Day 21 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 25, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

I apologize I didn’t post yesterday. I was so tired last night after cramming to get some school work finished.  I tried to do a blog post, but words just weren’t coming out right so I canceled the post and went to bed.

Before I post about day 21’s topic, I’m going to update you on my weigh in. Yesterday was 21 weeks post op VSG. I actually gained .6 for the week. I blame that on mother nature and lady time bloating. So my total loss is now 70.6 lbs. That’s still awesome!  I have to up my exercise. I haven’t been doing anything since I lost my job. I also need to up my water intake and protein.  I’m up to $32.60 in my sweatcoin app. Not bad considering I haven’t been very active.  Like I said though, that needs to change.  By the way, if you’d like to check out sweatcoin – here’s my link.  Check out the app, it pays for walking outside.  Currently, it pays in the form of gift cards, etc.  But their goal is to pay via PayPal. That’s what I’m waiting for!

Ok, so on to day 21’s topic. A picture of something that makes you happy.  I could’ve chosen a few things.  But below is what I decided on.

KayleighAndKaraYounger

This is a picture of my two girls when they were younger.  Any picture of them makes me smile. But I like this one because they are hugging each other and displaying their love for each other.  They don’t hug like that nowadays.  And, they’re not so little like that anymore either. They’re now 23 and 25 years old.  I’m not even sure how old they are in this photo to be honest.  The oldest is the smaller one on the right with the darker hair. That’s Kayleigh and Kara is the one on the left.  Time really flies so fast. If you have little ones, be sure to enjoy every second.  Because soon enough, they’ll be adults and out on their own and they won’t need you as much.  I sometimes miss the good old days of when they were younger and life was busy with school activities. There was never a dull moment.  Every evening, there was somewhere to be it seemed.  Now, Kayleigh is living with her boyfriend and I rarely see her.  Kara lives here, but she works full time and when she’s not working she is usually at a friend’s house.  So I hardly ever see them. And, now I’m divorced too so life is SO incredibly different.  If I’m home, it’s usually just me and the dogs and my online friends and family.

Well, that’s it for this post.  Wherever you are in this beautiful world, I wish you peace, love and happiness!

❤ Dottie

 

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Day 20 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 24, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

Today has been rather challenging I must say.  I did make it to church this morning.  I haven’t heard from my friend in Marquette, MI since last week Saturday and he was supposed to call me on Wednesday and didn’t. He generally calls me every Saturday and he didn’t call yesterday. And he generally writes often too and I haven’t heard from him since the 17th and that’s so unlike him. Ok, I have to admit this person is in prison. He writes via jpay.com.  So I’m incredibly worried. I hope he hasn’t done something to make him lose his privileges.  I am friends on Facebook with his mom so I asked her if she has heard from him and she hasn’t either. She said she would call the prison tomorrow if she still hasn’t heard from him.  I asked her to fill me in and let me know that he is okay.  That’s my concern.

I’ve been extra emotional today.  I cried before church. I cried after church off and on. I was supposed to go to a baby shower and I couldn’t bring myself to go. I just wasn’t in the spirit.  I feel horrible too.  I was also supposed to meet a friend to do this role play assignment for school, but I just wasn’t feeling up to it.  So now, I’ll have to meet with her tomorrow.  The last day of class.  Nothing like waiting until last minute right!? I’m so good at procrastination.

I thought perhaps that I was just having one of my normal emotional “down” days that I get from time to time.  Well, turns out I started my monthly lady time.  Sorry if that’s TMI. The thing is, I haven’t had one of those since June! So it caught me off guard.  But it does help explain the overly emotional episodes and the feeling like crap.

I suppose we can get on to today’s topic…”Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future.” What would I write about if I were already married? I seriously thought about skipping today or making up a different topic.  I suppose I have dreams about my knight in shining armor coming to rescue me from this difficult situation I’m in.  That situation would be no income and lots of bills 😉 . And, no I’m not just looking for a sugar daddy. Please don’t be confused by that.  I want my knight in shining armor to be somewhat close in age to me, hard working, compassionate, faithful, a good communicator, and have a sense of humor. We would be a team. I would work as well if I ever find a job. I see myself probably moving from here. I see life changing as I know it right now.  But change is good, right!?  Who is my knight in shining armor? I’m not telling. Does he exist? Perhaps.

That’s all I’m saying on the subject.

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

❤ Dottie

 

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Day 19 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 22, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

Here we are at day 19! Today, September 22 marks the official first day of Autumn! Typically in years past, I have always looked forward to this season as it was always my favorite.  This year is different.  I’m really sad to say goodbye to summer.  This was the first year in a very long time that I got out and enjoyed summer.  I’m not looking forward to cold weather.  Right now it’s a frigid 47 degrees outside according to my weather app.  Brr!  I have my little space heater on behind me and I’m wearing my zip up hoodie.  And I still feel a bit chilled.  Side note: I just heard in my weather app that the death toll from Hurricane Florence is at 42 people. My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this horrible force of nature! The damage is in the billions! I can’t even imagine.

Tomorrow, I am meeting with a friend of mine to do the role play assignment for school.  The “problem” that we are discussing is ‘you are feeling lonely and have no real friends’. I have to record the session.  We are meeting at a Burger King. I hope the place isn’t busy. We are meeting later in the afternoon. I’m SO nervous. I have no idea what I’m going to ask yet. She’s a really nice person though and told me not to be nervous. I can’t help it though. It ought to be interesting if nothing else.

Okay, so on to today’s topic…”Nicknames you have and why do you have them?” Presently, I only have two nicknames. They are Dodie and Dottie.  Dodie is a name that my aunt Jan started calling me when I was a little kid. That’s about all I know of it.  It stuck and my whole family called me that for as long as I can remember.  A lot of them still call me that.  I’m not sure where Dottie came in at.  I use that as my online name mostly.  Mostly my online friends call me Dottie.

There’s a couple other nicknames I had as a kid that I was told about.  My dad called me squeak when I was a baby.  Apparently I squeaked when I drank my bottle.  My mom told me about this later in life.  One of my great-grandmother’s used to call me Dolly.  I actually used to like that name.  I don’t remember how it came about.

That concludes the nickname story.  What’s your nickname? I’d love to know.

Wherever you are in this beautiful world, I wish you peace, love and happiness.  Hug someone today!

❤ Dottie

 

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Day 18 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 22, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

I feel like a broken record as I apologize once again for a late post.  It is once again after midnight.  I guess perhaps that’s when I work best. I don’t know.  And, yes once again I was doing school work as well.  This is my final week of this class.  I have to do that role play assignment yet. I’m so nervous about it.  I need to get over the nerves though if I really want to be a licensed practitioner some day.  Is that really what I want to do?  My current professor did a post on what it takes to be a professional counselor and I about fainted. I knew I needed at least a Masters Degree, but oh my goodness! I’m going to be retirement age by the time I’m done with all that’s required as far as testing and working hours.  Lord have mercy!

Okay, today’s topic is “Plans/dreams/goals you have.”  Oh mylanta!

Well let’s see…I guess to start with, my plan is to find a job and plug away at getting the bills paid and eventually caught up.  I made a list of everything I owe, including medical bills (not including student loans) and I’m over $6700 in debt!!  Sucks to be me right now. lol .  I know it could be worse, but when you have no income, it’s a bit overwhelming.  My dream is to eventually get re-married and do more traveling. Or maybe travel and then re-marry. However it works out, I’d like to do both.

My goals are to continue to lose weight and be fit and healthy.  My ultimate goal is to live past the ages my parents did. My mom was 56 and my dad was 61. Of course, ultimately I can’t control that I suppose. But I can do my damndest to make sure I’m the healthiest I can be.  I only have one body and one life.  I’ll be damned if my death certificate is going to say anything related to obesity!! My mom passed away due to complications of morbid obesity.  That won’t be me!  My dad died of cancer so there was nothing he could have done; although maybe if he never would have smoked, perhaps things would’ve been different (he had lung cancer), but who’s to say?  Ultimately, God decides when it’s our time to go.  At least that’s what I believe.  But if I can help it all, I want to get rid of this weight and get as healthy as I can.

I guess my plans, dreams and goals are pretty simple for the most part.  I just pray that something comes about and I can start paying on the bills.  I do want to thank my church family for helping me out.  I am so very appreciative! God bless you all!

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

❤ Dottie

 

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Day 17 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 20, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

Hey! It’s still Thursday! I’m early, what do you know?

Today’s topic is a bit of a tough one for me. It is “Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why?”  I think most people would probably have an easy time with this one.  You’d probably pick someone rich and famous. Am I right?  I have actually been thinking about this much of the day and I am completely stumped.  I have had thoughts of a famous person, my dog, a bird, a relative, a child, God, etc.  When I thought of God, I envisioned scenes from the movie Bruce Almighty. And then I was like, “No!” Don’t wanna go there! After much thought, I finally thought of someone.

Drumroll please…

The person that I would like to switch lives with…well I’d actually just want to live her life for one day. I’d hate to put her in my life. lol.  Anyway, it’s Savannah Boan. She works at Gatorland in Orlando, Florida.  Her Instagram is Visit Savannah.  I chose her because I think it would be quite fascinating to work around the animals that she does.  Additionally, I am deathly afraid of snakes so I think it’d be cool to be her for a day and have zero fear of snakes for the day.  I would be able to work with them and handle them…no problem! I think I’d have an amazing time being Savannah for a day!  Here is their You Tube page also. Visit their YouTube!

I have never been to Gatorland in Orlando, FL. However, my aunt and uncle have several times and they speak very highly of it.  I really want to visit there some day.  And who knows, perhaps Savannah will help get me over my fear of snakes!

One can only hope!

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

❤ Dottie

 

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Day 16 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 20, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

Here I am well after midnight! It’s technically Thursday already. But I’m just going to write as if it’s still Wednesday because I haven’t gone to bed yet.  So it’s not a new day for me yet.

I went to the lake again today. I finished my book “If I Stay”.  It was a great read if you ask me.  I cried at the ending. Now, I want to read the second book “Where She Went”.  I don’t have a copy though so I’ll probably order it off Amazon if it’s cheap enough.  For now, I think I’m going to read “The Book Thief” by Mark Zusak. It’s one I already have on my shelf. I’ve heard good reviews on it.

Today’s topic is “Another picture of yourself.”  Instead of posting a current picture of myself, I’m going to post a couple from my youth.  I think that’ll be a little more fun.

My great-grandma Laug and me. 1973
I’m guessing I’m about 4
5 Generations

Top left corner is me and my great-grandma in 1973. It was taken on their boat on Spring Lake in Spring Lake, MI.  The bottom left is a five-generation picture. I’m the wee-one in the middle. My great-grandpa is holding me. In front of him is his mother, my great-great grandma. Next to me is my mother and in front of her is her mother; my grandma. On the right is a picture of me by my lonesome. I’m guessing I’m about 3 or 4? I’m not really sure. I do know that was my favorite dress and that my grandma made it for me.

Well, that’s all for me.  Sorry for such a late post again.

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

❤ Dottie

 

 

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Day 15 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 18, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

Oh my gosh! It’s still Tuesday!! It’s not midnight yet! I’ve got a little more than 20 minutes to get this post done before it becomes Wednesday! Hahahaha!!

I went out to the lake again today.  This time, I actually got some reading done.  I may go out there again tomorrow. I’m not sure as I hear it might rain tomorrow. Although, it might be fun to watch the rain clouds move in over the lake.

I neglected to post a weigh-in update on my blog. However, I did post a current picture on my picture page.  I did do an update on my YouTube site if you want to see that.  I have a link to my YouTube page over in the sidebar.  Feel free to subscribe if you want to see my cute little face every week. lol

Ok, so today’s topic is “Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play”  I don’t have an iPod. I have a iPhone though. So I just played the radio and here are the first 10 songs that played.

  1. Side to Side – Ariana Grande
  2. Youngblood – 5 Seconds of Summer
  3. Sugar – Maroon 5
  4. Finesse (Remix) – Bruno Mars (feat. Cardi B)
  5. Attention – Charlie Puth
  6. Issues – Julia Michaels
  7. God is a Woman – Ariana Grande
  8. Bad at Love – Halsey
  9. Story of My Life – One Direction
  10. Girls Like You – Maroon 5 (feat. Cardi B)

And there you have it. What type of music do you like? Do you have a favorite song/artist? I’d love to know. Leave me a comment.

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

❤ Dottie

 

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Day 14 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 18, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

How are you? It was Monday and now technically it is Tuesday because where I’m at, it’s after midnight. And, yes I did just get done doing some school work. I had two papers to write tonight. Me and my procrastinating! I had one on my personal mission statement and the other was a crisis response reflection paper.  I can not believe I waited until the last minute to do both papers. They were due by 11:59 p.m.  I did but still. Not a good habit to be in.  I have one week left of this class.  My final paper has to be a role play assignment where I place the part of a practitioner and I have to find someone to be the client. I have to record the session and then write a reflective paper on it. I’m so nervous about this one.

Okay so today’s topic is “A picture of you and your family.” I have to be honest, I struggled with this one due to the recent divorce.  I didn’t want to post a picture of the entire family of four that included my ex-husband.  I just didn’t.  Sadly, I don’t have a current picture of me and the girls.  I need to get one sometime soon.  We need to do lunch or something.  I suppose that will have to wait until I can afford it. So, I found an older picture of me and my two girls.  It was taken nine years ago I think. I’m not positive. But it is older regardless. They were both still in school.  It was taken at Fred Meijer Gardens.  We all look a bit different now. Kara and I have both lost some weight. Kayleigh has longer hair now and has put on a little weight.  But, this is my family. The three of us. Well, actually, Jon is missing.  Jon is Kayleigh’s boyfriend. They have been dating for six years now I think? I’m not positive to be honest.  He is family now too.  He wouldn’t want his picture on here anyway. Kayleigh and Jon aren’t even on Facebook anymore.  Since the divorce and since Kayleigh has been living with Jon, I feel like we have all drifted apart.  Maybe that just happens as they become adults and more self-sufficient? I don’t know.

MeGirls_2009

Me, Kara and Kayleigh (circa 2009)

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

❤ Dottie

 

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Day 13 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 17, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

Here I am with an extra late post again.  I’m good at this.  I just finished working on school work again too.  Today I went to church and after services, we had a tailgate party to welcome the Fall season.  I’m not ready for Fall or the cooler weather.  The party was supposed to be outside, but the mosquitoes are so terrible around here that the party was moved inside instead.  However, the hotdogs were still cooked outside on the grill.  I managed to eat part of a hotdog, some jello and a few bites of an Oreo cookie dessert.  I’ve not been able to eat a whole lot.  You all know I had weight loss surgery so my stomach is significantly smaller.  However, I’m supposed to be getting in 60-80 grams of protein a day and it’s not happening.  Not even close.  From church, I went out to Lake Michigan AGAIN! And, again it was really busy and there was nowhere to park. I was so disappointed.  So, I just came home.  Spent my day on laundry, school work, cleaning the bathroom, etc.

On to the topic of the day.  It is “A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.”  This is not a good topic for me.  I had to write an anger letter to my ex as part of my therapy, but that would be a bad thing to post on here.  People that read this know my ex and that could be quite disastrous.  So I’m trying to think if there’s someone else who has hurt me. Actually, there is.  Of course, I’m not naming any names.

Dear Nameless,

It has been some time since we have talked or texted and I’m not sure I understand why.  We had shared a common bond.  And we had several things in common as well.  I remember our conversation and how excited we were to find out just how much we had in common.  I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with you.  It was easy to share my feelings with you because you understood how I felt.  We went through such similar trials.

I thought we had a strong friendship and we did for a bit.  Then something happened and you just stopped talking to me. You also stopped responding to my texts.

I no longer existed in your world and I have no idea what on earth I did.  Or if I did anything at all?  Maybe I didn’t.  But the fact that you don’t respond really kills me on the inside.  It’s heartbreaking.  There’s things about me that you knew that nobody else did.

I miss that friendship.  If I did something, I’m sorry.  Perhaps I was overbearing. But if so, you could just tell me. I can handle it. I’d rather know you’re okay and happy with life than to be completely ignored.  It just doesn’t seem fair.

Signed,

Heartbroken

Perhaps this friend was one of those that were only there for a reason or season as they say.  But that doesn’t make it hurt any less.  Losing friends are hard!!  I still secretly hope that this person would message me out of the blue and just say “Hey, I’m okay. Thanks for caring about me.”

Well that’s all I have for today/tonight.

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

❤ Dottie

 

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Day 12 – 30 Days of ME!

Posted on September 16, 2018 by DorothyMarie

Hello Readers!

Here I lay in bed at 2:08 a.m. I nearly forgot about posting! I am so sorry. I will get better. I hope.

Today I went out to Lake Michigan again with the intention of relaxing and reading. But, unfortunately when I got out there, it was so busy! There was nowhere to park. I had forgotten that the Salmon Festival was going on. I was bummed. So, I sought out a different park. I ended up at a small park on the Grand River called Deer Creek County Park. It was quiet and there was nobody there. I enjoyed it. Luckily, the mosquitoes weren’t too bad.

Today’s topic is “How you found out about Blogger and why you made one.” Instead of using Blogger, I’m going to use WordPress. Although, prior to this blog, I did have a blog on Blogger. That was more of a family based blog to keep distant family updated on us. That blog is long gone.

This blog here on WordPress goes back to 2013 I think. I believe I found out about it from a friend who had started their blog on here. I started a blog for several reasons. First, I enjoy writing. It’s very therapeutic for me. Second, my therapist wanted me to keep a journal as part of my therapy so I chose to do it online. Thirdly, I have hopes of helping someone else with my challenges. I’ve survived several challenges. If I can do it, so can you. If I can inspire one person, I’d be happy.

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

❤ Dottie

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