Back at it day 3 - Another beautiful day in the foothills

I have not much to say today, other than I had a weigh in and it sucks! All is well though, getting back at it! I have to do this.

 “Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.” ~Seneca

Nice walk this afternoon with my daughter and dear friends, complete with a ring around the sun!

Love and light friends!

Back at it Day 2 - Hopeful

Almost did not go again today using the excuse, "I went yesterday, today Pup and I should rest." But I recognized the excuse and went anyway.

Beautiful day!

"Fall seven times, stand up eight." ~Japanese Proverb

I will keep starting over until I get it right. Love and light my friends! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Summer Solstice Sunset...and Moon ☀

"When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator."  ~Mahatma Gandhi

I love my dog! Have I mentioned that? She is the only being who will gladly go sunset chasing with me and have a smile on her face the entire time :)~

♥

 

I found it a wee bit strange that the sun was out and high in the sky well before the sunset. But, okay...I enjoyed it!

I hope you enjoyed this post! Love and light my friends ☯

Motivation, I have none! Must keep looking...

Although Spring is here and there seems to be more positive energy in the air, I am having a very hard time getting motivated to walk. Taking the time off to get back to health seems to have set me back and I sure that Aunt Flow's visit is not helping any. As much as I like to see her come, I like to see her go even more, LOL!  I will find my mojo again. I have no other option then to get back to where I was and move forward.

Saturday and Sunday - Yard and house work took priority over walking. Pup was sad but I still got a good work out. Our yard is on a hill so walking up and down it a ton of times, lifting, bending and moving was enough to make me feel it...it's all good!

This is a picture of my "Woodsy Garden" in 2011

Monday - I honestly do not remember what we did this day, but I know we did not walk. Hmmmm...why can't I remember? Getting older is not for the weak ;)

Tuesday - This day we finally got back out in the elements and walked the NID ditch by our house. The ditch was full of water, which my daughter and Pup loved. Daughter likes to throw stick in the ditch and watch Pup go for them. Both love the water. There were just a few wild flowers along the ditch road, a couple blooming trees and a whole lot of sunshine. It felt nice to get back out.

Nice day for a walk!

Blossoming Landscape

Love this place!

The sun is shining and it is Spring Break, must definitely wear the bikini ;)

My dog is a maniac...the bigger the stick the happier she is :)

Wednesday - I already know that today probably won't have a walk in the plans. We have a lot to do between cleaning the carpets, cleaning the house, cleaning the car and getting ready for our trip to Tiburon. We leave Friday for an overnighter, so excited!

I know that I will not walk tomorrow either because I am going to work with my husband. He has a big yard maintenance job to start and he needs my help so my exercise will come in the form of yard work.

I love having my daughter home with me and am looking forward to our Summer schedule. I am also looking forward to her returning to school so that I can get back on track with walking and some other work related tasks that need to be done. It is amazing/concerning/irritating about how easy it is for me to get off track with getting fit. I have never been one who enjoyed P.E. or any thing that required a lot of movement. Perhaps that is why I did so well in Volleyball ;)

Love and light my friends!

I'm baaaack...and I could not be happier about that!

Checked in with the doctor yesterday. All is well! He explained PVC's and talked to me about how to deal with them. Basically, just keep in mind that they are not going to hurt me or cause any other issues. Boy, are they scary though! And guess what?! I lost another 5 pounds, making that an 8 pound total loss! Yes, it is over the course of 3 months but ya know those eight pounds will stay off because I am making real changes to my lifestyle that I plan to keep for ever more :)

I am back to walking, too. I have missed it so much! So has Pup, she has been chasing her tail and wanting to play catch at bedtime ;)

Monday- No walk this day, I did get back in to my daughter's class to volunteer and that I love!

Tuesday- Took a walk with my Aunt and Cousin, it felt so good to sweat and talk and sweat and talk. Love those ladies! I wish that I took my camera this day as once you get the back of the subdivision that we were trekking through you there is an amazing view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I love how the mountains look blue as they get farther away.

Wednesday- Well if we had a raincoat and booties for Pup we would would have been out in the pouring rain getting our sweat on! But the weather did prevent us from going out today :(

Thursday- Love my mountain and walking on it. Felt good to get back on the familiar trail and get the blood pumping.

Nice day to be out and about in the wilderness!

Hearts...everywhere I go there are hearts! I think I am just more apt to see them as anyone can see them if they just look.

Friday (today) -Early walk on the Empire Trails...it was freezing and full of wildlife. Pup is now soaking up the sun on the deck!

Brrr! I was chilly this morning but once we got walking it was not a problem!

Yep, another heart...this time in bird poo, LOL!

Love and light my friends!

Meet my little friend, Ramsay...it has been a strange week.

So much for posting every other day, at this point in time a weekly post may be all you get ;) This week was challenging. Allergies started, which has my family hacking and blowing and irritable. More so it has triggered some Ramsay Hunt symptoms for myself.

August 2010 I was diagnosed with the rare syndrome, Ramsay Hunt. The easy explanation is that it is shingles in the cranium and effects the facial nerves causing symptoms that are similar to Bell's Palsy. Once the sores erupt they are accompanied by a very high fever, severe pain to the effected side of the head and vertigo. If not treated then nerve damage sets in causing facial drooping among other weird symptoms.

Not much is known about this syndrome, other than it exists, how to treat it and how to deal with it, as it really never goes away and can fester at any time. If you have ever had the chicken pox then you can get it. Some say that the new chicken pox vaccine can prevent it but given how the syndrome operates that does not make sense to me. Usually times of stress or when your immune system is down is when you get an outbreak. Not all symptoms are the same for everyone.

I belong to www.ramsayhunt.org, a place for those effected to gather and chat. We are of all ages, all backgrounds and all deal with a different set of things. Some have recovered and deal with it mildly every so often, some never recovered and deal with the pain and nerve damage daily. We are hard working, life stressing people. Through this organization I have learned that stress is a major contributor and that taking good care of yourself is key.

My story is that of a miracle as I did not have a primary care doctor at the time and was diagnosed in the hospital ER (after first receiving the wrong diagnosis, which is common). This made it very hard to get a referring doctor to refer me to a specialist. Luckily, I know a person who pulled some strings and got me into the specialist. Which I am forever grateful for! God was by my side during this time, no doubt...absolutely, NO DOUBT!

So, for me, this time the vertigo is back, blurred vision to the right side, ringing/muffled sound in the ear, sensitivity to light, confusion/disoriented, heart palpitations and lethargy. This has made it hard for me to get motivated to walk or do anything for that matter; however, I did manage to get out there four of the seven days this week. So, moral of this story is that I am a fighter so please don't pity me...most of us have some health issue we are dealing with; mine is just rare and weird. Kinda like me!

I forgot my camera on one of the walks, can you believe it? I felt naked but it was nice to just be!

Saturday- The in-laws came up and we walked to the pond. Good times, good times!

Spring is on the way!

Blossoms

 Sunday - Pup and I went by ourselves at around sunset.

I love this part of the trail, it glows when the sun hits it just right. This picture does no justice to the intensity of this experience.

Sunday Sunset

Monday - No walk, too busy!

Tuesday - Today was the day to drop off the heart monitor I had been wearing for two weeks. We are waiting the results and I will post about the experience once we have the results. I have a feeling that the heart palpitations are associated with the other symptoms I am having as I had them with Ramsay before. Pup and I walked and enjoyed the calm before the storm.

Yep, them are clouds!

 Wednesday - No walk, I did not have the gumption to do it.

Alyssa did find a heart shaped potato chip though. Pretty cool!

 Thursday - Forgot the camera! Oops! Walked the usual trail and took the BIG hill! Love the BIG hill!

Friday - No walk, no gumption, lots of work.

So today, I feel a little better. Still sensitive to light, muffled hearing and a little disoriented/scattered. Hopefully, I can get back in to the swing of things this week.

Love and Light my friends!

Walk a little here, walk a little there...must reassess and keep going!

I think this blog and my goal of walking needs to be reassessed. While walking daily is still ideal, it is not realistic some weeks with all that needs to be done. Monday's, forget it! I tried to fit in a walk with Pup while my daughter was at dance lessons this last Monday but Pup is not comfortable around cars, streets, etc. and it was not enjoyable. Neither of us got any good exercise. So, I am just going to forget Monday's and try to walk at least 6 times during the week.

Also, the same is true for finding time to blog about this adventure. I will try to continue to post daily, or ever other day but some weeks it just might not happen; like this week. Do know that I be walking, though!

Sunday- Yep, I am about a week behind ALWAYS! I am finding that Sunday walks are among my favorite because my husband usually comes with us and we are all together. These walks are not as stressed as the walks with just us girls. Pup and daughter listen better, we find lots of treasures and have a lot of fun. We took the girls over to my Mom's house and walked on the Litton trails. I did not know that they linked up with the trails at the High School and could lead to Ridge Road but I do now!

Before we even started the walk, my daughter found this heart! It is on a plum tree where a leaf or branch used to be.

Litton Trail ends up behind NU, who knew! Not me and I have been living here for 24 years and was very familiar with the trails when I was in school.

My daughter found a hide out!

NU has a course along the trails with a giant set of Monkey Bars...could not keep my Monkey off of them!

Tuesday - My daughter asked for us to wait until after school to walk so we did. Took the usual route by our house.

Grass Valley Landscape, my new sunset spot that does not have poison oak ;)

Wednesday- We did not take a walk but Pup needed some exercise so I played a long game of "chase me and if you get the bone we can play catch". Pup likes to keep her toys from us, according to the family that had her before us, Pup has always played that game.

Thursday- Walks alone is probably my most-est favorite me time. While I do enjoy company on walks, it is the walks that I take alone that really help me stay focused and grounded. I feel so good after an alone walk. On this particular day we went to the trails at the end of Gold Hill Drive. These are such nice trails, full of wild life and respectful people. For most of the walk I listened to an Owl hooting away and came across a very talkative Crow. We will be back to this trail :)

Beautiful day for me time!

It is so hard to get a picture of my Pup when she is not moving, I will take the puppy love though :)

Friday - Took the usual trail by our house, Nana was with us.

I love where I live!

So today is Saturday, filled with the unknown. I do know there will be a walk at some point, a little house chores and a whole lotta love!

Peace, love and light my friends!

Wise words, walks and more hearts...oh my!

I missed Friday's walk because of time constraints and work load. I am fine with that because we got a good walk in on the others days. I still feel like I need to step it up a bit and will be fitting in Dr. Oz's 7 Day Belly Workout again sometime this coming week.

I have not been on a scale since my last doctors appointment but I can feel my bottom and waist are getting thinner. I have not changed the amount that I eat, just the choices that I make. I will admit that the two boxes of Girl Scout Cookies I bought on Friday are almost gone ;) I can reassure you that on my plate at dinner you now see more salad then meat and barely any bread. Early day meal choices consist of fruit, leftovers, lettuce wraps and Cheerios with local honey added.

I have even better news; seems that my family is following my example. My hubby has been walking a little with his cousin and my daughter has been doing extra exercises in her room after school (crunches, squats, leg lifts, etc). Part of this journey was to make a healthier life for them as well.

Here are some exercise quotes to help get the motivation juices flowing...

“My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we don't know where the heck she is.” ~ Ellen DeGeneres

 “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols

“An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

And here is one that will get me going today...


“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable!”~ Jillian Michaels

Nobody likes to be taken out of their comfort zone, yet it seems that true growth (personal, mental, physical, spiritual, any growth) happens just outside that area.

Thursday was busy so Pup and I left 20 minutes earlier than we normally would to pick up my daughter from school. On Rough and Ready Highway by Twin Cities Church there is a walking trail and we just walked back and forth on that a few times until we had no time left.

I love exploring new trails, you never know what you might find!

Always nice on Litton Trails!

Of course! It would not be a normal day without seeing at least one heart!

My daughter is starting to see them in objects too. She found one side to a heart, the silly thing is my Mom found the other side the other day and kept it. Now, my daughter has a full heart to share tomorrow at school.

This will be part of a project. My daughters hands and heart are full of love!

Well, today is Sunday. I know that there will be a walk today; when is the real question. I guess it will happen when and where it happens. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend! Until next time, I be walking!

Love and light my friends, thanks for reading!

Where there is a will, there is a way!

Monday - 8:31 am - In the past four days I have walked only two of them. This weekend was pretty busy for us so I did not have the time to work the walks in. I can feel it and based upon how much energy Pup has she is feeling it too. Gonna take a long walk today, not sure where, not sure when but WE WILL! We are expecting rain and snow later tonight and tomorrow! Yahoo, we need the weather!

I hurt my back doing Dr. Oz's 7 Day Belly Workout so I have not been doing it. I hope to get back on track with it soon!

 Tuesday - 2:28 pm - We walked yesterday, twice! Once to walk and another time to find my wallet. Good work out and I got some amazing images! Everything happens for a reason...

There is a storm rolling in, looking to the south, south-westish...

...looking to the north, north-eastish.

New trail for us

Still noticing hearts, there were more than three on this walk.

Absolutely beautiful!

Mom and I...found the wallet!

 It has been snowing all day! I am ending this post and getting ready to head out and go walk in it! I just love the snow, always have and always will!

Oh, yeah, the heart monitor was put on today. It's itchy.