First Day to Start The Grange.

     I woke up this morning around 3:15 a.m. with a headache behind my left eye. I was thinking about being upset about it when I realized it was just the normal reaction to someone who has given up an addiction; for me, it was sugar.  I wrote just yesterday that I wasn't going to bore you with all the details of the day-to-day changes, but I also stated I hadn't had any ill effects since giving up sugar on January 1.

    Well, I'm keeping my promise. I'm not going to go into it other than to say it happened, but it was gone soon enough. I prayed about it first, then took a hot shower and drank copious amounts of strong coffee and then tea. It may or may not have helped to drink the beverages, but maybe the prayers worked because it didn't last long at all. YEA!

    Today was supposed to be a reading day. I am expecting the book "Stratford" to be delivered by mail, only to find out its been switched to being delivered by UPS - big difference. I won't get it until Tuesday. They claim over and over again that they can't find my house - which is literally on a corner of two very average and well-driven streets. You can't get much easier than that; but here I am without a physical book to read to make corrections, so I've decided to do a bit of recon for the new book. 

    The new book is titled "The Grange". It takes place in the present time and is centered in and around the actual cemetery by that name in Edinburgh, Scotland. I thought about making the book about a cemetery closer to Glasglow, but I've been to The Grange and I liked it. I haven't been to the cemeteries outside of Edinburgh, to be honest. I passed by one or two, but didn't take the time to walk them. I need to. I love finding old graves, reading their stones, looking at how their loved ones honored them, and just thinking about the people who once carried the name that the stones now bear.

    There is literally a Wikipedia page for the cemetery. I'll link it HERE to see who is buried in the cemetery.  I am going to read this entire page today and tomorrow and choose a few names to mention in the book.  I won't say anything derogatory about the real people buried there; there will be a few I degrade in the book, but they will be fictional. There are real murder victims in the cemetery, and they will be mentioned of course, as my main character Rachelle Tia Bigelow ("Elle" and/or "L.T." ) is a 3x great granddaughter of one of the murderers. 

    Elle received her B.S. in Biology from Penn State, and now she's attending the University of Edinburgh for a Masters in Forensics. She wants to research, not practice. She writes articles and dives into the lives of the dead. She's hoping to clear her relative's name but fears she may only find more murders the deeper she digs. This is going to be a fun book to write.  I'm just now realizing how much fun it really will be. I may change my style to only writing about creepy facts, but I know I won't. (she laughs)

    What's hilarious is that I can write about it, and I can read about it, but seeing creepy or scary things bothers me. I have nightmares. I can't even watch the Passion of Christ! I know how it ends! I just can't force myself to think about the suffering He did for me; it riddles me with sorrow to do so. I think there's a word for those of us who can read and write about gore but not stomach it when it's presented. I know people will say "squeamish," but it's more than that; it actually affects my inner soul when I see it. I'm the person you've heard about that covers their eyes during a surgery scene on television.

    My main character's leading friend is an Abercromby, not an Abercrombie - but the two names are related. He's a wealthy young man in his own right but also an heir to many generations of folks with the same name. He believes he can also help Elle find more money for herself, considering her name is old and very established in the United Kingdom. She has very little interest in becoming rich; he's using his money to undermine the stability of his family, believing they stood on too many to gain their wealth. In other words, he's a rich brat.

    The book will be written over the course of a couple of months. I'm going to take my time with it. I've got the cover set already, so the book will need to remain the same basic size as all the others. You can find it on my website and Amazon once it's finished, but go ahead and look at my book website to read other blogs and learn more about this crazy woman who thinks blogging is still a thing!

Photo Credit: grangeassociation.org

Day 3 No Added Sugar.

     I promise I'm not going to bore you with keeping up with the daily differences in my head, heart, and body now that I've given up added sugar. In fact, I'm not going to talk about it much unless and until I see a real change in the way my clothes fit.

    Since I refuse to weigh myself, I'll never know exactly how much weight I've lost. I'm around the 200 mark, but I'd be devastated if I got on the scale only to see that it was more. So, because I don't like feeling bad, I won't step on a scale unless it's one that tells me how much weight I would weigh if on the Moon. I like that scale. I even like the European scales because I can take a higher or lower number - before I do the conversions. 

    I'll weigh myself AFTER I know I weigh somewhere in the 170 mark, and then I'll start there and say I've lost this much, plus whatever I was before. I'll even cap it at 200 so I don't hate myself, and that way, I'll still be able to impress my brain and live within my skin all at the same time.  It's a thing -- I like myself, I just don't particularly like the body I'm living in. I do have to keep it for a while to come yet, but when Jesus decides to take us up...yeah, that!

    OK, so it's been three whole days that I've gone without added sugar, and truly, I could say it's been three days without any real sugar at all other than natural sugars from fruits and such. I've been a label reader to the max, and even going so far as to give my kid all my candies, snacks, and junk foods. I told her she can eat it or throw it out, I was not going to judge her either way. I just don't want it staring at me.  I've been telling myself that it's poison; this way, I can be in the same room with it, and nothing happens. My hand does not reach for it. This is a win.

    I read a lot of articles about what changes your body goes through during the first stages of the fast or, in my case, the new lifestyle I've chosen.  There hasn't been anything negative whatsoever in terms of physical withdrawal headaches, fatigue, or foggy thinking. I've not noticed any real difference at all. I'm not thinner yet. I'm not more mobile. My son has asked me twice if my joints hurt less; honestly, they hurt the same. It's only been three days! If better-feeling joints are something I have to look forward to, I can certainly give up the donuts!

    Let's see, for me, it has been morning snacks that have added sugar, candy throughout the day, chips, or the wrong type of juice. If it doesn't say 100% juice I'm not drinking it, and I still check the label for how many sugars are in it. It must be under 5g, or I'm not doing it again. I'll eat an orange. Instead of grabbing a granola bar with 13g of sugar, I can grab a 1/2 handful of almonds or dried goji berries. I'm a tea drinker during the day, so I drink another cup of hot tea and add lemon or lime to it. I'm good!

    I own three pairs of sweatpants that I bought when I weighed 160 pounds a few years back. I bought them, and I wore them for over two years; I kept the weight off for a while. From March 2023 to right up to the end of 2024, I gained it back; not all of it, but enough. I tell myself that when I can wear those sweatpants again, I'll know I'm around the 160 mark. I want those sweatpants to become my "fat" sweatpants, the ones I wear when I'm heavy -- this means I'll need to lose another 10-20 pounds once I hit that goal.

    I don't follow actors, but if you noticed the weight loss of one or the other of them and you go online and see what they did, most of them say they gave up added sugar - alcohol counts as added sugar.  You'd be surprised what you consume and later find out just how bad it was for you -- for me. I had my daily dose of Turkish delights; they're gone. I had a Tootsie pop in the evening; no more. I'd grab a half-hand full of M&Ms now and again -- I've substituted those for unsalted almonds.

    My creamer had sugar in it! I had the Coffee Mate original flavored, nothing fancy -- sugar!  I use half and half now. If I can do it, I hope you can do it if you want to. It's not easy, but if you're the one who buys the stuff and you're in charge of whether or not it comes to your home, pantry, or freezer, you can say no. You just have to want to, and I really do want to. Like I said, if having better feeling joints was the only reason to do it -- I'd do it.

    I will keep you posted, but not on a weekly basis. You'd get tired of listening to me go on and on about it anyway -- I know I wouldn't want to listen to me either. 

Photo Credit: CandyMafia.com