September 22, 2023

Hey Everybody!

Happy Friday Follies Day.  The watches came today.  We’re so excited!  Thank you for checking in.  It’s been an exciting week so far.  I hope your week has been fabulous for you.  Let’s just celebrate life together for a while.

I asked you or had Linda to ask you on my behalf to submit questions you would like me to answer, so I’ve chosen a couple…Jack Boliver asked…”Does Donna have a daily routine?  If so, could she share and explain why she does each thing in this routine?” 

Sure, I think it’s a good thing to have a routine especially if you’ve developed positive habits for it.  Here’s what I do every morning.  After I get out of bed, I immediately make a 5-cup pot of coffee, then go back to bed, take my blood pressure and write it down on a blood pressure chart.  (I started this habit when I was having serious-feeling headaches some time back and suspected I might have high blood pressure.)  Today it was 125/69 with pulse at 58.  The other day it was 139/74 with pulse at 61.  Omron was in the red (high), so I did alternate nostril breathing about 10 times and got it down to 129/72, pulse 61.  (Alternate nostril breathing is just like it sounds…hold one side of the nose and breathe in the other side, then breathe out on the side you held down to start with.)  I don’t even know where I read about this, but it’s worked for me almost always.  When it doesn’t get it down the first 10 times, I just do the process again.  (I prefer not to be on any drugs if I can manage problems naturally and successfully without drugs.)  I am not giving you medical advice; please know that.  I talked to my doctor about this and showed him my readings from several months back, and he approved, as long as I’m successful at getting it down as I discussed.  Then while I drink my first cup of coffee, along with it, I have one bottle of water. (Just in case coffee’s not really good for us, it seems like the water would dilute it enough to minimize any harm, plus I’d be getting one of the waters for the 8 desired amount for the day.)

Then I start reading my NEW TESTAMENT IN A YEAR book divided into 365 days for the specific day it is.  Next I read the same scriptures in my AMPLIFIED BIBLE, and I also read the same scriptures in my EXPOSITOR’S NEW TESTAMENT COUNSELOR’S EDITION (study BIBLE from Jimmy Swaggart Ministries.)  When I do something, I like to be sure I understand it as clearly as I can.  (I’m a little slow, you know! Ha ha.  What song is that from?)

Finally, I read from Kenneth E. Hagin’s FAITH FOOD DAILY DEVOTIONS for whatever day it is.  Just a note:  the NEW TESTAMENT IN A YEAR book is an easy, good way to study THE NEW TESTAMENT.  Last year I read the whole BIBLE divided similarly.  This year I decided to just focus on the NEW TESTAMENT because it’s God’s new covenant with us.  THE BIBLE says renew your mind with the Word of God.  I believe this is the primary way to educate the spirit being.  Developing the spirit helps us in so many ways to grow closer to God.  I am currently studying Galatians where Paul talked about how he used to persecute the church and how he had changed when he was set apart to preach God’s doctrine to the Gentiles (the message of the cross) by revelation of Jesus Christ.  A good question to ask ourselves is whether we want to go to heaven or hell and be sure to be prepared to spend eternity where we want to.

When I finish my BIBLE study, I go eat breakfast…today I had an orange, 2 eggs, a small bowl of fruit with grapes, strawberries, and blueberries.  I started eating 2 eggs during covid at the suggestion of my nurse friend.  The bottom line is I’m trying to build good habits that are healthy for my body, mind, and spirit.  I haven’t changed my opinion in several years that I believe live foods would seem to maintain life better and the diet should be about 70% fresh fruits and veggies, some protein grilled, baked, or broiled, nuts, seeds, 8 glasses of water a day, lose the junk food, like stuff in boxes with no life in it, with a minimum of high temperature food that destroys the nutrients.  (And I have to confess that I’m not quite there yet.  It’s my goal, too.)  I always feel better if I don’t eat dessert after a meal, but I don’t always follow my own advice.  I have proven time and again that if I eat a starch with protein, I will be more miserable afterward.  Therefore I believe it’s healthier to lose the starch (bread, corn or rice) when eating protein.  I don’t even eat toast with eggs and that just happened naturally, something for which I was very thankful.  I usually eat only one more meal around mid-afternoon, and it will vary.  It’s usually how would you like your chicken? Ha ha.  A lot of times though I just eat a great veggie salad that I make with as many-colored veggies as I can find with the juice from one orange and one lemon as a dressing, and a baked potato maybe.  I’m not a great cook and I don’t use a microwave.  I have one, but it’s only for “looks.”  It’s perfect for the certain table we bought it for.

The other question I will answer now is…several of you have asked me how many hats I have, and I just asked Brenda to count them, and she said there was 281, not including my cowboy hats. I’ll save that count for another day.  I’ll answer the other questions next week due to the length of this post.

Okey Dokey.  You know I love you.  Please stay safe and healthy, sweet and honest, and love life. Don’t do things to harm yourself, break any bad habits little by little if you can’t do it any other way, and love anyway and just because.

Miss Hermit signing off.  Love you more than I know how to say.

Donna