Day 34 Count Down to Funky 55

Day 34 - I'm standing in front of the red door of Yesterways Cottage. Did you know that the color of front doors are a message to the world? A red door means your house is paid for and would have been a big deal to paint your door red. In my case, the door was red when I bought the house and it isn't paid for at the moment although I hope for it to be in the not so distant future. The sale of my former house was supposed to pay for this one but I ended up having to sell at a deep discount because the house needed work and I didn't want to borrow money to fix a house I was trying to sell and juggle that loan on top of two mortgages. It was a pretty tough year for us while we tried to sell the former house. But now that we have just Yesterways Cottage in our budget, life got a whole lot simpler.

I don't know if this outfit is so much funky as it is comfortable. I love the colors and the floaty unbound feeling when I wear it. The capri pants (pedal pushers back in my youth) are nice and comfy too and I suppose taboo. They say you shouldn't wear elastic waist clothing because it stretches which is exactly why you wear it. But that stretching means you tend to ignore when your body is stretching and by the time that elastic becomes tight, you are good deal bigger than you started out. So, you leap on to a bigger pair of elastic pants and you have room to grow again -- and most of us do. Keeping that in mind, I try to wear flat band pants so that when I gain a bit, they push back and I try to drop the weight.

And speaking of dropping weight, that has been a nightmare roller coaster for me for the last 20+ years. I didn't get pregnant until my early 30s. Before that, I was skinny as a rail -- and I do mean skinny as a rail. I loved to exercise but gyms were frightened that I was some sort of anorexic that was going to be a problem so they were always very cagey with me. I finally quit going to gyms -- it seemed pointless. I was healthy as horse -- mostly. The only thing I seemed to suffer from was random hives that would hit a few times and then go dormant for years. Those hives recently flared and hospitalized me because they were messing with my breathing.  As a young woman I had a very strong immunity system -- so much so that is what they determined was my fertility issue. But low and behold, my stubborn, beautiful baby girl made her way into this world despite my immunity system. And she gave me two beautiful grandchildren which are sleeping as I write this post. That is the only way I could write this post. 

I wore that outfit above to the doctors office with my bright blue cape. I must have looked a sight but it was rainy and cold out so I needed the cape. And I have to say that cape felt very nice in the doctor's office which was very cold. I got the results of some lab work and I was pretty stunned to hear that I am *walking heart attack waiting to happen*. Of course they didn't say it like that but that is what my ears heard. It shook me up pretty good. I have had cholesterol problems all my life to the point that I had just blown it off. I refused to take medications because I felt it would trade one *maybe* problem for a *definite* liver problem. That seemed pointless to me. I should be able to change my problem with my food -- but the problem with using food as medicine is that you have to keep with it. You can't just short dose yourself and fall back to your old ways -- well, not if you want to stay healthy.

My challenge now as I close in on Funky 55 is to become a healthier Funky 55. That is going to be tough for me because hubs and I are total opposites on the food court. Actually, we're not -- I can eat what he likes and what I like too -- he only eats what he likes. Because I have adapted my diet to his frat boy ways, I am paying big time. He exercises daily, never has bad cholesterol, good blood pressure -- the works. The only bad thing that happened to him in our 13 years together was a gallbladder removal 2 years ago -- maybe 3. So, I suppose he has paid for his diet and to be honest, without another gallbladder to throw under the bus, I'm not sure what his diet is going to do to him. I really don't want to find out. Therefore, in addition to trying to make my home chemical free with homemade cleaners, I will be pushing to eat more at home and to eat healthy. I have to get my cholesterol under control before my heart has a blow out or I have a stroke. Neither of those is a place I want to go. Maybe the love and joy of my grandkids is what made this hit me so hard finally. Or maybe I am just finally listening to reason. Either way, I'm on a journey now to better health. I expect it will be a very wobbly, winding one with lots of mistakes and heartache along the way as I fight through finding a new way to eat and live.

Wish me luck.

Bright Blessings and Blessed Be!

Rayven Michaels

Wiccan Witch of the Midwest