I will be participating in the internet strike on Wednesday, January 18 in protest  about the SOPA/PIPA legislation currently being considered by both the US House of Representatives and US Senate.  So, on Wednesday, my regular blog will be replaced with information for contacting your members of Congress to ask they NOT support SOPA/PIPA since these bills are nothing more than legislated censorship.

While I certainly understand the need to protect intellectual property and the need of protection for copyright holders (although that’s technically already been covered since 1998 in the US by DMCA),  SOPA/PIPA are just not the best way to handle that task.  Both pieces of legislation are poorly written and too far-reaching.  Please contact your Congress Critters to let them know your thoughts before they vote on this legislation on January 24th!

See you on Thursday …

P.S. – You can’t even begin to imagine how difficult this post was to write without citing Wikipedia!  If you think this legislation doesn’t apply to you, just think about how often you use that or similar resources.  What would you do if they were suddenly gone?!  They, along with several other major sites, will also be going dark on Wednesday in protest of SOPA/PIPA.  So, I guess we’ll all have to step back in time to a world before Wikipedia, Reddit, Craigslist, LOLCats, and more for at least one day.  Personally, that’s not a world in which I want to live!

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I know it’s been over a month since I’ve posted here on my blog.  Please accept my apology!  My post today over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans will explain everything, so please stop by and check it out. Here’s a photo teaser that pretty much sums things up:

Special thanks goes out to MizFit for posting this on Facebook over the weekend.  I really needed it!

Until next time …

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You know, it’s taken me a looooooooong time to get here, but I can now honestly say it:

Here’s why:

1. I’m working in an industry (aerospace) that was my goal from a very young age.  Ok, so my dream job as a child was to work for NASA specifically, but where I’m at is close enough.
2. I have amazing friends whom I love dearly and who love me unconditionally in return.
3. I have a wonderful kitty who brings me so much happiness.
4. I have a hobby I love that de-stresses me and gives me a creative outlet.
5. I’m back in college continuing my education which brings me happiness for two reasons:  1)  I *love* the whole process of learning, and 2) I’ve always regretted that I dropped out of college to get married and never went back to finish my degree.
6. I’ve met some of the. most. amazing people ever through my blogging.
7. Last, but by no means the least, I’ve finally come to love MYSELF for who I am, where I am, and what I am.  I do not need anyone’s approval or acceptance for me to love myself any longer.  No one gets to own space in my head but me!  This is all part of my Operation Facing Fifty process of letting go of things that have been holding me back.

Sure, there are still things I would love to be different in my life.  I would love to be at a healthy weight, and I’m working on that one.  I would love to have a significant other to share my life with, but I’ve come to accept that I don’t need a significant other in order to be happy.  Having a significant other should only enhance my own happiness, not provide it.

I love me.  I love my life.  And …. I love my new sassy ‘d0!    (Thanks, Alex!)

Until next time …

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As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been giving a lot of thought about making some major changes in my life.  Part of that comes from the realization that I’m only 2.5 years away from turning …. 50!  OMG, how the hell did THAT happen?!!  There’s just something about realizing you’re in the second half of your life that provides the motivation to do things I should have done years ago.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past week thinking about what I want to accomplish, what I need to do in order to reach my goals, and the time frame for meeting said goals.  I’ve decided to incorporate the same method my advisor at school uses for my degree program.  When we speak on the phone every other week, he gives me two small goals to work on until our next phone call.  Breaking things down into these small goals not only helps keep me from being overwhelmed, but makes the tasks more manageable.

With that in mind, I’ve come up with Operation Facing Fifty (OFF).  I’ve set three major goals for myself that I want to accomplish by my 50th birthday.  Since only one of these goals is health/fitness-related, I’m just considering these general life goals rather than weight loss journey goals.  Here they are:

1. Lose 100 pounds.  This doesn’t include the weight I’ve already lost.  This will be an additional 100 pounds from today.
2. Earn my B.S. in Information Technology.  This should actually be accomplished next year, if all goes well.  I plan to immediately start my M.B.A. in Information Technology Management upon completion of my B.S., but I don’t think there’s any way I can finish both by the time I turn 50.  I would like to completely my MBA before I turn 51 though, if possible.
3. Pay off my credit cards.  I was debt-free up until about 5 years ago, but then I gradually let balances start accumulating on my cards.  This was mostly due to traveling, which I don’t regret one little bit, but it’s time to get them paid off and get back to being debt-free.

In keeping with my idea of breaking these goals down into smaller units, I’ll be setting monthly goals for each one until they are each accomplished.  I have 30.5 months until I turn 50, so that gives me some good chunks of time to work on smaller short-term goals toward the overall larger goals.   Here are my kick-off goals for August:

• Lose 5 pounds.
• Take the final for my management class at school and get it knocked out of the way. (Scheduled for 11am on Aug. 5)
• Create a credit card snowball spreadsheet and work toward paying off the card with the lowest balance.

I also have some other shorter-term life goals that I want to work on as well.  They all have to do with having too much “stuff” in my home.  I would by no means consider myself a hoarder, but I just have stuff that I need to get either organize or just get rid of completely.  I actually hope to accomplish all of these by the end of 2011. Here are those goals:

1. Unpack boxes.  I need to go through the boxes in my spare bedroom that haven’t been unpacked yet since I moved … 11 months ago!  Seriously, if it’s not a book and I’ve haven’t used it in 11 months, I probably don’t need it.
2. Purge my book collection.  Speaking of books, I definitely need to trim down my collection.  I have Kindle versions now of many of the classic books I have owned for years.  My plan is to donate the physical books to the library or to Goodwill.  I also need to seriously trim down my cookbook collection.  I pretty much cook from the same 5 or 6 cookbooks all the time, so I could easily get rid of some of the others I don’t use any longer.  I probably have at least 50-60 cookbooks total.
3. Organize & purge my stitching stash.  I literally have hundreds of cross stitch patterns in my collection, many of which I know I’ll never get around to actually stitching.  I want to go through all my charts with a very serious eye and keep only those patterns I truly love and definitely want to stitch.  The rest will either be listed on the Bay of Evil (eBay,) given away, or donated.
4. Purge my closet.  I have clothes in my closet ranging from size 26/28 all the way down to a size 14/16.  Yes, that’s been my weight gain history over the past 6-7 years.  I kept holding on to the smaller sizes with the intention of losing the weight and getting back into them, but my closet is just completely out of control at this point.  I know this seems counter-intuitive to get rid of clothes given my earlier goal of losing 100 pounds, but I just can’t keep holding on to them.  Given how styles have I’ve aged and styles have changed over the past 7 years as well, I would likely end up just getting new clothes anyway when I’m into those sizes again, so it doesn’t make sense to keep holding on to them.  The only exceptions will probably be a couple of my formal dresses that are classic styles and can easily be worn still, but all the jeans and casual tops need to go!

So, there you have it.  That’ s my action plan for getting my life on track for facing 50.  I hope you’ll all stick around over the next couple of years to cheer me on and hold me accountable on my goals.

As for the letting go of the emotional things from my past, I’ll likely be shopping for a therapist soon, too.  Therapy was a great help to me in the past when I was dealing with some childhood traumas, so I know it would help me again in dealing with more recent issues as well.

Until next time …

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We all face defining moments in our lives.  It’s those certain times when we experience something that changes us forever, sometimes good and sometimes bad.  For me, July has definitely seemed to be a month full of defining moments in my life.

You see, for the last several years, July has typically been a bit of a roller coaster ride for me emotionally. There were a series of very significant events that shaped my life that all occurred in mid- to late-July.

The Ups

• Thirteen years ago, I got married.
• Seven years ago, I reached my lowest weight (to date) with Weight Watchers having lost 138 pounds.  In fact, I had already spoken with the area manager about starting staff training when I hit my goal weight.  Here’s a photo that was taken the week I hit that lowest weight.  I was in Edmonton having a great time with a bunch of friends.

The Downs

• Also seven years ago, just after hitting my lowest weight with WW, I learned my husband was cheating so we separated and ultimately got divorced.
• Five years ago, my ex-husband took his own life.

As you might well imagine, the last two items on this list had a huge impact on not just my weight, but on my entire life.  I began questioning myself and wondering what was wrong with me as a woman due to the fact this was my second marriage that ended as the result of my spouse cheating.  I also began carrying guilt over my ex-husband’s suicide.  He suffered from bipolar disorder and I kept telling myself if I would’ve just stayed with him that he might still be alive.  Even though I know intellectually that there is no need for me to feel any guilt, there is still a small part of me that carries that and it makes each way into my thoughts every year around this time.

Where is all this leading?  Well, I’ve decided this is the year I let all that go.  I’ve spent enough years of my life focusing on the why’s, what if’s, why didn’t, etc.  I’ve spent enough years letting the weight creep back up.  I’m currently over 60 pounds heavier than I was in the above photo.

I’m in the second half of my life now and I’ve come to the realization that I’ve wasted most of my 40′s letting these issues have space in my head.  It’s distracted me from things in life I really want to get accomplished and so it’s time to change that.  I’ve changed so many other things in my life recently, so this is just the next logical step in letting go of things that have been holding me back.

I’m still working out my plan of action, but plan to share it within the next few days.  So, be watching this space soon to learn all about it.

Until next time …

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