Category: Random Thoughts

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Random Thoughts

Got your mind right….get your money right to!

A special thanks today to Ms. Pillows for that awesome blog yesterday on getting our minds right for attaining our weight goal…Please keep in mind that the same concepts apply to us whether we are aiming to loose or gain weight…the ultimate goal for us all is to be healthy, whatever that means to you.  I look forward to her next month’s column…in the meantime keep plugged into her at Big Diva Headquarters…Remember to send any question you might have in the left panel section of “Want To Reach Me?”

Stay tuned for this coming Monday where I’ll start discussing the things you need to get your money right….

Until then,
djrelat7
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Random Thoughts Wake Up Wednesdays

In my head, I have an idea of how I would like to look, getting there is only half the fun!

I am approaching day 21 of the year quickly, so i thought I’d start preparing myself for my second goal, getting to a healthy weight.  Preparation is always a good thing!  To prepare in advance is even better, especially if you are a procrastinator like me.  If I do not prepare myself in advance than I am more likely to not do what I am supposed to when I am supposed to do it.  Although over the years I find that I do well with pressure, it is not ideal!

June 2008 I was finishing up an application to volunteer at my local hospital and found that my last physical had been years prior.  To hand in the application I would have to get a physical and I remember that I was NOT looking forward to it.

Since the age of 21, my weight has inched higher and higher.  I exercised irregularly and ate without thinking about what I was eating, as I always had.  I knew that it was affecting my body, but never did anyone say to me, umm you’re fat.  Since I was little I had always been super thin.  I was affectionately called Olive Oyl, you know Popeye’s Girl.  I hated it!  I wanted to have more weight on my body, to be average!  What do we know as children?!  At such young ages, we are impressionable and fragile.  As adults we are impressionable and fragile! As long as I can remember we have been bombarded with this image of how the female body should look.  Barbie is anatomically impossible.  Slowly we are starting to change that “image” and I like it!

I scheduled the doctor’s visit and went.  Stepped on the scale, had my blood pressure taken and waited.  Waited for the doctor to come and tell me everything was A OK.  Now I like my doctor.  She is professional, direct and to the point.  She reminds me a bit of the character, Temperance Brennan, on Bones.  She goes down the list and everything is looking good until she gets to my weight.  According to my height and weight, I am categorized as Obese.  Now as she says this, I’m screaming in my head, “WHAT?! I’m WHAT?!”  She continued on to say that at my age it would be wise to try and get to a healthy weight as it would be harder once I begin having children.  I was still thinking, “WHAT?! I’m WHAT?!”  Then the shock started to wear off.  I acknowledged that I was obese, and her recommendations sounded positive, reasonable and doable. 

I went home after that appointment and told my mom.  She’s super blunt about everything, one of the things I hate and love about her.  She laughed when I said that I was obese.  Actually that is the reaction I get from everyone I tell that to.  At first it bothered me, as the news bothered me a great deal.  As time wore on I laughed to.  I began agreeing with everyone else, “but I don’t look obese.” 

I still do not “look” obese.  My loving boyfriend reminds me of that all the time, especially when I ask him if I am fat.  A few days after that appointment in 2008, I bumped up my exercise routine and lost a few pounds in a month. After a few weeks I was not seeing the results I wanted and I decided to get a walk-through of the weight lifting equipment at the gym.  The walk-through resulted in a personal training session that left me sore and wanting more.  Before I knew it I was signed up with a personal trainer.  All was going well until I got this awful cough last June and I fell off the wagon.  I jumped on it again once a month for my personal training sessions and those just ended in December.  I find myself weighing even more than when I first started. (LOUD SIGH)

I am jumping back on the wagon tonight.  I have a date with my Wii Fit this evening, all set up and waiting to go in my bedroom.  Yes, I am not waiting until day 21 to start on my next goal.  Do not put off til tomorrow what can be done today…or something like that, you get the gist.  I have enlisted with a friend to attend cardio classes at the gym.  I have set up a schedule for the week of when I will be working out, which will start tomorrow morning.  I have plugged myself into a blog that caters to my needs.  I think I’m all set to start. YAY ME! 

I am actually fortunate to know the author of the blog on the website http://bigdivahq.com/.  I met her on a vacation I had in Puerto Rico in 2007 and we’ve been friends ever since.  She fondly calls me Glenda and I am reminded of how far I’ve come on improving myself as a person.  She is my Health Guru and has agreed to be my guest blogger once a month here on My Pocketful Of Thoughts.  I figure if I ask my questions out loud I might help other people on the same journey.  Stay Tuned to the blog by Ms. Pillowz and it will be labeled Health Guru.  Feel free to send any questions that you would like discussed in the Contact Me Section on the left hand panel.  Plug into her blog today and enjoy!  http://bigdivahq.com/

Until tomorrow!
DjRelat7
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Random Thoughts Speaking Up

Never Be Afraid of Being Heard

Last week I recieved an email in my facebook inbox that said ‘Some fun is going on…. just write the color of your bra in your status. Just the color, nothing else. And send this on to ONLY girls no men …. It will be neat to see if this will spread the wings of cancer awareness. It will be fun to see how long it takes before the men will wonder why all the girls have a color in their status’

Color statuses of almost every female and even some males I knew were up throughout the week.   It spread like a game of telephone!  Who knew something so fun and simple could raise awareness to an illness that effects millions. 

I have personally known people in my life who have passed away to cancer.  People that have beaten cancer and live to tell the tale, have always brought me to tears.  But every single life touched by cancer has always inspired me to give yearly donations and walk alongside those who care for the cause.  This year I think I’ll do more walking 🙂  When I figure out when and where, perhaps you can join me or support me by making a donation for the team’s efforts. 

One voice can be heard by hundreds but thousands of voices can be heard by millions.  When it is televised as being heard around the globe, it gives me goosebumps to know we all had a little part in that 🙂 I hope that makes you all warm and fuzzy this tuesday.  We can make a difference!  We can change the world! (This is where my friend would tell me, ‘Take it easy Glenda’!) Take a look at the news item on Yahoo! Facebook Bra Phenomenon.

I would also like to thank all the voices who spoke up when they found that a majority of the redbox machines were full last week!  I hope you to got a free RedBox rental code!

Inspire someone else today to do something great!  We are all born leaders, ready to make changes!  Have a terrific Tuesday!

Until tomorrow
DjRelat7
PS Saturday marked 9 days without buying anything I did not need, so I treated myself to a book 🙂  How are you doing with your New Year’s Resolutions?  Good I hope!  On day 21 you can let me know by taking the poll I’ll have on the left hand panel, make sure to look for it!  Oh and I found my purple glove, YAY ME!
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New Years Resolutions Random Thoughts

Oh Redbox, why doest thou treat me so…

I added another item to my new years resolution, ask more question and send more emails to companies that do not have your questions answered in their Help/Frequently Asked Questions section.  So here’s to #5 on the list.

I love watching movies, all kinds of genre’s catch my attention.  Although which one I watch depends entirely on my mood.  As you know, in the spirit of spending more time with myself, I have rented quite a few dvds in just this past week alone.   I rent from the local redbox machines, which are quite convenient.  For $1.00 you can rent a new released dvd if you’re at the machine bright and early on the Tuesday morning it comes out or with a reservation on their website. When you return it and you happen to be in a different location, its OK, you can return it to another Redbox location.  So Sunday night I rented 3 dvds, went to bring them back on Monday and the machine was full.  If there are not enough slots to hold another dvd the machine says ‘Sorry this machine is full, please bring the dvd to another redbox location’.  So I had the free First Monday coupon code and rented another movie.  Now there was space for 1 more dvd in the machine and returned one.  But then I still had 2 dvds left to return.  As luck would have it, a man and his son rented 2 dvds, enough room for the rest of mine.  I then leave to go to Stop and Shop to run an errand for my mum and I decide since I have my boyfriend’s coupon code that I’d pick up another dvd.  In my head I’m thinking what are the chances of the machine being full again tomorrow.  Well that was wishful thinking!  I went to bring back my two dvds on my way to work in the morning to read FULL… stopped at the Stop and Shop in Shelton, where I thought for certain I could drop it off, NOPE FULL!!!  Stopped at one in the afternoon, FULL!! So I took a look at redbox’s Help section on their website.  They address what happens if it is full, to stop at another location or you can keep it for another day and pay the daily fee.  I did not see what to do if it happens to you two days in a row, so I wrote them a letter.  Like to hear it? Here it goes:

Hi,
I understand that if you cannot return a dvd because the redbox is completely full, and won’t allow you to return a DVD, I am to return the DVD to another location. However, I am having an ongoing issue whenever i go to return a dvd the machine is full, i go to another location and the machine is full.  Sunday I rented three dvds and went to return them on monday…I had to swap out dvds by renting new ones, which is fine whatever, but then I tried returning the ones i got monday night on tuesday, again sorry machine full…SO i kept them an extra night, what’s 2 bucks…but they were already watched…I attempted to return them this morning…again Sorry full, went to the stop n shop in shelton, sorry full, tried again a few minutes ago, sorry full, I am not keeping them another night to be charged another two dollars for dvds i watched on monday night and couldnt return on tuesday because all the machines are full.  I like redbox, i like the fact that new releases come out on tuesdays, i like that its 1.00 to rent, i like that i can return it to another location, I mean how convenient is that….but this is progressively annoying.  Can you please tell me what to do when you’ve gone two days in a row without being able to return your dvds because the machine is full?

thanks in advance
arelis
“If you want to get somewhere you have to know where you want to go and how to get there.  Then never, never, never give up.”

~ Norman Vincent Peale
 

On my way home at another location, FULL!  I finally found a redbox at another Stop and Shop to return my dvds to, and as I inserted them into the machine I had serious thoughts of renting from redbox again.  However, seeing as this was my first run in with full machines after months of renting from them and because of the value it does provide, I’m sure I will.

Most might find that writing an email like that is just a complaining consumer/customer letter that will more than likely be ignored or responded with a “Sorry for you inconvenience”.  This may be true.  However, it also alerts the company in question of a potential ongoing issue that was never brought to their attention.  It also may result in a reimbursement, either in partial or in full.  So in the email give a compliment, what your dilemma is and how you would like it to be resolved, or ask how they would normally handle that situation as they may just not have it posted.  I’d be interested to hear some of your stories from the past and in the future. 

On a happier note, I’ll be adding a “DJrel’s Movie Review” soon so look out for that.

Until tomorrow, Be Safe!
Make Your Voice Heard!
DJrelat7
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Random Thoughts

To Procrastinate Or NOT To Procrastinate…that is the question

I am doing awesome on my New Year’s Resolutions…although I only got to the first three on my list as I’ve put off finishing it. Procrastination is my number 4 for this year and this is something I work on every year and always manage to procrastinate working on it. LOL

You’d be proud to know that I entered Target last night to buy a heater, pick up some Gatorade and a few things for my mom, AND I DID NOT BUY ANYTHING EXTRA!!! YAY ME!!  Well, I take that back, I picked up some ornament hangers that were on clearance, but I only paid 60 cents for them, a count of 150 no less.  Always buy decorations and such on the off season! You can save SO MUCH money by doing that, it’ll scare you! The day after Christmas is when you should stock up on next year’s wrapping paper and gift bags.  The fall is when you should buy a really nice charcoal/gas grill or air conditioner for next summer.  I think you get my point.

Its day 5 and I’ve done well so far but i need you to pray for me!  I am helping one of my best friends look for shoes for the bridal party for her wedding in May.  I went online today to look at some potential shoes, and there were sooooooooooo many nice ones I wanted.  It was very painful to not click on them and put them in the cart, punch in my credit card number and have them the next day.  I am strong willed but the voices are loud.

I have yet to go to the gym to work on my healthy weight, remember I suffer from procrastination, although I will get on that starting Monday!  What exercises do you do, aside from the gym, that gets you motivated to work out the next day?  Let me know please!

I’ve done a great job with spending time with myself and speaking of that I plan on doing it right now.  Redbox has free coupon codes the first Monday of every month, and yesterday I got codes from my cell and my boyfriend’s.  I have The Other Man and Hangover waiting for me and I will join them now.

Before I say good bye I’d like to share a site with you for shoes, in case you are not a shopaholic or know someone looking for shoes for a wedding or special occasion.  There are other things on this site as well. Check it out its…www.6pm.com. As I write my blogs more sites will come to mind that will save you money and still support a shopping habit. You can find these sites in the left panel labeled DJrel Finds.  Enjoy!

Until tomorrow, be safe!

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Random Thoughts

Take time for you…

Its freezing in Bridgeport, Connecticut!!!  Snow covered the ground when I stepped out of St. Vincent’s this afternoon and I let out a low cave man like grumble.  Since New Year’s Eve the snow has trickled down every day making it ever so clear to me that this will be an ugly cold winter, well pretty,  in the sense that everything is covered in powdery white, but snow always throws a wrench in our day.

I’ve made it safe and sound after an early evening of chatter, laughs and good coffee with my friend and I’m ready to chow down on dinner and pop in the red box dvds, one after another….I was NOT kidding when I said I wanted to spend more time with me and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. 

Before I bid you adieu, on a side note, I left my cell at home when I rushed out the house to go volunteer at the hospital and I forgot to let my mom and boyfriend know that I was stopping at my friends house when I got out.  I came home to see 8 missed calls between the two of them and it makes me warm and fuzzy inside to know that I matter to someone enough to have them care where I am and that I’m safe.  Never take for granted the people that love you and love them back just as hard, we don’t know what tomorrow brings so do it NOW!  Be safe!

until tomorrow DJRelAt7