Back at it Day 5-21 - Reassessment

Why is the goal of walking daily so hard to obtain? I have only walked a few days out of the past 16, ARG!

I did have a stomach bug which laid me flat on my back for 2 days and stuck at home for several after that BUT I will admit that there are some days in there that I could have and did not because I was lazy or told myself I did not have the time. Other days I was busy working in the yard, getting the summer garden going and picking up after Winter.

Perhaps it is time to reassess the goal of walking daily. Some days my work load is massive and I truly do not have the time. Other days, like today, I can work it in. Let's say that I will walk 5 out of the seven days of the week. My new goal is set, walking five out of the seven days the week allows.

What do you think? Do you find it that sometimes you have to reassess your goals or do you not let anything in between you and what you want?

Here are some pictures of the days Pup and I did get out...

Still seeing those hearts around!

Can you see the heart here? You have to look really hard to see it!

Do you know what this is?

I love where I live, so beautiful!

 Here are a few pics from our yard...

Center of an Iris

More Irises

Lilac

Relaxing when the job is done!

Thanks for reading my friends!

Getting back at it and it feels real good!

"If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, 

change the way you think about it."  ~Mary Engelbreit

The past two weeks have been filled with pure chaos! It has been hard to schedule in our daily walks with all the catch up that has been played after taking that time off to recoup. I am back at it though! At least every other day we are out walking or being active. AND of course I took pictures for proof ;)

The past few weeks I have been pondering why it is so easy for me to get off track with changes that I start in my personal life. I have come to the conclusion that I have a weird relationship with change. As most people do, I fear it yet need it.

I had a boss tell me once that I feared change, I did not agree as the context it was given in was work related and I have always had the attitude of "if it is not broken why fix it". Her statement stuck with me though, for this time in my life when I needed it.

Now, more than ever I need change. In order for me and my family to move forward we need to tweak a few things. Today, change is encouraged. My perception of change has a lot to do with it, too. If I look at our daily walks as a chore or something that has to be done...I do not want to do it (unfortunately, this is a personality trait). If I look at it as a tool to help me change in the other areas I hope to change then it gets done and it is enjoyable. I swear, humans are their own enemy. While free will was gifted for the good in us, we can sure turn it around and use it against ourselves and others.

Here are a couple of quotes I found on change that help, hopefully they help you too! The last one is a reminder that we do not know what life holds for us once we do change but the results are usually for our benefit. Especially with those positive changes we make.

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."  ~Anatole France

"You must welcome change as the rule but not as your ruler."  ~Denis Waitley

"Change always comes bearing gifts."  ~Price Pritchett

Now for the photography...

We see this waterfall on a trail that we take usually when we are all together...love me some family walks!

Pup, on the trail we usually take

Yep, still seeing hearts...they are not as frequent as before but they are there. All you have to do is look :)

It was a cold morning walk on Litton Trail with my Mama...

We saw this HUGE mushroom. Anyone know what it is?

Always beautiful at the Empire Mine Trails!

A bee, I like to see these!

Nothing but blue skies and Pine Trees...love Empire Mine Trails!

The wildflowers are in full bloom!

I had some company on this day!

Poppy likes it when Alyssa rides her bike...it gives her an excuse to run fast and not listen ;)

Love this goof!

If I was a bird, I would spend a lot of time in this tree.

This makes me think of the past, not sure why...nothing specific, just "the past".

The Great Oaks...as I call them. They are just gorgeous right now!

Love it! Big. bold. Green. Fresh.

This was not taken on a walk...I stopped on Ridge Road one day before my daughter got out of school. This reminds me of my brother, his favorite flower is Lupine.

Love this pic...nothing better then blue skies, wildflower fields and evergreen trees!

So this is what I have captured the past few weeks. The next few coming up I have to work on not allowing distractions and my own perspective get in my way.

Love and light friends...thanks for reading ;)

San Fransisco, here we come!

Last weekend we spent some time in San Francisco, it was fabulous! I did not seek any exercise but I know that I got plenty. Here are some pictures of our trip...

The first day we spent being tourists in SF...this is Lombard Street

We took a ferry from SF to Tiburon where my husband's Aunts live. This the view of The Ferry Building from the back of the ferry.

The next day we walked along the bay in Tiburon. Here is the view of the city from where we stayed.

This is the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from Tiburon

This is the view looking towards Tiburon and Belvedere. It was a beautiful day!

A little daisy and clover patch in the grass.

Driving home we say a heart in the clouds...they are truly everywhere we go.

We cannot wait until our next visit with the Aunties!

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!

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!