Musings of a Glorified Housewife

Help Wanted: one witch, pays £50,000

by Sean McLachlan on Jul 8th 2009 at 12:30PM

In these hard economic times it's nice to know there are still good jobs out there. Wookey Hole, Somerset, England, is advertising for a witch.

Wookey Hole, famous for its beautiful limestone caves, is home to a family theme park. The company that manages the park wants to hire someone to play a witch and is willing to pay them £50,000 ($81,000) a year to cackle at visitors, teach courses in magic, and (here's the catch) live in the caves. It's not the greatest job in the world, but it beats flipping burgers and asking "Do you want eye of newt with that?"

According to legend there really was a witch in the Wookey Hole Caves. Back in the Middle Ages, an evil old witch who had been unlucky in love cursed a young couple so they would never marry. The young groom-to-be was so despondent over the loss of his love that he became a monk, and swore revenge. One day he entered the cave, blessed the underground river he found flowing through it, and splashed the water onto the witch, turning her into a stalagmite that can still be seen to this day.

It sounds like a fun way to make some money off an old legend, but one thing confuses me. Considering their name, why don't they open a Star Wars theme park and hire a Wookiee?

Sherrie Cline, 44, of Cartersville loses 72 pounds

By MICHELLE C. BROOKS

For The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

• Former weight: 198 pounds

• Current weight: 126 pounds

• Pounds lost: 72 pounds

• Height: 5 feet 5 inches

• How long she’s kept it off: 7 months. She began her journey in March 2008 and reached her goal in November 2008.

• Personal life: “I live in Cartersville, Georgia with my husband, Cliff Cline, and two daughters, Kayla and Crystal Cline,” she says. She started working as the corporate sales coordinator for Thrive Weight Loss in April.

• Turning point: In March 2008, she went shopping for spring clothes. “My size 16’s were too small, so I had to shop at Lane Bryant. After trying on a size 18, I sat in the dressing room and cried for 20 minutes,” she says. “I decided right then I was tired of feeling bad and having no energy.”

• Diet plan: “The program I chose is Thrive Weight Loss (www.thriveweightloss.com). This is a nutrition program that teaches you to eat real food in the correct combinations so your body burns fat instead of muscle. For breakfast, she has Quaker weight control banana bread oatmeal along with 3 egg whites. Lunch is typically a Chick-fil-A grilled chicken breast wrap with fruit. And dinner is steak with broccoli.

• Exercise routine: “Only exercise at this time is Zumba dancing,” she says. Zumba is an aerobic workout inspired by Latin dance.

• Biggest challenge: “My biggest challenge was realizing that I will hit walls during my journey,” she says. “Once I learned how to get past those, it was no problem at all. There are certain food combinations that will increase your metabolism and help you break through those walls. What I did find was that even though the scales had stopped moving, I was still losing inches.”

• How life has changed: “I am a completely different person,” she says. “At first I was the heavy, shy person in the back of the class. Very soon, I was on the front row proudly standing up when they asked who lost 30, 40, 50, and 60 pounds. I have tons of energy, my headaches are gone. I sleep at night and play with my kids — I am really enjoying life.”

Be an inspiration: Be an inspiration: If you've made positive changes in your diet and/or fitness routine and are happy with the results, please share your success with us. Include your email address, a daytime phone number and before and after photos (by mail or JPEG). Write: Success Stories, c/o Suzanne Van Atten, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sixth Floor, 72 Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30303; or e-mail ajcsuccessstories@gmail.com.

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