All About Daisies

A story about weight loss:
Two of my 3 daughters were at first upset about my weight loss and me being thinner than them. One tried NS but just couldn’t do it with her kids and her schedule. Another said there was no way she could eat food she didn’t like. The third is thin (different body type and taller), sometimes too thin.

Well, the 4 of us were at dinner in Puerto Rico last week. They told me that they do not (after nearly 6 months) see my weight, they just see Mom. I was so glad to hear that! They said that I or my style had not changed, just my size.

Now, I hope that other friends and acquaintances will feel the same way. That they will not be looking to see if I’ve lost or gained, but just seeing Carol.

Another weight loss story
Yesterday I played golf with a very nice lady. She saw that I was wearing shorts and it was cold out (for FL). She offered to loan me a pair of long pants and my immediate response was “Oh they would not fit me”. Another lady nearby overhearing the exchange said “Well they might be too short” (she was a lot shorter). Then I realized that I am that size!

I still do not recognize myself in the mirror.

I learn more everyday.

This morning I read this post on Frogstr. I have not feared the publish button. Oh my! I have so many fears about this blog and most things in general, and I forgot to fear the publish button. Yikes!

As Tevye would say “On the other hand” I am not worried about attracting subscribers or winning a Nobel Prize for writing on my blog.  I am sure I have never written a perfect post. If I waited for perfect this would all be blank.

To answer frogstr, yes I always review my posts before publishing because I want to be sure spelling and grammar are at least acceptable to me.

Today is my last day in Wisconsin for 2008. Tomorrow we move to our home in Florida. We are enjoying all the fall colors while we can. Barb has a wonderful blog post about fall. Read it at this link. Her blog is a wonderful peaceful read. I could quote it here, but then you might miss the experience of her site.

In my garden there is one lonely tenacious daisy, hanging on to life with drying stems all around her. I would like to be more like her. I would like to think that I will cling to all that life has to offer. To lift my face to the sun and smile every day. To keep blooming when all around me is dismal. To not worry because all the roses are still vibrant and my siblings have fallen away.

I have no real garden in Florida but my house is filled with images of daisies. I will be reminded of my metaphor daily. As I use my daisy dishes, or the view the lovely daisy photos on the walls, etc.  What triggers your thoughts to turn to your life?

It has been so sad to see my beautiful daisy garden filled with black seed tops this month. Unfortunately my daisy garden only blooms once in a year. I did not want to write about the death of my flowers. But now, I have decided they are only sleeping. The stems will blacken and be cut back. Spring will see new growth in the same area, so clearly they did not die. Hooray. I can now change my thinking on this. Perhaps next year I can add some ever-blooming varieties of daisies to relieve the sadness I felt all month.

I think that I am not a one time bloomer. I may not be an ever-bloomer, but at least an often-bloomer, or occassional-bloomer. I do love to try new things (this blog is one) and feel good about having success in new endeavors. My excitement about trying new things enables me to go beyond my reach. I just need to learn to be careful about the time required for each endeavor. I wasn’t careful this semester and and most everything fell way beyond my reach and way beyond the time available to think and meditate and remember what I’m learning.

My daisies are sleeping, but I am not. I’m backing off what I require of myself so I can at least accomplish something. I’m not going to seed and waiting until spring to bloom again. I’m just going to try to do one thing at a time. Well, maybe just fewer things at a time?

When I was a child this little game is what I loved about daisies.  Pull off a petal and say “loves me”, toss the petal away. Pull off another petal and say “loves me not”. Repeat until you are down to the last petal that tells your fortune.  We spent hours ruining daisies until we got the fortune we wanted. After I became interested in math I would count the petals first, then I knew how to get my desired outcome.

I don’t pluck petals off of daisies anymore because I know he loves me.  47 years so far. I know there were times when I wasn’t very likable, but he still loved me. This week I asked him to take me on a date so I could wear my new size 10 dress (a first for me). I felt like a real princess (not the Disney type) and he treated me like one. We had a lovely brunch of outstanding food on a sunny summer day overlooking Lake Michigan. How perfect is that!

He is more proud of me now that I have lost 50 pounds, but he loved me all through the process. He loved me all during my fat years, through my depressions and my ugliest days and as I have become an aging woman. How lucky am I!  He doesn’t need to pluck daisy petals either because he knows I love him with all my heart and being. My heart sings as I write this. I am a very fortunate (older and thinner) woman.

Clearly, I am not the only one who had a thought about daisies and life.  Mary Oliver expresses it more beautifully than I ever could. Ponder the poem before I write any more.

Mary Oliver poem about daisies

It is possible, I suppose that sometime
we will learn everything
there is to learn: what the world is, for example,
and what it means. I think this as I am crossing
from one field to another, in summer, and the
mockingbird is mocking me, as one who either
knows enough already or knows enough to be
perfectly content not knowing. Song being born
of quest he knows this: he must turn silent
were he suddenly assaulted with answers. Instead
oh hear his wild, caustic, tender warbling ceaselessly
unanswered. At my feet the white-petaled daisies display
the small suns of their center piece, their - if you don’t
mind my saying so - their hearts. Of course
I could be wrong, perhaps their hearts are pale and
narrow and hidden in the roots. What do I know?
But this: it is heaven itself to take what is given,
to see what is plain; what the sun lights up willingly;
for example - I think this
as I reach down, not to pick but merely to touch -
the suitability of the field for the daisies, and the
daisies for the field.

Mary Oliver

I have recently lost 45 of the 50 pounds I set out to lose. Marie Osmond only lost 40. The last 5 pounds do not scare me at all, I know now that I can do it. How did I get this far? With a lot of help.

In January 2008 I finally felt myself motivated . That was probably the biggest part. I really, really wanted to do this. I discussed it with my dear husband and he asked me what his part in this would be. I only asked him to please not laugh at me. He hasn’t. And he has never asked me to cook a meal for him since that day.

My next step was to figure out how I would accomplish my goal. I decided on Nutrisystem. That was a good decision for me. Using their foods kept me healthy and not hungry for these 6 months. It taught me about portion sizes. I did not need to eat huge plates of food to stay satisfied. I took vitamins and drank a lot of water, every day.

In addition to portioned healthy food, I needed support to keep going. I discovered that the Nutrisystem site has some excellent online support. They encourage you to read the “Daily Dose” advice area by giving coupons for each 50 clicks. I have shared some of their great tips with others. There are numerous forums for sharing with others. I have 3 favorites: Golden Oldies, Sizzling Seniors and Emotional Overeaters. I visit them every day. Even after 71years I can still learn about myself. And I did. I learned about new triggers that caused me to overeat. Something I had not realized before. I bought the book Shrink Yourself by Dr. Roger Gould, and learned even more.

I read some of Dr. Phil’s tips. The one that struck me the most was “Get rid of those large stretchy clothes”. I had never done that before and allowed myself to get back into them. Today I took many bags of large clothing to a donation center. They are out of my house. No more easy to slide back into clothing here.

On Sunday I was reading the Milwaukee Journal and spotted an article by their TV Critic about weight loss. I saved it and went to her blog losingit and especially enjoyed reading her original blog post and the comments that followed.  I will continue to watch her columns.

Did I mention exercise? Ah yes! That is part of the whole picture. Big time!  I have to credit my dear husband for getting me out every day for walks, bicycle rides and golf. I seem to be lazy by nature. That is harder for me to change than the food and drink issues!

So, I’m on track and during this process, I have not eaten any daisies.

I could just go to Wordpress.com and let them do it for me. But I really enjoy digging deeper in my computer and my web space and learning more about it. Years ago when blogging was fairly new, I joined a group that installed blogs at the Unix level in my web space. When the group disbanded I never took it any further. Wordpress was the new kid on the block at that time. What’s new now? A great class at LVSonline! Our instructor has a great blog in addition to the extraordinary lessons. I’m having a blast and learning a ton.

Right now my challenge is to configure this blog.

I like the simple look of it, but really want to add some things without busying it up. For example, I am thinking of taking the header and adding some - guess what - daisies to it. I don’t like how the “about” portion is not shaded or on a separate page. And, I need to add a photo or two.

So, I am off to study and, hopefully, configure.

Do you remember The TV Show

Do you remember The Movie

or the book? Humorous quotes from the book

There is a review of the book on a blog about books.

If not, then you are younger than my generation.

As a young Mom I named our new puppy (an Olde English Sheepdog) Daisy. Are you surprised? She looked a lot like the Daisy in the TV show. She was goofy and we loved her for many years. As my daughters grew, Daisy’s fur soaked up a lot of tears. I will tell you some of her antics as time goes on.

I’m betting that daisies really do not taste good. Never tried them myself. Let me know if you have.