I could probably get $800-$1,000 for it. Then, move the one from the garage into the kitchen.  We also have a Wii game system downstairs that is not being used.  I have plenty of stamps and scrapbook supplies that I haven’t touched that could probably be sold.  And clothes! I’m sure I could sell some of my clothes too! There’s a lot of crap in this house. I think I just need to purge and sell!!!  Sounds like a lot of work, but necessary.

On to the topic of today…”Three books on your bookshelf.”  I like this topic.  I have been more into reading in the last year than I have in several years.  I’m actually on Goodreads, which you can see over in the sidebar.  I’m currently reading The Book Thief.  It started a little slow for me, but it’s getting better now.  So I don’t have a huge collection of books like some people I know. But here are three:

I have read two of the three of these.  I read Wonder and If I Stay.  They both were really good if you ask me.  I still need to read Finding Me.  I think I’ve been hesitating on reading that one because I know it’ll be really emotional for me. I don’t know that I’ve been quite strong enough emotionally to handle it.  I think I’m getting there though.  There’s another book after If I Stay called Where She Went and I am looking forward to reading that one as well.  There’s another book by Gayle Forman called I Was Here that I also want to read.  I have not been this into reading since I was young and even then I hated reading.  I really enjoy it a lot now; especially if it’s a really good book.

That’s all for now.  Wherever you are in this beautiful world, I wish you peace, love and happiness.

❤ Dottie

 

 

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Day 23 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 26, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

Wow! Only seven more days after this post. I can’t believe we are almost to October! The colder weather is setting in and it’s starting to get dark out earlier.  Fall is definitely here. No way am I ready for winter. Unlike my brother and sister in law who keep posting snow blizzard pictures on Facebook!

Today, I re-applied for health insurance through the state. My current insurance is set to be canceled at the end of the month. I can’t have that happening because I need my meds. I hope that they will extend my insurance considering I’m not employed at the moment.  I also called 2-1-1 which is a United Way help agency. I called them to see if there was any assistance available for utilities and unfortunately, there is none available. Bummer! So, while applying for health insurance, I also applied for food assistance and emergency electric and heat assistance. I probably won’t qualify, but I tried anyway.  Doesn’t hurt to try.  I continue to look through the job boards and apply to those I think I might have a chance at.

Okay, so on to today’s topic.  It is “Something you crave a lot.”  When it comes to food, ever since my surgery, I really haven’t had cravings anymore.  Prior to surgery though, I think I craved chocolate mostly.  Chocolate has always been a favorite sweet treat.  I actually still enjoy chocolate once in a while, but I wouldn’t say that I crave it all the time anymore.  I used to also crave pizza prior to surgery.  I always had to have pizza at least once a week for dinner.  Now, I haven’t had pizza in a long time.

This is proving to be a rather boring post isn’t it?  Now, I crave things that have nothing to do with food.  I crave friendships and conversation.  I don’t like feeling lonely.  Once in a great while, it’s nice to have alone time. And, it’s actually a good idea to spend quality ME time.  I remember the days when the kids were younger and we were so busy as a family. I hardly ever had any ME time.  Now, the kids are grown, I’m divorced and I have all the ME time I want! Back then, I craved ME time and now I crave friendships and conversation.

Wow! Would you look at that…my post is going to be published before midnight! It’s amazing!

Wherever you are in this beautiful world, I wish you peace, love and happiness!

❤ Dottie

 

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Day 22 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 25, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Good evening readers!

Post number two today! I apologize that I got behind on this 30 day challenge. I was so tired last night.  But this post catches me up. Today’s topic is a tough one in my opinion. But before I get on to the topic of the day, I’m going to fill you on what I did today.  I actually went to the lake again.  It was nice out there as there weren’t many people. I had intended on doing some reading, but didn’t get much of that done. Instead, I laid back in my car and dozed off a bit.  You can see the current book I’m reading by having a look at my Goodreads link in the nav bar on the right.  After leaving the lake, I had a doctor’s appointment to get an ugly mole checked out.  Thankfully, it was nothing serious. It was vascular so she couldn’t cut it of or it would’ve bled horribly. She could’ve cauterized it, but it really wasn’t bothering me so she said we could just leave it. There’s no worry of cancer from it ever.  That’s a relief!  My blood pressure was also taken. It was a healthy 110/60.  She said that with my weight loss and good reading, I could now come off my blood pressure meds! I was so excited for that! Great news!! She was quite impressed with how well I’ve been doing considering this shit storm of life I’ve been dealing with.

Okay, so on to the topic of today…”What makes you different from everyone else?”  Honestly, this is a tough one!  Aren’t we all different from each other. We were all made to be unique from one another. Unless perhaps you’re identical twins or something.  That’s what makes this world so wonderful isn’t it? The diversity. Think of how boring it would be if we were all the same.  One of the things that stands out on me I guess is my smile. I get complimented on that a lot.  And perhaps how nice I am.  I am not judgmental of others. I treat everyone with dignity and respect.  I’m not saying I’m perfect because I know I’m far from it.  That’s about all I can think of.

Wherever you are, I wish you peace, love and happiness.

❤ Dottie

 

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