Days Gone By And New Days To Come

I’ll tell you where I’ve been for the last three days, but first let’s do the New Year thing since today is the LAST day of 2012. A year ago around this time, I was breathless and unable to speak. Boy how things change in just one year.

Let’s see if I can give a few high and low points of the past year.

The Joys And Sorrows Of 2012

2012 was the last year of my forties and definitely one that will not be forgotten…

• I was determined to have gorgeous Abs, Legs, Thighs, Hips And Cute Buns which is why I started exercising.
• Because of the lovely incident in the airport, I learned all about plantar fascia and how long it takes to heal. That really threw off my exercise plans, but I knew it wouldn’t last forever. I also had proof that I keep my heels soft like a baby’s bum. LOL
• 2012 was the big year of Google Plus and I taught you all How To Set Up Google Plus. Are we in each other’s circle yet?
• It snowed one day during 2012 and I was sick and unable to enjoy it. You can call it Murphy’s Law which often runs rampant in my life.
• In February I hit my 66,000th tweet on Twitter and I gave you all kinds of advice on tweeting.
• On March 22nd, after many hours of work, I happily switched my blog to a new host and revealed my face in the header instead of the looking down picture. After that I started getting emails telling me how you thought I didn’t show my face because I was missing my chin. Honestly, I never imagined anyone would think that was why I did the looking down picture! I thought it was just showing a bit of mystery!
• I discovered The Truth About Paraffin Wax Candles. Since I was trying to be healthier, it was one more change I made in my home.
• I tried to hypnotize you, but it didn’t work.
• I contemplated running naked down Main Street.
• Alyssa started her last year as a teenager and hit the big 19!
• I wrote a post called Succulent, Gritty Fleshed Pear With Dripping Sweetness which was akin to a post I wrote a year before called Will Strip For Mango. Passionate food has always ranked high on my list of things I love.
• I had to wait 6 months to find out if I was going to be let go from my job as part of the big lay off. In the end, I retained my job. THANK HEAVENS! Quite literally, thank God.
• I shared my experience at the hotel when the swingers took over the whole floor because they wanted to have nakedness and freedom.
• I wrote 37 Keys To Happiness And A Happier Life which has become the most stolen post I’ve written. People copy and paste the entire post and take out all the links so that they can claim it as their own writing.
• If your Twitter account is hacked, I published the 7 How To Steps To Fix It. My Twitter account hasn’t ever been hacked, but a whole bunch of people can’t say the same thing.
• I started driving myself to work again even though it was hard.
• There were many posts about PTSD and I told you 14 Reasons That You Should Read This Post About PTSD Now. I won’t be the only person you know with PTSD and some day you may actually have it happen to you too. In the case of PTSD, knowledge is power. Learn all about it now so that you will be better equipped later.
• I revealed my $2,295 high heel shoes.
• Hopefully you don’t do the 20 Things That Age You, but if so, you can change your habits any time!
• You saw Turtle’s freckles and his Green Alien friend.
• Krispy Kreme Doughnuts celebrated their 75th Birthday.
• Showering and Bathing Together became a whole new experience.
• My sweet friend, Joyce Rothman, passed away.
• Mom grew Moonflowers that Glow In The Dark.
• Alyssa and I went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Up to this point, I had shared many, many delicious recipes such as:

• Blueberry Salad With Cream Cheese Topping
• How To Make Homemade Apple Sauce – Quick, Easy, Small Batch
• Healthy & Moist Baked Apple Blueberry Oatmeal Recipe
• Original Nanaimo Bars Recipe From Nanaimo BC, Vancouver Island, Canada
• Homemade Gourmet Marshmallows With Ghirardelli Chocolate
• Smiling Sunshine Carrot Muffins
• Country Cabbage And Potatoes
• How To Make Homemade Apple Butter – Easy, Delicious, Small Batch
• Best Old Fashioned Homemade Lemonade
• Overnight No-Cook Refrigerator Oatmeal Muesli which is one of my ABSOLUTE favorite breakfast foods.
• Champagne Grape Cake looks just so pretty.

That was, of course, before I learned that the reason for my increasing weight and inflammation in my body was due to a grain allergy.

• I created the cutest eggs in Good Egg or Bad Egg – What Is Your Eggness?
• I emptied my email which was the first time in forever.
• Twitter came out with a new feature and I taught you How to Change Your Twitter Profile Header Image
• We played a Rebus game.
• You learned how to determine the number of days in a month and I revealed the big dipper on my hand.
• You got to see what I would looked like if I was a blonde and learned 13 Ways To Improve Your Body Image.
• One of my fondest memories is triggered by The Windmills Of Your Mind.
• I moved and although I posted funny pictures of myself for a week, it wasn’t really any fun at all.
• I was Stood Up On My Date With The Policeman.
• I shared When A Dream Dies, 10 Things You Can Do. Continuing to flourish after admitting that a dream is over is one of the hardest things we have to do.

Where Have I Been For 3 Days?

Obviously 2012 was filled with a lot of stuff and through it all, I had PTSD which hopefully will be gone eventually. However, my grain allergy will be with me for the rest of my life and I’m having a hard time accepting it.

I guess if I hadn’t ever really cooked a lot, it wouldn’t be so hard for me, but my life has always been woven with delicious food experiences. Not having fluffy bread, delicious cakes, buttered corn, warm oatmeal and a billion other things is not only a drastic change for me, but is really hard to avoid completely. I read labels on EVERY single thing that touches my body. Am I whining? Yeah. Will it really get me anywhere? Probably not.

Many new foods have been introduced into my meals and I’m not starving to death, but I just have an overall sadness for the food I can no longer eat unless I want to get sick and/or die. It’s a drag and somewhat scary, but eventually I will come to terms with it. Who knows, but it may help me to actually ward off many diseases that I might otherwise have succumbed.

For the past three days, I have read and read and read about food. I’ve also gathered new crochet/sewing patterns, watched the Hallmark and Lifetime Channel which have been showing Christmas shows/chick flicks around the clock, loving on Bella, sleeping A LOT because I’m really tired and cleaning/cooking as little as possible. I was also feeling very sorry for myself which I think everyone is allowed to do once in awhile especially when they are actually depressed. It feels so good to feel sorry for yourself when you’re depressed. LOL

Thinking And Moving Forward To 2013

This year I will not jinx myself with the whole exercise commitment because I don’t want to have another injury! Even though I do not have six pack abs (yet), I look and feel so much healthier. That grain allergy really kicked my butt and now that the weight literally fell off of me once I quit eating grain, I am almost back to the size I was twenty years ago. Yeah, you read that correctly. TWENTY years ago BEFORE I had Alyssa. Amazing, huh?

So 2013 presents 365 days to accomplish a few goals. This is my plan…

• See the end to at least most of my PTSD problems.
• Hone my body into an all around healthier condition and quite possibly get those abs I’ve always wanted to possess.
• Learn how to make an absolutely awesome bread without using grain flour. By the way, most recipes that are grain free lack a delicious taste and some actually are not edible. This is one of those things that you really should just believe and not experience. 😉
• Steadily work on my book about PTSD. I would really be happy if it were finished by the end of the year.
• Finish my eBook which is already 100 pages. Nope. I’m not telling you what it is about until I’m finished, but I think you will be quite surprised! I don’t have that much left on it, so I really just need to buckle down and finish it.
• Get my homemade Christmas gifts finished by the end of October like I used to do many years ago.
• Learn to accept the things I can’t change.
• Blog, blog and blog.

I think that’s enough of a list. No need to overwhelm myself before I even get started! Besides, the PTSD wellness plan, grain free cooking and accepting change are really three very, very, very hard things to do.

In summary, 2012 has not been a good year for me in many areas of my life, however, I’m still alive. As long as I keep breathing there is hope for a brighter tomorrow filled with love, laughter and abundant happiness. Don’t you agree?

“Learn from yesterday,
live for today,
hope for tomorrow.”
~Albert Einstein~