Its going to take me awhile to sift through all the comments folks! Please be patient. Posting is the most important thing here.  Yes, life is getting crazy lately.

I love “payday weekend.”  You know, that first Saturday of the month when you’ve just gotten paid and you can go do something fun?!  Here’s my agenda for this crazy day:

4am Cook – more prep for meals for this nutty new lifestyle I’m involved in.  Its 5am and I already have chicken in the oven and asparagus steaming on the stove.  Gotta eat chicken and asparagus for the next seven days.  (Too bad, I really liked chicken.  I’ll probably hate it by next weekend.  But you gotta do what you gotta do to take off a few pounds.  No PAIN, no gain.  Am I right?)

7am Double full body workouts at my gym.  I’m going to be in more pain.  But this is the good pain.  Its the pain that says “you pushed yourself.”  We weightlifters wear this pain like a badge of honor.

9am Late breakfast – You got it – chicken and asparagus.  🙂

10am Shopping – Go to Barstow Outlet for some new work out shoes.  I’ll probably walk around there a bit, trying on clothes.  I used to be pushing a size 18.  Now I’m fitting into 10’s and 12’s.

12 noon Lunch Probably at Red Lobster or Olive Garden – chicken and asparagus.

1pm More shopping.  Shopping is my cardio today.  I need to get a baby shower gift for a friend from church, invitations for my Passover Seder and treasure box goodies for my class.

3pm Snack – I have to eat every two and a half to three hours: building muscle. Drinking as much water as possible.  Going for a gallon a day.  Gotta keep things moving, if you know what I mean.  Yes, praying for THIS to happen as much as possible.  Going = weight loss.  How else can fat leave the body?

TMI?  Too bad.  My crazy life continues…

4pm Go home and relax for awhile.  I’ve got a couple good movies to watch from Netflix.

6pm Call Grandma and set up time to see her tomorrow.

6:30pm  Hot Bath in my gynormous tub.  My muscles are going to need this.

7pm The Sabbath ends.  It started yesterday evening at sunset.  So the bit of relaxing I did get to do today, was sanctified by God.  Katie Baumen, associate rabbi at Temple Israel in Memphis, Tennessee does a gorgeous job of singing the blessing to end Shabbat.  They are the exact same songs and melodies that we sing at my temple church.  Enjoy!

You’ll notice EVERY thing has a meaning.  Jews are “masters of the metaphor.”  If you remember, metaphors are the comparison of two things, but you don’t use the words “like” or “as.”  The wine is sweet, because Shabbat is sweet.  The spices are like a life full of endless variation and uplifting moments.  Spices uplift food. Shabbat uplifts life. See how it works?!

7pm Gotta work a bit: set designing and costume planning for the plays my kids are doing.  One play is based on an African myth: How the Animals Got Their Coats.  So, I’m going to try to use some ideas from the Broadway production of The Lion King to inspire me.  Check it out…

https://youtu.be/-pgZtzDj_7o

Looks like I have my work cut out for me, don’t I?

9pm Go to bed.  I’m old, what can I say.  I like sleeping.  Sleeping is so nice.  You forget about everything for a little while.

So, that’s my “vida loca!” (Crazy life)  And of course, I find time, everyday, to tell you that I’m thinking of you.  No matter what else happens during the day, that part of my day – is sacred to me.  You are so very loved, my sweet sisters.  XXOO