Health and Wellness Journey Update: Plateau Broken!

I'm super excited today to report on my health and wellness goals! Unfortunately I'm not in a position to record a podcast today, or I'd totally be shouting this into a microphone!! 😉Suffice it to say that I think I made a breakthrough!! Aren't they the best? Sometimes it just seems like you slog away and trudge through the muck and difficulty of a challenge, and it seems impossible to overcome. But then, something happens, something changes, and suddenly you find yourself on the edge of a breakthrough. You wonder if it's the right way to go so you stew and contemplate and struggle with it (and if you're like me, you analyze it to death!) and then you decide to make the leap. 

Where I've Been

Well this week I made a big leap! And I am already seeing success, though I've barely begun. Where to begin? I suppose it's best to refer you to my last #WellnessWednesday status report if you'd like some background context. You can find that post here: First Official Wellness Wednesday Post. I wrote that in January 2018 and it's currently the middle of May 2018, so it's been awhile! I will try to catch you up a bit and then tell you what's on the horizon now.

In January I did the "no sweets for the whole month of January" until about the middle of January. Now that you're done laughing and I'm done crying (haha just kidding, I'm fine) I will just take a minute to congratulate myself for the couple weeks I did do! (Yay me! 💪💖 Go Erika!) Okay, now back to the story. So I visited my parents in January and went off of the "no sugar" thing after being there a couple of days because it was just so darn hard because I was on vacation! I did stick to my periodic fasting routine (mostly) but then I ate garbage when I wasn't fasting. So ... yeah, not the best approach, but by doing that I only gained a couple of pounds on that very long vacation.

After getting home, I got serious with my IF routine (intermittent fasting btw) by doing an eating window between 6 to 10 hours per day, on average about an eight hour window). For more details on the plan I was following, you can check out The Intermittent Fasting Podcast. I'm not going to go into detail on my exact plan because you can find it all there if you're interested. But from February until about a week ago, I basically waited to eat until about noon and then tried to eat reasonably the rest of the day, with my last meal between 6pm and 10pm. The freedom was nice because I could eat pretty much whatever I wanted during my eating window. And I think it will be a good maintenance strategy for vacations or other times when I want to indulge. BUT...

And there's the big BUT, haha. The problem is that once I got back down to my pre-2017-holiday weight, I could never break past the plateau. No matter how faithful I was to the eating windows, that scale just went up and down about 5 pounds but never went below one certain number. Grr! 😠Infuriating!!

Now to be fair, I completely know that if I had just eaten more reasonably during my eating window, I probably would have continued to lose weight. But I was just stuck on a plateau, and could never break past that spot. And I knew that I just needed to make healthier choices. But IF kind of gave me permission to not eat all that healthy when I was eating (which, like I said, can be kind of handy!) but some of that food really made me feel terrible. And I was in denial about that. When I ate healthily during my eating window (lots of veggies, moderate carbs, protein in every meal) then I felt great! But I just kept bouncing up and down about five pounds and could never get past my plateau.

A New Day!

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when a friend of mine and I were chatting in church about our health progress. She's lost 60 pounds in the last six months and it's been super inspiring to watch her progress! I thought a couple of times about asking her what she was doing, but we always had just a few minutes before and after the church meeting to chat and I was happy with what I was doing and felt like the plateau would break soon. But at the same time, I wasn't making the healthiest of choices and I knew it. And I knew that I probably needed another change.

This is how my brain works. When I start to lose enthusiasm for something, I need to change it up to make my next breakthough. A change of pace, strategy, environment, system or tools can make all the difference for my enthusiasm. Can any of you relate? 

So when Nancy invited me to listen to a health information meeting at her house, I decided to go check it out. I was super impressed with her friend Kirtley who shared her own journey. It was also fun to hear Nancy's own story in more detail. They shared some of the basic principles of the health  program that they used to reach and maintain their own health goals, and I enjoyed the get-together. I went home considering it for sure.

I found myself contemplating if it made sense for me to get a jump-start by trying something totally new, with the added support of a certified personal health coach who is also my friend. The idea of having someone to hold me accountable is probably what made me the most interested, honestly. I've spent a lifetime learning and studying, which has included many different health programs over the years, so I know in my mind what I need to do. The hard part is getting myself to do it! My daughter Jessica told me the other day that she heard something once about a study that found out that it doesn't necessarily matter that much which health program you use, as long as you faithfully stick to it and have a good plan for maintenance. In other words, you have to actually DO what you KNOW. Mind-blowing, right? 🙄 Simple but nearly impossible sometimes!

As I've visited with Nancy over the past week, I have been impressed with the details she asked me about, the knowledge she had, and her flexibility in working with me via video messages with the Marco Polo app. It works great because we get the face-to-face but we don't have to plan ahead to be on the phone at the same time. (Biggest problem with live video chatting.) Although for our "official health assessment meeting" we did both sit-down go back and forth for about an hour. She asked me about my current health situation, what my goals were, why I wanted to lose weight, and more things to help me really assess where I was and where I wanted to go. I felt like if I worked with her, I could really do this and finish getting down to my goal.

Exciting Progress

What makes this a new day for me? It's the accountability of having someone else know what my health goals are who will cheer me on and give me encouragement when I fall. It's just the sort of motivation I needed to get going on this again. And the best part?? For the past three days I have been "pretending" that I was already on the plan by eating six small healthy meals a day, every 2-3 hours. Oh and drinking half of my body weight in ounces. And guess what? Without even getting the foods yet or really officially starting, I BROKE MY PLATEAU!!! 😊😍👋

Full-disclosure here, I have peeked briefly at that lower number a couple of times over the past seven months, but never for more than a day. And it's so exciting because I haven't seen that number in the past couple of months, and now it's here! Even though it feels like I've barely started doing anything yet! So awesome.

I think that it's really about motivation and desire. I really want this because I want to be healthier for my kids and grandkids. About a month ago, I started having some heart palpitations, so I went to see my doctor and had a 24 hour heart monitor test. That really scared me. My mom died at age 60 from the effects of ten years' struggle with heart disease. She had her first heart attack at age 50. I am only a few years away from that! I realized the other night that if I died at the same age as my mom, I will not be around to see my sweet newborn grandson graduate from high school! In fact, I won't even see him enter high school. That is terrifying!!! I want to be around and keep being jumbled-y and sunshine-y for decades more to come. 🌞🌞🌞🌞

So anyway, it's a new day here for #WellnessWednesday!! I'm excited to have a COACH, to have ACCOUNTABILITY, and to maybe even earn some money for my efforts, thanks to also signing up for a DietBet challenge on Monday night. I am hoping to earn back some of the money I am spending on my new program! I just have to lose 4% in 4 weeks. Do you think I can do it? I KNOW I CAN. Who's with me? It's not too late to join me. Let's make this the best summer ever!!

I'd love to hear anything you have to share about your own plans and goals and challenges and breakthroughs. Accountability and friendships can make so much difference! I am so excited for all the decades ahead to keep learning and growing and enjoying my family and friends.

Have a wonderful day!
~JS~ 🌞
#WellnessWednesday

__________________________________________

ps - If you're interested in connecting with my friend Nancy, who is a Certified Health Coach, send me a note HERE and I'll give you an introduction or you can visit her website online HERE.

Need Help with Old German Script Translation?

It's time for our first #FamilyFriday "RootsTech 2018 Memories" post! 

One of the awesome booths that I came across when I was at RootsTech this year, which I found quite intriguing was called SK Translations, run by a woman named Katherine Schoeber who is a German to English translator.

www.sktranslations.com

Here's a copy of her business card and a link to her website for your reference:

Katherine does translation services specifically for genealogy purposes. In fact, she explained to me that she specializes in the Old German script translation, which is pretty significant to me personally, because I had a situation several years ago in which this kind of a service would have been very useful to me.

Ahnentafel of Gerrold & Erika Wunsch

In my research, I had come across a German book called "Ahnentafel of Gerrold & Erika Wunsch" in which I had found a bunch of family records, and I was super excited about it! I thought that it possibly could get me past a roadblock with some of my German family who were living in that area at the time.

This was a special kind of book which the Germans call ahnentafel (or "ancestor chart) which is basically a German style family tree. What was even more intriguing about this book is that the author, Franz Josef Wunsch, had hurriedly hand-written out pages and pages of family history records to be sent to the family history library in Salt Lake City because he knew that that was a place they could be safe.

Franz Josef Wunsch, Author of
"Ahnentafel of Gerrold & Erika Wunsch"

Franz was a University professor and living in Prague at the time, but because of post-war tensions, all German-born citizens were being forced out of town and back across the border into Germany. As part of this expulsion, many of the archival records and books at the University were being destroyed. So in order to protect this information, Franz sent a complete hand-written family history (generations and generations and generations and generations of ahnentafel!) to the United States, to Salt Lake City, because he knew there was a family history library there, and that his records would be safe there.

When I came across this book, I recognized names of my family in that area, but I didn't know anything of that story which was written on the first several pages of the book, because I did not read old script German. Recognizing names of my ancestors, I was in the process of extracting these names to my genealogy records and trying to figure out where my connection was with Franz Josef Wunsch.

Tender Mercy - Translator to the Rescue!

When I was in the middle of this project, I experienced one of those tender mercies that often happens in family history work. My brother-in-law, who was in college at the time, came to visit for the weekend to our house, and he brought a couple of friends with him. One of these friends just happened to be a young man from Germany.

As I was talking to this young man, I remembered the book and the pages in the front, and asked him if he could look over it and see if he could figure out what the text was about. As he browsed the first several pages of script, he was able to give me a rough description about this story from history. Of course, I was intrigued! I was like, "Oh my gosh! Can you translate the whole thing? Can I pay you to translate it for me?"

So he did, and he actually did a very good job, but it was really hard for him, because it was this old script German. So he ended up having to consult with other people, and it took him a long time, because he was a modern German young adult, and didn't necessarily know a lot of those words because they had fallen out of usage over the decades. Despite the difficulty, he ended up doing a good job for me, including some historical research which gave me some great background for my names. I can't imagine how much I would have missed out on had I not learned the background of how that book came into being!

Family History Uses for Translation Services

We will all run into situations like this during our family history research, where we need specialty services to get past roadblocks. Though in this case I was able to have a tender mercy come into the scene and help me find a translator, those kinds of situations are not always immediately available. This is where services such as SK Translations can come in handy. Had I known about her services at the time, I could have sent that old script to her, since she is an expert in the field, and had a much faster turnaround for my project. In fact, I may even at some point here get it re-translated, since she is an expert in this field and will likely pick up some things that the college student who translated it for me might have missed.

SK Translations booth at RootsTech

So there's my little plug for SK Translation services! I have not used them personally, but Katherine was there at RootsTech with a booth, all dressed up in German attire, which I loved, helping people with their German questions.

On their website, www.sktranslations.com, it says that she does presentations as well. These are one hour presentations on the topic: "Journey Into German Genealogy, useful tips and tricks for finding and using the multitude of records available online and in print to locate your ancestors." There are also samples of her work available to view, as well as information about a book that she has written called "Tips and Tricks of Deciphering German Handwriting. A translator's tricks of the trade for transcribing German genealogy documents." There are also reviews, frequently asked questions, and a blog, plus a button where you can click to request a quote. So check it out!

I think this is a great resource, and as I get further in my genealogy research in German, I will definitely be looking into using her services and reading her book and so forth. If German is part of your family history, and you want to have some help with some things that you've found that you cannot understand, I would recommend that you investigate SK Translations at www.sktranslations.com and see if you can get some help with your research.

Best of luck to you in your German family history!

This has been a #FamilyFriday RootsTech 2018 memory.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

~JS~ 🌞

Jumbled Sunshine Review: The NEW "Inbox by Gmail"

Have you heard about the new "Inbox by Google" email app? It's a whole new way to interact with your email account, and it may revolutionize the way we use email in our everyday lives. If you're afraid of change, no worries, this app works with Gmail, but it doesn't replace it. You can go back and forth between the two or totally ignore it and stick with what you're doing. But if you're brave and like new innovation, I recommend that you check it out! www.google.com/inbox

As I've been looking for answers to various details about inbox, I ran across some articles criticizing the new interface as being too complicated. It's true that it takes a bit of time to get your mind wrapped around it because it's so un-email-like. But that's exactly what makes it's approach so fascinating and why I decided to try it out. Never fear - I have seen positive reviews, too.

So - I thought it would be fun to chime into the conversation with a positive review of my own. Here goes:

I love it!!!! 
(Wait, I think I need a few more exclamation points and loves...)
I Love, Love, Love It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep. That's my overall impression after using it for less than 24 hours. There are a few glitches in this first version, and some features that are missing (that are available in Gmail) that I'd like to see in the future. But Google is pretty good at improving and innovating when a program starts to take off with the public, so I guess we'll see how it evolves as time goes on.

In the meantime, here are a few resources to help you understand how Inbox works, and "My Take" on what's so awesome about the new system. (I'm not going into too many details because I want to get back to playing with my new Inbox!)

Blog Spotlight: DIY Confessions & A New Journal Idea

This morning I read a post on the Flylady mailing list about a recipe for homemade bathtub cleaner posted on a blog called "DIY Confessions." I went to www.diyconfessions.com, anxious to see what other fun household tips they had. I was surprised to see that the current post on the home page was not about housekeeping at all. It's title read: "Seven Tips to Eliminate Postpartum Depression."

This caught my attention for a couple of reasons. First, because I have been feeling kind of blue the last few weeks. Second, because I am no stranger to the whole "baby blues" thing, after having given birth to 7 children in 13 years! Though my youngest is now 9 years old, and baby blues are far behind me, I have friends who may be dealing with postpartum issues.

So - I started reading.

The very first tip caught my eye because I think it's such a great idea, whether you're dealing with actual depression, or if you're just wanting a really great way to end each day with some positive closure. Although, I have a confession of my own: Being the jumbled person that I am,  I haven't actually read the rest of the tips in the article because I got so excited about sharing the first one with all of you - my jumbled friends - that I came over here to start writing and never finishing reading the post! hahaha... oh well! It's a really good tip, so I'm sure the rest are great too! ;) Here it is....

Keep a journal. 

Simple, right? But how can that help? Here's a bit of what blogger Ceara said about it: "This was actually the most effective tool I used! I would just write these three questions out before bed and answer them: 

1. What was the high point of my day? 
2. What was the low point of my day? 
3. What am I looking forward to tomorrow? 
4. I eventually started added a verse as well that I found encouraging. 

She continues: "I saw how shallow the lowest point of my day was. You know, the thing that was supposedly ruining my life? Yeah, when I looked at it on paper it didn’t seem so bad."

Here's a picture of one of Ceara's actual journal entries.

Wow - this is SO SIMPLE and yet SO PROFOUND! Writing in a journal can really be a great way to get your feelings on paper and give some closure to each day. In fact, my husband Lonny told me once that he doesn't sleep as well if he hasn't written in his journal, because it gets rid of all of that stuff that's bouncing around in his head, and gets it out on paper so he can rest.

I love the four points that Ceara suggests including in your journal entry each day. Instead of being overwhelmed by trying to catalog everything that happened that day, you can just write a few simple things to get an overall view. Being able to think back on the day and identify something great that happened as well as something tough that happened helps you to take a step back from your life and see it from a different perspective. And listing what you are looking forward to tomorrow? What a great way to give yourself a reason to get out of bed the next morning!

I've been keeping a journal fairly regularly on and off since I was a teenager, and I've been working at getting my habit back "on" since 2014 started. My goal has been to write just 5 sentences every night, no matter how tired I am. I did really well in January (don't we all?) and then dropped off a bit in February. So - March is a new month, and I'm going to use this idea to get myself motivated to write more often again. Tonight I'm going to write about my high point, my low point, and what I'm looking forward to tomorrow. PLUS - a scripture verse - love those!! 

How about you? You may want to give the journal thing a try! 

If you'd like to read the full post and learn about Ceara's other six suggestions for eliminating post-partum depression (which I haven't read yet, lol!), visit DIY Confessions for yourself at www.DIYconfessions.com. You'll also find "tutorials for DIY projects, crafting, thrifted finds, delicious recipes, the joys of motherhood, tips & tricks and green cleaning." 

Thanks for reading, and have a marvelous day! 
~JS~

Teach Kids About Internet Safety and Digital Manners

I just found this fantastic site created by Common Sense Media that teaches kids about online safety and digital manners in a fun game-like atmosphere. I've been playing a few of the games myself for the past hour or so! :)

digitalpassport.org

I am so grateful for companies that create things like this to help parents teach and protect our children. Thank you Common Sense Media!

Check it out!

digitalpassport.org

Jumbled Sunshine Review: Screenit.com

Today it's getting harder and harder to judge a movie by it's rating. Take, for instance, the controversy over the MPAA rating of "Philomena" which was contested by the producer and allowed a lower rating. Who is determining what type of criteria is used to rate our movies? How do they exactly decide what makes a movie appropriate for which rating? And are these people someone that parents should trust to be making this decision for them?

This lack of consistency can be especially discouraging for parents who are trying to make sure the movies and TV shows their children see are age appropriate for their children, and customize what their family views for the personal needs of each child's personality and sensitivities. Every family is different, so trying to "rate" a movie based on ambiguous guidelines can be really tough. What one parent thinks is horrific may be totally acceptable to another parent. What's a parent to do?

I like to look up parental reviews for movies and TV shows before I watch them, especially if I am going to watch them with my kids. Occassionally I will share various sites that do parental reviews and give my thoughts on them. Here is my first "parental review site review." ;)

Jumbled Sunshine Review: www.screenit.com

• Overview:
• My go-to parental review site in the late 90's and early 2000's when my kids were small, through the 1990's when my kids were small, www.screenit.com is a great website that focuses on simply giving parents information about what's in a movie so you they can choose for themselves. 
• Cost:
• I haven't used the site as much recently because they now charge for membership (I can't tell how much from the main site anymore), and I just didn't find myself using it often enough to be worth paying. However, I totally understand why they need to charge, since they have to find a way to pay the people who meticulously go through the movies. 
• One month membership is $7.95, or you can pay for a year for $47.00. They are currently offering a free 3-day full-access pass to their site that requires only your name and email address to sign up for. 
• They also offer a 30-day full money back guarantee if you're not satisfied with the service. So as long as you don't forget to cancel (like some busy parents may do!,) you've got nothing to lose.
• Rating System:
• Their rating system is great for parents who don't want someone else to tell them whether it's a good movie or not, but want to see what's in it and decide for themselves. It's an excellent approach. They make no attempt to rate the movie or say whether or not is it appropriate for children - that's up to the parent to decide.
• They take everything that happens in a movie and categorize it into various areas such as violence, profanity, sexual content, etc. They list the number of occurrences of each type of thing in movie. You can look at the overview which rates each category on how often it occurs. The more times it occurs, the more intense the rating will be. For example: 
• profanity - mild
• violence - heavy
• smoking - none
• etc.
• OR - you can click on the details of each category and see specifically what occurs in the movie. These details may contain spoilers, of course, but if you're looking up a G-rated movie and it says the nudity category is "mild," it's nice to go read the details to see if it's a big deal or not. 
• Case in point - When I looked up Mulan years ago, it was listed as "mild" for the nudity category. Shocked, I clicked on the details to read what was considered "mild nudity." and remembered the scene where the soldiers are skinny dipping and Mulan looks up and obviously sees one of the characters on the beach. She covers her eyes, and it's obvious that she has seen more than she wanted to see. This is not obvious nudity, but it's good to be aware of as a parent before you take your kids to the movie, especially a "family-friendly" cartoon. That scene didn't bother me when I saw it, so it was intersting to see it written out in black and white.
• Summary
• Like I said before, I used screenit.com all through the early years of my kids' growing up, and it never let me down. Though I haven't logged into the website recently, if it's anything like it used to be, it is a great option for parents who want to know what's in movies and don't mind paying a bit to do so. Get your free 3-day pass and decide for yourself!

-----

Coming Soon - Jumbled Sunshine Review of parentpreviews.com

Personal Kanban - Keeping it Simple!

You'll never believe what I'm doing. . . I'm working on time organization - again!

I know. . .shocking, huh?

I tend to go in spurts, and the cycle goes like this:

1. Get schedule & tasks organized.
2. Follow it, get things moving smoothly, get lots done.
3. Get burned out or tired of the system, or dissastisfied with how it's working.
4. Wing it for awhile (FREEDOM!!)
5. Become overwhelmed. (PRISON...)
6. Start over!

And on and on it goes. Anyone else in this boat?

No Time To Write. . . But Hello Anyway!

I decided that if I keep waiting for "time" to write on this blog, I will be waiting forever. Seriously, do you ever feel like your life is a runaway train and you are just scrambling to catch up? I asked a friend this question yesterday, and she said, "Is there ever a time that I *don't* feel like my life is that way?" haha - yeah, that's what it's been like around here the past several weeks!

If you have kids who are in school, you've probably noticed that the closer it gets to summer, the busier and busier things get. Even if you don't have kids, as soon as it starts to get warmer, everyone wants to be outside, playing in the sunshine, digging in the dirt, planting flowers, and getting things in order while it's still cool enough to work and play outside. With kids, you add in the end-of-the-year testing, soccer season, graduation. . .

. . .and so many interruptions that you can't finish a blog post! (I just spent the last 20 minutes answering the door and several phone calls instead of writing. . . lol) Anyway, I didn't even start to mention the *regular* stuff, like your job, your church and community responsibilities, keeping up with the house, maintaining a relationship with your spouse, and the list goes on and on. . .

Official Pomodoro Technique Timer
Click photo to purchase on Amazon.com for less than $6.00

How to cope? For me, the only way is PLANNING and using a TIMER! (And going easy on yourself when you aren't perfect, because no one is.)

Here are a few of my favorite tools & websites for you to browse, since I can't keep writing now because my timer went off!

• The Pomodoro Technique®
• www.toodledo.com
• www.kanbanflow.com
• www.sandglaz.com
• www.evernote.com

Do It (Tomorrow)

I just came across this app called "Do It (Tomorrow)" in the Chrome Web Store when I was looking at productivity apps (one of my pastimes. . . haha). It isn't going to fit in to my current time management strategy just now, but but it may be the perfect solution for some of my other jumbled friends!

If not, you will at least get a kick out of reading through the app description and playing around with it a bit. Read what the developers say about it and prepare for a chuckle!

Do It (Tomorrow) - The to-do App for procrastinators:
"Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow? Do you love procrastinating? Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow? That's the spirit! Do It (Tomorrow) is the Todo app for you. Planning out your entire week is a bummer - Do It Tomorrow lets you give yourself reminders for today, but makes it really easy to push things off to tomorrow. Party today, do tasks tomorrow!"

Features: 
-- Full virtual todo notebook experience 
-- Fastest todo entry 
-- Simple interface - just todo and just today and tomorrow 
-- Easily check off tasks as completed or delete them altogether 
-- Edit todos in-place
-- Companion extension to quickly add tasks via a browser button: http://bit.ly/addTasks

Sync options
-- Cloud syncs with the iPhone / iPad / Android Apps
-- Google Task Sync is also available (in-app)
-- Everyday Notes for iPhone: http://bit.ly/todayAppFree can sync with your task history.

Visit the Do It (Tomorrow) website here: tomorrow.do