All You Need is Love

Today we give thanks for the many blessings in our lives.

I am blessed beyond belief: I have a wonderful family (both my immediate and extended), I have my health (yessssssss), I have a beautiful home, I do volunteer work that I love love love, I have food on the table, money in my pocket, and the future before me.

And I have friends...you people...you are a blessing to me....

Not just because you read this silly thing I write, and not just the kind words you say, but the fact that I know I am blessed to have each and every one of you in my life.

So today I want to REALLY count my blessings and be grateful for all that I have.

Here we go:

I am blessed because I have 2 wonderful children that although they sometimes challenge my sanity and my conviction that I AM a good mother, they are good kids and make me proud every day.

I am blessed to have a husband...he's not perfect...I'm not perfect...marriage is hard...but he is a good man...and it's nice to have someone to share the burden with.

I am blessed that although my parents are no longer with me, I know that I will see them again in heaven and I am grateful for what I learned from them during their all-too-short time here with me.

I am blessed to have wonderful aunts and uncles who have continued to share the burden of raising me since my mother is gone. And yes, I am not yet a real grown-up yet so I still need someone to raise me.

I am blessed to have my siblings. We don't have the best family relationships. In fact, they are pretty crappy relationships, and we are a very fractured bunch since my mother died---and even before---but, and here's the "but" part that I count as a blessing...God GAVE me my siblings and so I will count them as a blessing.

I am blessed to have my sister-in-law. Yes, I am one of those very lucky women who happen to LOVE their sister-in-law! She is a beautiful woman, a wonderful mother, and has a beautiful heart. And how lucky am I that she is not just family, but a friend?

Speaking of which...I am blessed to have GOTT as my dear friend. And GOTTESS. And their little GOTT-SON. Because sometimes we get really lucky and we end up loving someone as much as our own family. I told GOTT the other day that we don't choose our family but we can chooe our friends and we were blessed to consider each other family even if we aren't blood relatives.

And that leads to the fact that I am blessed that I have several friends that I consider to be family...you know who you are...you are the keels on my ship, you are the wind that carries me, you are the arms that hold me. I am blessed to have such wonderful friends...

And I am blessed that I am allowed to do what I do at my son's school. I love love love working with children. I love doing the cotumes for the shows, I love teaching Art a la Carte, I love substitute teaching, I even love going on field trips (sometimes...talk to me next week after I go with the choir). The hugs I get from the kids are a great salary (I have said it before) and I am surrounded with some really great people at that school: Sistah, Precious and Adorable, Bacchus, TTG, Coach Cuteness, Musical Muse, Science Goddess 1, 2, and 3...and so many many more...love love love my SFEDS friends...and since they teach my son they are a double blessing because they are they finest teachers and staff in the world!

I am blessed that I belong to the Houston Racquet Club and found my way into the gym there. I was terrified the first time but now it is a wonderful place for me to go. Who would have thought I would end up being a member of the FITNESS COMMITTEE? I go there to reduce stress, have some time to myself, work my body, and find peace...

I am blessed that I have my "J-girls" in my life: Spinderella (her real name starts with a "J"), J'taime Jamie, and Jay Vee...they have been such great support to me with my health and excercise. I can't tell you how great it is to have instructors that really CARE about you and what you are doing. I love them!

And who can forget how blessed I am to have Fitness Goddess in my corner? She got me kicked into gear and not afraid of the weights...so I would be ready for...

Coach Dimples who is also a double blessing to me. First he was a blessing as my son's football coach and did a great job with him. But now he is a blessing to ME because he really is trying to help me change my life, my ways, my excersise, my body, my mind...and he does it with a good deal of support (and some humor) and has accepted that he is not just "trainer" but "therapist" as well. I can see the changes already and I know that we are just starting on this journey together with him getting me to finish what I have started. It's the back half that is the hard part...it's like lifting a weight---you can push it up, but when you have to bring it down slow and resist gravity, it's hard and it hurts. He is helping me with this back half, this lowering down, this resisting of gravity that would in many cases make people say: "Heck, I've lost 90 pounds and I am done" but he's keeping me going and making it fun while we do it.

I am blessed that my physical has proven that my hard work is paying off. 100 point reduction in my cholesterol has made me say "amen" all day long...

I am blessed that I don't miss hamburgers as much as I thought I would.

I am blessed that I realize that Crave Cupcakes and Fuzzy's pizza are kryptonite to me.

I am blessed that my turkey was amazing today and my stuffing/dressing was almost as good as my Mommy's (because it will NEVER be AS good, just almost so...)

I am blessed that I love spin class as much as I remembered.

I am blessed that my son had an undefeated football season. Not because they won every game, but because his coaches taught him new things. And because they taught those boys how to win with honor, how to challenge themselves at every turn, and how to work as a team. They had a lot of challenges thrown at them---they couldn't practice at the school so they rode a bus to their practice site and lost a lot of valuable time, but they coaches made the most of it and the boys never really complained---but we, the parents did. Once Dimples told me that he would coach them in a parking lot I "got" it...it wasn't WHERE they practiced, it was THAT they practiced. I told you he was a smart guy...

I am blessed that my daughter has proven not just to be a really great math/science girl, but that her talent for photography has grown such that her instructors take definite notice. This is a blessing because it gives her a lot of pride in what she does and she really really really loves taking photos...even if I find it disturbing that some of them are of her made up to look like she drowned...really...

I am blessed that I found a way to make a really yummy low-calorie/almost fat-free dessert...recipe to follow at the bottom of this blog...

I am blessed that there is wine...and Bacchus tells me what to buy and where to buy it...because it is my little "sin" and at least the red stuff isn't all bad for you. Antioxidents, you know?

I am blessed that we have more than one television in the house...because I really don't want to watch football tonight...

I am blessed that I have discovered that writing this is a kind of therapy for me. Sometimes it is raw, sometimes I get to use humor, but it is always always always me and my thougths...uncensored...and it "lets it out" for me...

I am blessed that my family cleaned the kitchen after our big lunch today! I went into the bedroom with the cat and watched something I had recorded on the DVR.

I am blessed that Diet Dr. Pepper exists...because it is my little treat. I am also blessed that Sonic makes a Route 44 of it with vanilla for me when I need a sweet treat.

I am blessed that I found My Fit Foods as a way to eat healthy.

I am blessed that when I had my little diverticulitis episode that I discovered it quickly and now it keeps me from nuts...so I am not tempted by the pecan pie that is sitting on the kitchen counter.

I am blessed that I discovered liquid glucosomine (thanks to Bacchus...he is good for more than wine). I hate the pills...they are nasty and huge...

I am blessed that I can (almost always) pass up dessert because I know that it won't do me any good...but I will eat it if it is worth it...

I am blessed that I remember to use the "salt trick" when I am confronted with a food at the table that I want a taste of, but not all of...I just dump salt on it (if I can't pass it off to someone else). With salt dumped on it, you won't pick at it. This works well at those luncheons and dinners we all have to sit through where they bring you course after course and most of it isn't very good...I take 2 bites of the dessert and then SALT IT...

I am blessed that I have found that I love fish more than I thought I did...

I am blessed that I have discovered that I can do things I didn't think I could do: with my mind, my body, and my spirit...

I am blessed that I can cook as many yummy HEALTHY things as the unhealthy stuff I used to cook...and they are sometimes even tastier...but no, there is no substitute for good queso...

I am blessed that I have lost 90 pounds and still want to lose more...

I am blessed that I haven't given up...

I am blessed that I want to keep going with this...

I am blessed that I kept some of my "thin" clothes and that I can get into some of them...but the cheetah print skirt is still an enigma to me...not sure if I will ever put it on again, but I might TRY it on sometime when I get to that size...

I am blessed that anyone reads this...

I am blessed because I really have too many blessings to count...

And most of all, I am blessed that I love and am loved...and sometimes love is all we need...

First, the recipe...then the song...

Here goes:

ALMOST FAT-FREE LOW-CAL PUMPKIN MOUSSE
(about 200 calories/serving...they are large...better than 400 for pie)

1 can pumpkin
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1 pkg. pumpkin spice flavored Jello pudding mix
1 container fat-free Cool Whip

Mix the pumpkin with the milk and the pudding mix. You can add a little vanilla if you want (I forgot...but I bet it would be better with it so that is why I am telling you to put it in...maybe a teaspoon...). Mix well. Gently fold in the Cool Whip. Put it in serving bowls. Put in the fridge. That's all...tastes like pie except no crust. Really good with some gingersnaps crumbled on top. Adapted from an Alton Brown recipe on the Food Network website.And now...

Inspiration Song: "All You Need is Love" by the one, the only, the BEATLES. It feels right today...


Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.
There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you
in time - It's easy.

All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
All you need is love (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

Happy Happy Thanksgiving, Darlings...count your blessings...we all have so many!