Grandbabies, Moving, a Marriage and a Graduate...Oh My!

Today is June 15, so we are half way through the month that marks the halfway point of the year. That means that six months of 2013 are gone. History. What? How did that happen? Where have I been? Well, I've become a grandma, a mother-in-law, drastically downsized, and celebrated my youngest stepson's graduation. All within four months. Doesn't seem like that much to look at what I just typed but mercy-sakes-alive I feel like I've just escaped a hurricane...albeit mostly unscathed. 

I've wanted to blog more, but there just hasn't been time. Too much to do! I can't remember too much of the first quarter of the year...I was holed up and hibernating as usual. Except for March 28, when our first grandchild was born. No way I'd forget that! That little guy started out at 4 lbs and 7 oz...

Grandpa and Jr, just a couple days old
and soooo tiny!

...but look at him now: 

Isn't he precious? He's about 2 1/2 months here and almost 9 pounds!
He's also rolled over already and just continues to amaze us all.

 He is just so cool. I get all verklempt every time I'm around him. Just love him to pieces! And I'm completely proud of his parents, they are doing a great job!

April started off with a few trips to the hospital as the grandbaby was there for a bit (born 6 weeks early). The next thing I know, we are moving out of our ginormous, old, five bedroom house and into a super cute teeny, tiny two bedroom. Thank goodness it was only six blocks away, that made the move so easy. Still, I had a house full of stuff I didn't want to move and had to get rid of, plus deciding what I could and wanted to keep, get it packed and all that fun stuff that goes with moving. Makes me tired to just reflect on it. 

Here's a virtual "tour" of our new digs:

The "Cracker Box", which sounds infinitely better than
"Sardine Can". 

The Welcoming Committee, sans furball
Say hello, Sister and Mister

Step inside into the kitchen, which is about half of
the downstairs. Seriously. So actually it's a pretty
nice size, as long as  you have a small table. Which
We do. We also have a Mister who loves to be in
every picture. And a dishwasher! I'm in heaven!

This is Friday, so I have our table ready for the start of Shabbat.
Since it stays light until midnight these days, thanks to my
favorite Dumb Stupid Time, we do our Sabbath-welcoming
around sundown, looooooonnnnggg after supper. No, we are
not Jewish, we just desire to honor Yahweh's commandments
and I don't see anywhere in His word that the Sabbath was
changed from the seventh day, so we honor the Sabbath and
rest on Saturday. It's wonderful!

Moving on, we have Mister and Sister and the furball in the
living room. There is just enough room for the four of us
to lounge around, but still room for company! We just have
to sit vertically, is all.

Not sure if this gives any indication of size, but it's the view from
the other end.

Not much to show here, it's a teeny, tiny bathroom.
When Sister saw it she said "That's not a bathroom,
that's a closet with a toilet in it". Apparently, the
tub and sink are extraneous. 

Going upstairs, you land in the kids' "room". Yes,
they share a room. I was concerned a bit that it
might prove to be disastrous, but really, it's going
exceptionally well. Mister stays out of Sister's stuff,
which is a miracle. Sister wisely reduced her
possessions to something more managable.

Our room is the other room upstairs-with the door. I
wish the cable hook up thing was on the other side of the
room, it would have a better "flow" to have the bed
against the other wall, I think. Since we have about
five miles of co-ax cable crammed behind the tv, I'm
thinking we could pull it off. Not sure I want to ask
Hubby to move furniture yet, though. I love the cozy
feel of this space. And, I found a use for the homemade
wrap I used to carry Mister around in when he was a
baby...as a "swag" valance, I think that's what you'd
call it. Mister is sharing his ducks and blankets with
me, isn't that so sweet? 

The tiny-ness of the house is balanced out with a humongous
back yard. We're going to put in a fire pit some time soon.
We love campfires! If we were going to live here longer, or buy it
I'd want to put in a garden.

Lots of potential here for flowers and stuff...if I had a proclivity
for that sort of thing instead of killing plants! I have a pallet there
leaning up against the house that I plan to plant culinary herbs
in, as soon as I can get to it. And look...central air!! Aaaahhh

So, instead of a regular kind of garden, I have a Container
Salsa Garden on my back steps. A couple of Roma type tomato
plants, a cherry tomato, two bell peppers and two hot peppers.
I have some mint growing in the window well to the left. Just

got them planted...late as usual, but hopefully we'll have enough 

to do some spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce and salsa!

If you have known me for any length of time, you know that organization has never really been what you'd call my "strong suit." I think I did a pretty good job of letting go of things we really didn't need. I know that my husband was surprised a few times with how easily I agreed to get rid of some things. Truth be told, I was surprised too. There was still a lot of work involved to get things packed and moved (in less than two weeks), plus unpacking and figuring out where to put things. 

The task now will be to not accumulate a bunch of stuff in the year or so we live here before we head west. I know that this move, I reduced things to things I didn't want to live without in this new home. The next move will require more difficult decisions, because neither one of us wants to move all this stuff across the country. When it comes right down to it though, there isn't that much that I couldn't walk away from if need be. I'm going to take time over the next year to find and consolidate those precious things that can't be replaced...ultrasound pictures of the kids and special mementos and such...and limit myself to what will fit in a decent sized box. As we get closer to moving, I'll do the same with books and other things that I would like to take but need to take less of. The kitchen things will be kind of hard though, cast iron pans are almost irreplaceable...when you consider the time and effort put into seasoning and maintaining them!

It's nice to know that I am less attached to "stuff" than I used to be. I think I used to see my "things" as part of me in a sense, and it was hard to get rid of them with that kind of perspective. Now when I look around, I just see stuff for the most part. And stuff is just stuff...it has no power over me other than what I give to it. 

The night we moved into our new home, Number One Son stopped by to tell us he and his fiancee were getting married...the next day at 4:00 in a town an hour away. Hubby didn't take that so well, but in his defense he was exhausted from moving all day! And to spring something like that on him at that moment...well...yeah. Thankfully, they put it off a couple of days at least so we could be there. There was no way we could have been there on the original day, so I'm glad they moved it so at least some of his family could be there.

Mr and Mrs Number One. Hoping and praying for a long,
happy marriage for them!

Next up, my youngest stepson's graduation! Of course that meant planning and putting on an open house, for which I agreed to make meatballs. I love making meatballs, really! I had 15 pounds of venison and hamburger I mixed up to make them. Yum! Hubby cooked up some chicken wings at his job, and their famous Pit-tatoes...which I discovered are NOT gluten free. So, consuming those and veggie dip made with Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (which I discovered AFTER I ate it...) and coupled with several days of extreme busyness before and after the party...well, I felt pretty much like I got run over by a very large truck. It took several days for me to "recover"! But it was a great party, our Marine was able to come back and surprise his brother, my Arizona in-laws were here and got to meet their GREAT-grandson, and my stepson made out like a bandit. Plus, the weather was absolutely gorgeous! Our Marine's high school graduation and open house two years ago was in weather reminiscent of what I imagine sitting in the foyer of hell would be like. Sooooo hot!

Four generations of Yoder boys! Jr is on Great Grandpa's lap,
next to Grandpa with Mister, and our Marine. In back are
the Graduate and the Number One Son, who recently made
me a mother in law. It was so nice to have all the boys
together again!

So, yeah...I've been kind of busy. I think that finally, things are put together well enough, although there's a few projects that I have yet to complete. They aren't essential, but I'm hoping I can get them done. And I love having waaaay less space to maintain. Housework is getting done in half the time, or less, and everything pretty much has a home. I have really enjoyed this Sabbath, because I really felt like I could REST. Last Sabbath was not restful at all, but I enjoyed the opportunity to be a blessing to our Graduate very much. Today, I could just rest and not even think about anything on any "to-do" list. Aaahhh...

Before I sign off...I must leave you with another picture of our sweet grandbaby...I just can't get enough of him!

Moving and Downsizing WooHoo!!

After five and a half years in the house we are in as of the time of this post, we are saying goodbye to Gigantic, Old, Dusty House and hello to Teeny, Tiny, Considerably Less Old and Hopefully Less Dusty House. I can hardly believe that a week from tomorrow is Moving Day! I haven't started packing yet, and I'm not even remotely stressed. Some of you just may have experienced stress reading that last part about not packing with only a week until moving day...I'm sorry to have stressed you out! Oddly, this is the first move I can ever remember that I did not have some kind of dread deep within, even when the move was wanted. 

I am very thankful to have a home to live in, a home that is safe and comfortable. And if we owned this home and had the money, it could really be fixed up nicely. I love the old, dark wood here. I love being close to the library and the butcher shop. But I won't miss the dust! There's not much you can do about dust in a house that is over one hundred years old. Battle it or give in...and honestly, I surrendered. It was just too much. I also will not miss living on a very busy road. Our new house has a dishwasher and central air, and I can't tell you how happy that makes me!

We are only moving six blocks away, and it's temporary...until we move to Arizona in a year or so. It will help us accomplish two very important steps in getting to the Valley of the Sun...save money and get rid of stuff. Obviously, we'll need money to move across the country. And I am NOT taking all this junk with us. I'm tired of dragging it around with me. And the way this is working out will make it fairly easy to downsize. First, we move essentials...beds, couch, kitchen stuff...then we figure out what we have room for and move that. The rest of it will get sold, given away or thrown away. 

It's true I've struggled with clutter and KTMS (Keeping Too Much Stuff). I even did a post a while back about being SOS (Sick of Stuff). And it's also true that I could have gotten rid of said stuff at any time...you know, I Can Quit Any Time I Want To...but it's much easier when you just don't have room for it. I know I'll have to make some tough decisions, but it's just stuff. I'm tired of feeling choked and suffocated by stuff that just sits around collecting dust.

So now, I need to plan the moving strategy, then see if it matches my husband's. Most likely it does not, since men and women think completely differently. But one thing I love about our relationship is that most of the time we work very well together. We've learned when to give and when to take and when to leave the other alone (most important!), and I know even if our strategies are not identical, we'll get through the move just fine. 

I'm going to post this and get back to Pinterest. I can't believe some of the things you can do with pallets...amazing, I tell you. I've got ideas for summer projects...

Another New Year, What's New?

It's hard to believe yet another year has flown by! My baby will be FIVE next month, my firstborn will be THIRTEEN...my head is spinning. There's been many changes in the last year or so, mostly in the spiritual and emotional areas for me. Good ones, thankfully! 

As God continues to bring healing and restoration in my "inner man", my housekeeping improves. I realized this week that it actually bothers me to have dirty dishes piled up. Oh, it "bothered" me before...just not enough to motivate me much to do something about it until I absolutely had to. This is definitely a new, and welcomed, development.

God has been opening my eyes about some things, which I plan to blog about in the coming months. It's amazing what happens when you let go of what you have always believed to be true...what you've always been taught or assumed is true...and allow Yahweh to reveal the truth that He established in the beginning.

We have some big milestones approaching...a high school graduation, a grandbaby on the way, another one leaving the nest, a new teenager in the family. I'm looking forward to what this year has to offer...and I'm sure when I look back this time next year, it unfolded differently than I thought it would. Life has a funny way of operating like that.

Once again, we've made changes in the area of food and nutrition...some rather begrudgingly in the beginning, but are turning out to be good changes. I've got another new "tool" in my kitchen...check out my post at my nutrition blog, Purposeful Nourishment, on Perpetual Broth.

I continue to try and purge the clutter in the house. It now seems to be mostly contained to closets, porches (ugh...that front porch I spent so much time cleaning is in need of another purging but it's not as bad as the last time!!), unused rooms and some corners. I cleaned out the desk today, and while there is still too much in the drawers and files, I threw out a trash bag full of papers and junk that I'd been holding on to..."just in case." Every time I go through the desk, I am able to let go of a little more. I know what would really kick me in gear is to get a different desk. Then I would HAVE to get rid of stuff!

I have a load of stuff to take to Goodwill, but since I haven't been there in quite some time, I haven't taken it with me when I leave town. I should just take it down to the drop off box here in town. I'll have to add that as a weekly task to my S.H.E. system...which I've been using again with success. The dishes are done and the house in order when I go to bed unless there's just been some kind of crazy going on here. And since that just neeeevvveeerrr happens....well, it has happened a bit less it seems, since I've been more on top of my game around here lately. 

New Year's Resolutions have never been my thing, and this year is no different. I just have an overall goal, every year, to become and do better than what I was and did last year. Not so overwhelming when I think of it like that!

I hope you have had a positive start to 2013, and whatever comes your way you will be strong and equipped to handle it. Here's to a great year!!

No Grain, No Pain

There is nothing more scrumptious than the heavenly aroma of freshly baked bread, blanketing my home in total comfort. I’m a big fan of bread, and many things made with wheat. In fact, I just recently ordered a 50 pound bag of organic soft, white wheat berries…and I wasn’t out of the last bunch I ordered. I was thinking ahead, you see. Sometimes, I think I really shouldn’t think…

To make a long story short, God has convinced me to go gluten-free. For how long, I do not know. I’ve been having issues with keeping my blood sugar normal, and in my investigations on how to fix that I’ve come across interesting information regarding a connection between gluten sensitivity and high blood sugar. Yes, I know High Blood Sugar has a shorter name, but I can’t go there right now. That’s a whole other post. Probably filled with a lot of whining and profanity, to be perfectly honest.

Anyway, I have noticed that I consistently have much higher blood sugar readings after consuming something with wheat or oats, and while oats don’t have gluten, unless they are specifically labeled gluten free, they may have become contaminated in the processing if other grains containing gluten (such as barley and rye) are also processed on the same equipment.

I have wondered for some time if my son, Mister Wiggles, has some kind of gluten issue, but just didn’t want to do the elimination diet. It’s a pain in the butt, it’s expensive, and it’s hard when you’re not at home and everyone around you is eating whatever they want. As I read what I just typed, I am thinking “What a bad mother I am! I’ve thought my son had an issue, but it’s not until I have a serious problem that I do anything about it. So selfish!” Be that as it may, what’s done is done and here we are today. This week, the kids and I started doing the GF thing, my husband is doing SLG (Significantly Less Gluten…ha ha!) as long as he eats at home, as will anyone else dining at our table for the unforeseeable future.

In the interest of saving time, both yours and mine, here are some links to informative sources of information regarding gluten:

Gluten-Free-Diet-Help.com

Kalish Research - Dr. Daniel Kalish

Gluten Sensitivity vs. Celiac Disease - What Do We Know?

Already, in just a few days (five, to be exact) of not eating any gluten…aside from the little girl I  babysit giving Mister some animal crackers, and me eating some Hidden Valley Ranch dressing (containing MODIFIED FOOD STARCH…oops…)…we are already seeing indications that this is a better way for us, specifically, to eat. Mister is noticeably less wiggly (he’s still a boy, and still ornery…I think that is just the way he is), Sister reports feeling less tired and more alert, and I just feel better in general and have not had such high blood sugar levels.It’s still too high, so just eliminating wheat/gluten from my diet isn’t going to magically fix things, but I think it’s a step in the right direction. I also have noticed my jeans are a bit more loose, and regardless of the reason that is a good thing.

It appears that gluten sensitivity is genetic, and when I look back through my family line, particularly my father’s side of the family, I have to wonder if this is something in my family. It can take up to a year to really be “fully healed” from the ravages of gluten problems, so it will be an interesting journey for sure. I am encouraged by the initial changes in just a few days and plan to continue with our GF diet.

I’ll be posting recipes, so be sure to check Purposeful Nourishment and see what we’re eating!

S.O.S. Challenge Update

It’s finally September! I so long for the shorter days, the crispness in the air and the lovely scent of autumn on the wind. The urge to bake is revving up again, and I dream of breads and anything pumpkiny emerging from my oven once more. Sigh…

It’s also the beginning of my Sick Of Stuff decluttering challenge that I’ve recently imposed upon myself. Are you curious about how I’m doing? Let me tell you!

Even though I said I would officially start this September 1st, I found myself loading up bags and boxes of Stuff in the last couple weeks of August and taking them to Goodwill. One drawback of dropping stuff off at the store I usually go to is that they give you coupons. They always ask, and actually, I could say no, but…well, I just don’t. I will have to work on that. The good news is that even though I did shop there a couple times, I brought back home WAY less than I took in, so I’m still ahead.

It’s a good thing I started early, though, because my dear honey hurt his back at work the other day so I’ve been busy taking care of him, plus we just had a few busy days already this month and I haven’t taken out a bag or box every day so far. It’s only the 5th, and I’m pretty sure that what I took out in August covers all of September so far. And, today I dropped off two garbage bags of Stuff – one I had loaded in the van last night but forgot to drop off while we were out, and one large, black trash bag full of toys and kid’s books and some things in my kitchen I finally decided I could let go of because actually, I hated them. I don’t know why I hung on to that infernal Pampered Chef potato masher that I couldn’t stand for so long. Every time I used it I grumbled about how much I didn’t like it. But now, it’s gone, and the things in the drawer it once resided in are all things that I use often and don’t make me mad.

I look around at all the things I KNOW I could get rid of, and still feel that “but I might need it some day” urge to hold on to them. It’s a process, I know, but I’m trying not to get overwhelmed by the bigness of it. I’m trying to focus on what can I part with right now, today? Even if it is just one thing, that is one less thing cluttering up my space and collecting dust.

Books will be the hardest to part with. And I know, I could get a Kindle or something, but I just love real, honest to goodness books. I love the feel of them, the smell of them (as long as they don’t smell musty, dusty or smoky!) and you just don’t get that in a Kindle. But many of those books don’t get read, so I’m just going to have to find a way to part with them one way or another. I thought maybe it would be a good winter project – read a book one more time for old time’s sake and then find a new home for it.

Overall, I am happy with what I’ve done so far. I don’t know that you can see a huge difference, but just knowing I’ve removed a bunch of Stuff that I didn’t love or use feels great. You can, however, see a big difference in the toy area and the shelf where we keep the kid’s books. It’s progress, and that’s always a good thing.

I’m going to continue to remove something from my home every day, even if it just gets to the back of the van to go to Goodwill, at least it is out of the house. I will remember to drop it off every week, since I’ll have to have room for groceries. “Odd-sized trash” week is coming up for our town, so I hope to have some trash to load up out front.

Well, there you have it, folks. I’m plugging away at my challenge and am trying to keep focused on the wide, clear, open space I long to have in my home – so I can breathe!

The S.O.S. Challenge

S.O.S. can mean several different things...Save Our Schools, HELP!!!, Switched On Schoolhouse. Anything with an S-O-S configuration, really. Right now, for me, it is an acronym for Sick Of Stuff. It's time to get serious about Stuff around here.

As I've gotten older, wiser, and more free of debilitating emotional issues, I have found that I'm somehow a better housekeeper. Do not read I'm A Perfect Housekeeper and My Home Should Be Featured In BHG there, please! I just mean that my home does not look like my bedroom did as a child...most of the time. If the kids have been running amok, well, it might look kind of like that. But, in general, you can see the floor and dont' have to walk on Stuff or shovel a path through Stuff to get around. The OTHER horizontal surfaces around here, however, typically have lots of Stuff on them. And I hate it.

For instance, my kitchen counter is a long L-shape wth a stove at one end. There is a particular corner that I have dubbed The Black Hole. Not sure why, actually - black hole implies that things go in and are never seen again. I guess it's more of the Event Horizon thing...if it gets close to that particular area, it ends up on The Pile. I do usually see it again, when I get sick of the Overflowingness and decided to "declutter" the Black Hole. 

I have wanted Simplify for a long time, but I'm not sure what has held me back...and still does.  When I'm away from our home, say at church for example, I get this overwhelming desire to go home and start Chucking Stuff. I feel up to it, I feel Inspired and Motivated. And, I get home and find that I just can't do it. Even though I haven't touched the papers in a certain file in my file cabinet for at least two years, I can't bring myself to throw them away. It's pathetic. 

Yet I long to be Free Of Stuff. I hate the choking, claustrophobic feel of all these things. Things that gather dust. Things that stare at me and remind me how disorganized I am. Things I am in bondage to, because I can not throw them out or give them away. Things that aren't worth much of anything, really. Sometimes, I think about things like What if there was a Natural Disaster and We Lost Everything. Would I survive? Of course I would. I don't really NEED most of this stuff! 

And so, I have decided to challenge myself to fill up a box or bag every day of Stuff to remove from my home. Whether it goes to the trash can, consignment shop or thrift store doesn't matter. It doesn't even matter what size of box or bag, as long as something goes out of the house every day.  It's just got to go. I'm calling it the SOS Challenge. I'm going to start this September 1, 2012...feel free to join me and share what your're doing! 

I love freecycle, but I can't wait around for people who may or may not show up to collect whatever I'm freecycling....I know myself too well. That may work for you, but it won't for me. There's a Goodwill drop box a few blocks from me, and if I have a small bag, I can also get some exercise and ride my bike down to drop it off. I also go to an area that has a Goodwill store (and I get coupons when I drop off my donations...wait, that would probably work against me!). And if nothing else, I can set it out by the road with a "FREE" sign and it will probably be gone in no time. 

Any challenge needs an outline, rules, goals....I'm going to think on those things and post what I come up with in a few days. For now, I have to work on psyching myself up for this challenge. To get rid of whatever it is that hinders me so I can get rid of all this Stuff that does not make me happy or serve a useful purpose in my life. 

SOAP Devotion: Esther 1

When God said read the first chapter of Esther, I thought I knew where He was going. I know the story of Queen Esther and how she saved her people by entreating the king. But that’s not the queen God was speaking to me about today at all. There’s another queen in that story…Queen Vashti. And she wasn’t nearly as noble as Esther…

Today’s Reading is Esther 1

Scripture: because this act of the queen's will become known to all the women, who will then start showing disrespect toward their own husbands…Esther 1:17a

Observation: What women do we, knowingly or unknowingly, idolize on TV? How do they influence our behavior as wives and the queens of our homes? Are we aware of how our own behavior influences our daughters, friends or neighbors?

Application:  Queen Vashti dis’ed her husband, the king, when he commanded her to come and she refused. This, of course, really made the king mad and he consulted with his sages on how to deal with this impertinent queen. The sages wisely reasoned that the queen’s public display of disrespect and willful disobedience to the authority of the king would influence the women of the kingdom to also disrespect their husbands.

As I read this chapter today, that verse just really grabbed my attention. It reminded me of a show I used to watch fairly regularly just a few years ago – King of Queens. I always thought it was pretty funny, what with that spunky Carrie Heffernan and her goofy husband Doug and all. I don’t know why, but I quit watching it regularly. But the next time I watched an episode, I was really shocked by how disrespectful and nasty the character of Carrie was…and that I didn’t notice it before when I watched it all the time.

How often do we idolize the women we see on TV, who are nearly always portrayed as smart, sexy, funny, ambitious and successful (while their male counterparts are typecast as bumbling idiots)? There is nothing wrong, of course, with being smart, sexy, funny, ambitious and successful…but these women also are never, or rarely if ever, shown to be respectful to their husbands…and certainly never submissive. Are we influenced by these women? How does their influence on the young and impressionable minds of our daughters shape the women they will become?

My husband told me he never liked that show, though we used to watch it often. He also told me he didn’t like Everyone Loves Raymond, another show I used to like watching…until my eyes were opened to the subtle way the entertainment industry is helping to destroy the sacred institutions of marriage and family. Our daughters are growing up believing that men are stupid, incapable morons. Our sons are growing up believing they are stupid, incapable morons who can’t do anything right, so why bother trying to be a father, to lead a family? Besides, it’s the women who wear the pants in the family, because they are the ones who are smart and capable. It is so easy to become immersed and immune to the influence of what comes out of that stupid box…it took not watching it for me to see what I was unable to see before.

As queens of our homes, we wield powerful influence in the lives of our children. Our behavior is often noticed more than our words. Biblical submission to authority and to our husbands is not being a doormat, but rather respecting the authority God has placed over us. It is not never having a say in an issue, but allowing our husbands to make the final decision, because that is the responsibility God has given him as the leader of his home and family. Our daughters learn how to be wives and mothers from us. Our sons learn what a wife and mother should be from us. As followers of Christ, then, we should strive to submit to our husbands and model for our children God’s perfect plan for the family.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for helping me to understand what submission really means. I can see, as I have learned to be more submissive to my husband, that there is peace and freedom in that submission that is not there when I try to wear my husband’s pants. Help me always to remember how I influence my children’s view of marriage and family by my own behavior and help me be the perfect example of a godly wife and mother. Forgive me for the times that I have been disrespectful or not submissive to my husband’s authority, which you have given him over me. Help me also to remember that how I conduct myself as a wife is seen by my friends and others…let me not sow discord by my behavior or by grumbling and complaining about my husband. Let all of my words about my husband be loving and respectful.

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The Miracle Pill (Updated 8-3-11)

Have you ever wished you could just take a pill and everything would be all better? It’s hard to believe that it could be that simple, but for me…well, I think I really have found a “miracle pill.” You don’t really know how bad you feel until you suddenly feel good. I mean really, really good. And you actually feel like living, not just surviving, each day. Let me introduce you to my new friend, Levothyroxine…

I have suspected for years that my thyroid was low, but any time it was tested, the result was always the same – normal. There’s a family history of low thyroid, so it seemed reasonable that the tiredness and fatigue, memory problems, irritability, increasing intolerance to cold, inability to focus and thinning hair just might be related to a hormonal imbalance such as low thyroid. But, if the test result is normal, then that can’t be the problem, right?

Wrong. I learned while researching thyroid problems that there is a grey area in the “normal” range…the higher the number on a TSH test, the lower your thyroid level is, so the closer you get to the upper limit of the normal range, the more likely you are to have symptoms of hypothyroidism. And when your numbers are at the high end of normal and you’re presenting with symptoms like those I listed above, they call that subclinical hypothyroidism. I discovered that while reading the book, The Thyroid Solution: A Revolutionary Mind-Body Program That Will Help You by Arem Ridha. I really felt empowered, after reading this book, to discuss my concerns with my doctor. I also feel fortunate that my doctor was willing to examine the possibility, as many doctors won’t even consider treatment for low thyroid if your test is “normal.”

Did you see that picture up there of the two tiny orange pills? Those are my “miracle pills”. I started taking the lowest dose there is, and a week later it felt like someone flipped a switch on in my head. For the first time in years - I’d say possibly for the first time in my adult life, and particularly in the last three years since having my son – I can think straight, concentrate, and focus. I have an energy level I have never, ever had as long as I can remember, which is great because I actually WANT to do things! I even physically move faster.I don’t feel like I’m wandering around in a fog anymore. In fact, I did more housework, cleaning, decluttering and organizing in four days than I’ve done in the last six months combined..or more! It’s simply amazing…one little bitty pill has completely changed my life. 

Now, if the doctor had just prescribed the Levothyroxine three months ago like I wanted to begin with, I’d have had three months of feeling good, and losing weight, under my belt…kind of makes me mad when I think about all the years I’ve spent feeling like poo and beating myself up because I just couldn’t “get it together”. 

Even though Levothyroxine is my “miracle pill”, I can’t forget that I have years of bad habits to overcome. I think it will be easier now that my brain is no longer a bowl of rice pudding, however. Because feeling good just feels amazing…especially when you realize just how bad you were feeling.

***UPDATE***

After taking levothyroxine for several weeks, I began to notice a gradual decline in energy level and motivation...returning almost to where I was before I started taking it, only I could still think more clearly. I called my doctor and we did blood tests again, the TSH test and A1C. I mentioned what I had found about metformin possibly causing thyroid levels to decrease but the nurse said "No, it doesn't do that." I find this interesting, because it was just like when I started taking metformin to begin with...initially I felt better (getting my blood sugar under control, I'm sure, was the factor there) but then after 4 to 6 weeks or so, I began to once again become lethargic and completely unmotivated and the mental fog began to increase again, after having subsided noticeably. The same thing happened here when I started taking the levothyroxine...and guess what? At the same time I started taking that, she increased the dose of metformin I was taking. A coinicidence? Maybe...but I have my doubts.  What I had read about the connection between metformin and lower thyroid levels was, of course, theory and more study is needed but it seems to me, in my case anyway, that there may be a connection.

My thyroid test showed a slight increase in thyroid hormone, which of course would account for the overall improvement in how I'm feeling, but since I'm still experiencing symptoms she went ahead and increased my dose. While I don't have that same level of energy I had when I first started taking it, over all, I feel better and hope this increase in dose will do it. At least she was happy with my A1C reading and didn't increase that dreadful metformin. I can't wait to get off of that!