My body, my home & wrinkly trees

1:48 pm - Alyssa asked me to wait and walk until she was out of school and could go with us so we have not walked yet. I have done some tummy exercises though. Dr. Oz's 7 Day Belly Workout is pretty intense. Just the few reps you do seem to have an impact or I just really out of shape ;) Today's exercise was the Stomach Scissors. At first I felt it in my legs but then figured out to extend my leg out rather than down and very soon felt in my tummy. I did 20 reps and then 20 crunches. Baby steps, remember, baby steps.

While doing some research for a client I came across this quote:

"Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live." ~Jim Rohn

Being the spiritual being that I am, thinking of my body as a 'home' rather than a structure with walls and roof was a profound thought for me. If you think about the homeless, this applies. If you think way back in history to the first humans, this applies. If you think in a metaphysical way, it applies. The quote just reminded me of the essence of life. What do you think about this quote?

5:30 pm - We just got back from walking a little bit ago. My mom, daughter, pup and I took the usual route and we climbed the big hill. We saw a tree where the bark looked like it had wrinkles. Nice walk!

My Mom, daughter and pup, walking the big hill

Wrinkly tree

 I have not seen any hearts today. I am not alarmed because I saw the usual 1:11 today; the Angels are still near :) Love and light my friends!

Dr. Oz & more hearts...

Yesterday I announced that I was going to start Dr. Oz's 7 Day Belly Workout, and I did! Started on the exercise for Wednesday, The Ab Tilt. While this was fairly easy, I could feel the workout on the second rep. I did as many as my back allowed me, six or so. Then stretched and did 20 crunches. Not a massive workout, but it is a start! Tomorrow I will try the Stomach Scissors.

I saw another heart on yesterdays walk and saw many more today. Sometimes I think, "I wonder if I will see a heart here" and it will appear with in a few minutes. It is amazing!


Pup and I took the big hill today. I made it 3/4 of the way up with out having to stop; that is improvement!

Here is the heart the I saw in a rock yesterday...

...and I saw one in a log today.

This is a heart that I noticed on my kitchen table. My daughter makes a mess with glue, markers, paint and whatever else she is creating with. I think this is glue.

I imagine that the hearts I see are messages from Angels. What that message is I am still figuring out; is it my heart, am I being loved, is it because I choose love???? Only time will tell...LOVE AND LIGHT!

Baby steps...

The approach that I am taking towards my health is one that will take time. I am okay with that. In fact, I think that might be the only way to end or start a habit. It is all about baby steps.

My one and only goal a month ago was to walk everyday. Just 34 days into this journey, I feel like I have established a very health habit and found that I really do like walking for exercise.

While today my post comes to you before my actual walk, I wanted to announce something. I feel the need to step it up a bit SO tomorrow I will begin Dr. Oz's 7-Day Belly Workout. Let's hope I don't hurt myself ;)

I have no pictures to share of today's walk but here are some pictures that I took many years ago...

My hubby and I got married in Vegas. I took this on our wedding night, it is the Stratosphere

Dillon Beach CA 2000ish....we try to camp here every year.

This is a picture of my husband and I in 2002 the day before we got married. Love this man!

 Love and Light my friends!

It is the little things, ya know? Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday, we woke up to snow! So naturally we took an early walk...

Goof troop

Oh, look another heart in the snow!

Mommy Love

Today is my day of birth. Today joy came to me in little ways; my daughters class singing HBD to me (with cha cha's), flowers and a card from my husband and many well wishes from people all across the globe. I found serenity gazing in to the landscape and by feeling the light of the sun. We had a wonderful family walk. I got my husband to come!

I could not have asked for a better birthday sky!

Family Walk! My husband, daughter and I

Here is the heart the I saw today ♥

 

My daughter found a feather! ♥

Life is wonderful if you let it be, love and light my friends!

+5 lbs. & Hearts, biological and symbolic

The past few days have been hectic! This post is going to recap them and give an update on my health; I had a doctors appointment. First, I will give you the update...

I have gained 5 pounds. I am not too upset about this for 1) weight loss was not my starting goal and 2) I could be burning off what I gained during the holidays or gaining muscle. However, I expressed to my doctor how I have been having heart palpitations when I relax before bed and he wants to put me on a heart monitor. OK, will do. I am nervous, not so much by what they find (heart problems run in my family) but at the cost of this! Which brings me to a thought, what kind of world do we live in where we are more concerned with the cost of health care than the actual health care itself? I know I am not the only one pondering this...

All will be well and be as it should, I have faith in that :) OK...here is a recap of the past 4 days of walking!

Tuesday - Went to help my best friends Mom with the invitations to a baby shower. This is the day that I ran into the lady at the gas station. To read more about this experience you can see it here. They live by Edwards Crossing (a popular part of the Yuba River) so I took a quick drive down to see the water flow. This is what I encountered...

Snowy banks!

I have never seen the river in snow before so this was a real treat! It was interesting because in town, Spring has started but here Winter remains.

This is one of the little waterfalls you come across as you drive down the grade to the river..

 After Alyssa got home from school we took our usual walk around our mountain top :)

Wednesday - Alyssa and I decided that we were going to take a break and not walk today; but, Poppy had other plans! As I was out in the front of my house playing catch with her, she kept looking up the driveway to the area where we walk. I thought nothing of it. I threw her ball for her and she took it and ran 50 feet away, dropped it and looked directly at the trail head. Then she pawed the ground like, "Come on, let's go!" OK, pup let's go..you talked me into it!

We found some treasures from nature!

Thursday - We really did take a break today. There was just too much to do. Poppy was not happy about it but did get some catch time in!

Friday -  I guess that pup thought we were not going for a walk today and decided to take one by herself. Across the street! Bad dog, while we did not exercise together we both got a good work out in. I looked everywhere for her and walked and walked and walked. She came home with the biggest smile on her face (of course until she knew she was in trouble) and must have had the time of her life.

Saturday - Since pup was sick last night, throwing up and gassy, I decided to take her out and observe her. She was happy for a walk but was not nearly as fast or peppy as she usually is. It was a nice Saturday morning walk...

It was foggy and soggy!

I can across some more hearts - I am wondering what the sign is...is it a sign to take care of my heart or a sign showing me that I am on the right track. Perhaps, both?

Something lives in this tree...wonder what it is?

 Love and Light my friends...until next time!

Just another day in my world...keeping it real with human lizards!

I ran into a woman at the gas station the other day, she was different. Different in a good, yet strange way. I saw her talking to another patron as she sat on the rock wall that lined the walkway into the convenience area of the station. I did not think much about it. Just another different person in Nevada County sitting around, right?

When I got out she started talking to me and although the conversation was brief it was powerful and has stuck with me since. As I walked down the walk to my car she said, "Don't mind me, I am just putting my make up on in the best place to put make up on." Not sure what to say I muttered, "Sure, looks like the best spot." The woman then said, "Hey, I gotta be real! See it even says it here on my mirror." She then flipped her mirror around so that I could see the colorful art on it that read, "Be Real". OK.

I began pumping my gas. She sat about 5 feet from where I was so I asked her, "How are you today?" She said that she was doing wonderful because the sun was shining and that she was going to go sit on a rock and pretend she was a lizard. She asked me what I was doing, I told her I was going to go up to a friends house and help out with some invitations. She then started to ask some pretty deep details so my answers started to become not so "real". Did it really matter to her who it was for, what kind of function it was, whether or not we were going to be drinking while we are doing this or what time of year the event was at? No. It mattered not. So, why was I not telling her the details?

After pondering the event all day, I realized it was because I did not know this lady, it was my instinct to not be truthful because I was not sure her intention. This then became a lesson on trust (as well as a sign about keeping it real). We are programed not to trust strangers. As a mother, I know how important this is.

As far as humanity goes, this seems a bit backwards. Trust and truth will be what changes this distrusting world, yeah? Definitely something that I have been and will continue to ponder. I think that it has something to do along the lines of we create our own reality. Why do we teach distrust instead of trust and if we taught trust would people still do the things that cause us to distrust? Kinda like fighting fire with fire ;)

Now (Mom and Dad calm down), I will be the first one to say that I am no angel and that the lessons of trust and truth are not new to me. If I told my parents what I was really doing while I was supposed to be at so and so's house, I would have had no fun as a teenager, LOL! But I learned as it all caught up to me at some point and now I know that honesty is always the best policy. Unless of course, you run into a woman who puts her make up on in front of a gas station at 10 am in the morning and tells you they are going to pretend to be a lizard later in the day, then you should probably not indulge the entire truth. While I am sure she was perfectly harmless, you never know!

Trash, habits and hearts...one step closer to saving Mother Earth!

12:12 pm - There it is again! 12:12 ;) Today has a lot going on. Happy MLK day! There have been a lot of quotes floating around by the wonderful man we are remembering today. Here are my two favorites:

""I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

 ""If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control." Dr. Martin Luther King

So here are my thoughts...both quotes hold truth today. Anyone who thinks that hate will solve problems is sourly mistaken. Love will always over come, it takes much longer to see results through love but those results are forever lasting. Hate, war and racism only make it seem like the problem is fixed but it actually makes things much much worse making the results short lived. Also, if we want to move forward (individually and as a union) in a positive way we need to take those values that create a peaceful society with us and pass them down to our children. MLK valued equality and faith. What values do you wish to see passed on to our children?

Now yes, this is easier said than done. If you come across me before a visit from Aunt Flow you would probably call me a hypocrite, LOL! It is so hard to be loving and at peace all the time. I have decided that it is worth consciously striving for and achieving. 

So, on a lighter note...my daughter is at a play date until 2 ish so I gotta get some things done. Our walk will wait until this afternoon and it will involve a trash bag per my daughters request.

3:56 pm - My daughter and I just got back from our walk. Today's mission was to pick up trash. This was my daughters idea; she wants to help Mother Earth :) Because of this mission, we took a little detour today. Let me see, today would be day number 27. If I stopped walking today, I would miss it very much! It feels really good knowing that I am forming a healthy habit.

Trash duty!

Fun stuff

We decided to take the BIG hill today

Halfway up, looking down

Half way up, looking up

Made it to the top

This is a close up of what is on the tree in the picture I posted yesterday. What is this? Pretty neat-o!

I really like this tree!

Would it kill ya to take a picture with your mom? LOL

Saw another heart!

Love thy neighbor, daum dog!

Just got back from a walk with the neighbors.  I had good company on the walk today but did miss Pup. We had to leave Poppy home because she nipped a child in the face ;( I do not know what to do with her, she is so protective and unpredictable lately. I need to put more time into researching why the dog has been behaving this way. I feel sick to my stomach. She is a good dog and better than this.

On a positive note, the sky is really blue today :)

What kind of tree is this?

I have been sitting on my butt for two days...

7:40 am - I did not walk Thursday. I did not walk on Friday. I just did not want to. Aunt Flow has brought a rush of hormones with her and I was not motivated to do anything I needed to do. I have never had regular visits so I am not sure what to expect each time; this time was a doosey. Lack of motivation might have also come from a minor remodel that my husband did in the kitchen...out small house was turned upside down!

9:15 am - Just got back from a walk with my daughter and pup. Feels good to be back in the swing of things, sweating and all that. It just feels good :)

The walking crew

We saw a heart shaped air bubble in the icy pond...

...I have been seeing hearts everywhere; in clouds, in concrete and now in ice!

She is even beautiful in her jammies and with messy hair, love this girl :)

Some cool shapes we saw in the icy pond.

This is Alyssa's shot, she liked how the light reflected off the ice and how it cast the shadow of the tree.

And the kitchen is done! New floors and new walls...wahoo!

Recipe-French Vanilla Creamer, my version

In my quest to replace packaged foods with healthier versions I found a recipe for French Vanilla Creamer. I tried it and it was very sweet so I modified it a little.

French Vanilla Creamer
1 -  14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
28 oz milk, any kind 1 %, 2%, whole, it is your choice
3 teaspoons real vanilla extract (imitation leaves a funny taste, I think)

Put in all in a mason jar (quart should be big enough). shake it, mix, do whatever you need to do to get the milk and condensed milk to blend together. Refrigerate, put in your coffee and ENJOY! We usually go through a jar a week so I am not sure how long it is good for, at least a week ;)

While the first few days you will notice a difference from your normal store bought creamer but as the days pass you will feel better over all. NO hydrogenated anything, just sugar, milk and vanilla.

Homemade French Vanilla Creamer

 I am seeking a recipe for sweetened condensed milk...anyone wanna share?



The original version of this recipe came from http://www.mrshappyhomemaker.com/2011/09/french-vanilla-coffee-creamer/. Thank you Mrs. Happy Homemaker and Pinterest! You have both forever changed my life!

Lance Armstrong? Way to go media, what about Algeria? *Vent*

So he finally owned up to doping. Hopefully he is opening the path for all the others to "come clean" too. Doping in professional sports is common, we all know that and we have known it for a long time. What is the big deal? Now, you may be sensing that I do not really care about Lance or his mistakes, but that is only half true. I do care about him as another human being and with the recent news he has opened up his heart and put it out there for everyone to devour. I can respect how hard it must be for him to tell the truth about his career but I just know that had he made the right decisions in the beginning he would not be a crying shame today. It is all about choices. Boo hoo Lance, bad boy, let's move on.

Now, I have to wonder...the media is all wrapped up with Lance Armstrong, what important news are they leaving out? What else is going on in the world that they do not want us to know? On the Today Show this morning, I watched Lance talk to Oprah for 20 minutes. After the commercial they talked about a current travel warning in Mali for 1 minute. There is war there, do not go...OK. Have you checked out the recent list of countries not to travel too. The list is impressive and the dates are scary new....

Mali    01/18/2013
Niger    01/16/2013
Kenya    01/14/2013
Libya    01/02/2013
Haiti    12/28/2012
Central African Republic    12/28/2012
Somalia    12/26/2012
Nigeria    12/21/2012
Israel, the West Bank and Gaza    12/20/2012
Iran    12/07/2012
Mauritania    11/30/2012
Eritrea    11/29/2012
Congo, Democratic Republic of the    11/21/2012
Chad    11/21/2012
Honduras    11/21/2012
Mexico    11/20/2012
Yemen   11/19/2012
Saudi Arabia   11/19/2012
Cote d'Ivoire   11/16/2012
Burundi    11/08/2012

This is a partial list, taken from http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html. If you go to the link you can click on each country and it gives an explanation of why Americans should be cautious traveling to that region. Most involve terrorism, murder, human trafficking...ya know all the terms and issues that we do not hear everyday in our sheltered American life.

I am most surprised to see Haiti, Americans have been doing a lot of work there since the hurricane a few years ago. Kidnapping and murder are worries there.

There was a minute update on the hostage situation in Algeria, but nothing compared to the coverage Armstrong has received. What kind of a society do we live in when the media gives a doping celebrity more coverage then a hostage situation? Vent complete. Thank you for reading, I hope your brain is working ;)

Moral of this story is that you cannot rely on the media for the real news, you have to search for it yourself. Make the time, your rights, your life might depend upon it.