Day 313: Rhythm of the seasons

Today, I felt for the first time that Autumn is truly here and it is time to get ready for winter. I have a strong drive to get the last of the yard work done (weeds pulled, trees trimmed, etc.) and to get the house in order (deep cleaned and de-cluttered).

What is interesting, is I have the same drive to get myself in order. I want to get all the sunshine, physical movement, and play that I can because I know soon (much too soon) I will be indoors for the long, cold winter.

I don't remember feeling like this the last two years...so is this a result of my journey? 

Interesting to think that simply by walking every day that I am now getting the rhythm of the seasons.

Happy Walking!

Day 312: A quiet Sunday

We had a very quiet and peaceful Sunday today.

I think a big part of that is because I made sure to get up at my regular time - a good hour before the children get up. This gives me time to wake up slowly and get some things done for me.

It also makes me more aware of them wasting time. :)

Either way it was a nice day.

Happy Walking!

Day 311: Inspiration

Today, I had the opportunity to chat with some friends - always a nice opportunity!

Our chatting turned to exercise - my walking with the children, the best bike routes, hitting the gym and training for a race.

One of the mother's trained for the last 2 months to run a race last night. Her youngest son participated in a fun run, her husband ran a marathon (this morning) and my friend and her 2 teenage daughters ran a race as well (I don't remember how long).

My friend told me that her goal was to run the entire distance - which she did! The inspiration comes from the surprise of beating her two daughters. That's ride, a 40-something mother beat her two teenage daughters in a race.

Why?

I am not sure because I didn't see the race, but my friend thinks it is because she spent two months training while her daughters sort of trained - did enough to meet requirements for school, but nothing extra for this particular race.

Now, that is inspirational.

If I tried to race my children, right now, I would lose. I know that for a fact....however, I am now wondering if I trained, if I put the time and energy in could I beat my children in a race? Would I have the endurance to go the distance?

I am kind of liking this idea. Showing my children what their "old" mom is capable of...after some training!

Happy Walking!

Day 310: 5 Gratitudes for Friday, 40

1. All the hard work the children and I put in this week so we could play today. We discovered a very cool and very fun nature center. It has an interactive center for children, it has loads of hiking trails, a stage, a picnic area and a great "explore" area for children. The explore area had forts, trees to climb, a zip line, an obstacle course, sand/dirt/mud to dig in and a creek. We had such a wonderful day and the weather was perfect!

2. The opportunity to talk and meet with so many wonderful women from my church this week. I really felt uplifted.

3. To overcome my frustrations earlier in the week. To be able to find creative ways to help my children succeed. To know and realize that what I do every day matters, but my attitude toward it matters the most.

4. Modern technology! I love that I can set my DVR to record some television shows and then I can watch them later. What I love more is that we recorded the season premier of Agents of Shield and then watched Wednesday morning as a family while we ate our breakfast - none of us could wait until the weekend to watch. :)

5. Books. I love books. I am so grateful to have books in my life. I wide range of genres and topics - I love them all. I also love that I can read without feeling too guilty!

Happy Walking!

Day 309: Bike shape

My oldest daughter has the goal to ride the entire (or a really big portion) of a bike/walk trail in our town. The trail follows a portion of an old train line - it not only loops around the majority of the city, but also cuts through it in various parts. It is a great trail, easy to "pick up" almost any where in the city and hardly ever crosses a street (lots of tunnels and bridges though!).

I am decent shape for walking, but not bike riding....so I have decided to bike a little bit every day to get in shape to ride the trail with my daughter. We are hoping to do this at the end of October before it gets to bitterly cold.

I had my first bike ride today in a long time (too long to count). I am tired and I am sore...but a good tired and sore.

I am also pretty excited. I like pushing myself.

Happy Walking!

Day 308: Playing with the Enemy

I just got done reading, Playing with the Enemy, by Gary W. Moore.

It is a book about Gary Moore's father, Gene Moore, his brush with baseball greatness, WWII and playing with the enemy (in this case, some German prisoners).

I mention this book because one it is an amazing book, an amazing story and worth reading.

I also mention this book because several truths? lessons? observations? popped out at me.

In life, we can do everything in our power to help someone succeed, but in the end the person has to do it themselves. In the book, Gene needed to play ball like he wanted to make it to the majors - this was after a severe bone break in his ankle.

Gene, for so long after that break chose to drown himself in alcohol instead of taking the problem head on.

How many of us choose to drown in our chosen poison? (be it food, video games, ipads, television, books, etc...).

Gene never made it to the majors, but he stayed in the minors long enough to help a friend make it to the majors. The friend was willing to stay in the minors until Gene could make it to the majors too, but Gene knew that his ankle was never going to let him play at that level. Gene did all he could to ensure that his friend made it.

This is noble, but for so long afterwards Gene still felt depressed about this choice - even after marrying and having children.

One of the German POWs returned to visit Gene years after the war was over. This wonderful man named his son after Gene. Even told Gene that he was living the life he was destined to live. Gene didn't get it until the German POW asked him this question: If you had made it to the majors would you have met your wife and had your children? Which would you rather give up? Gene realized at that moment he would rather have his wife and children.

Gene went on to have a good life, even built a company with his wife where his charisma that made him a great ball player helped him be a great boss.

How many of us constantly playing what if. What if I moved here instead of here? What if I took this job instead of that job? What if I had followed a dream?

Instead we should ask what part of our life would we want to give up? If I had done my life differently in the past would I have the husband and children I have today? I don't know and not willing to find out.

Life is a journey. It is a hard journey. Some feel that we are destined for specific destinies or missions.

I think, for me, after reading this book, that our destinies are more complex than we can imagine, but it is Satan's job to think we have messed it up - be it a broken ankle that destroys a career in the majors or broken a marriage or weight gain that we can't quite get rid of.

Our job is to be each others coaches, helping each person reach their potential without forgetting that we have to do the actual work for ourselves. I can give my son the bike, but I can't ride the bike for him. My husband can give me support to walk and eat right, but I am the one that has to do the work.

I hope this post makes sense. Basically, we help one another, but do hard work on ourselves. We apply our talents to the important things in our life and we let destiny take care of itself.

Happy Walking!

Day 307: Comfort food

Isn't it amazing how our attitudes and moods can change so quickly? It is a lot like the weather - one moment all sunny and bright, the next moment rain and thunderstorms.

I am sure how we handle those changes is more important the changes themselves...and it is all part of the journey.

Yesterday I was loving life, by this afternoon - not so much.

I am looking forward to bouncing back tomorrow.

The day was going great until I chose to let my "I know better than you" get in the way of actually encouraging one of my children. I am 100% frustrated and disappointed with myself.

Yet, the one interesting thing is I noticed as I started beating myself up over my inability to stay the calm, cool mother that I wanted food - not any food, but junk food. I wanted a cookie or some chips or even some fast food. I wanted the food to make me feel better when I felt so terrible.

I only partially gave in....actually, I started to give in when I realized what I was doing: eating for comfort.

Knowing is half the battle, right? I now know that when I am down on myself I like to turn to food. Time to change that habit! Also time to start working on my patience. :)

Happy Walking!

Day 306: Knowing is half the battle...

G.I. Joe tells us that knowing is half the battle. I have often wondered what the other half of the battle is - hard work? practice? planing? executing your plan?

Maybe the other half of the battle is different for each battle.

In my life, battles include patience, procrastination, control, etc.

I think one of the reasons this blog and my walking every day has been so successful is because I took the time to identify my goals, wants, desires and identify potential problems and their potential solutions.

All that knowledge was half the battle, the other half was the actual doing. I believe because I took the time to identify everything then the actual doing was not so hard.

For example, it is Autumn where I live. Some days we wake up to gorgeous weather other days not so much. We have mornings that are cold and afternoons that are hot. There is nothing predictable about the weather (or the season),

Yet, I am able to achieve my daily goal of walking - at any time of the day - because I first gained knowledge and then I did. This gives me more knowledge which empowers me to do more.

I am not willing to go to the mall yet, so we walk around lunch (either before or after).

In other areas of my  life (like writing on my family blog), I am not doing so hot. I happen to know that I never took the time to think about that blog - what I wanted to share, how often I wanted to share, possible problems with sharing or finding time to share. As a result, my posting on that blog is very hit and miss.

I could go through with more examples, but I think you get the point.

I may not being fighting a battle with guns, but I am fighting personal battles. Knowledge is needed first, than the other half of the battle will (hopefully) fall into place.

Looks like it is time to apply this lesson to my other blog, to eating healthier and a few other areas in my life!

Happy Walking!

Day 305: Content

No great insights today.

Just so....content. Just content and happy with the day, with being "on top" of things, with my life, my body, my children's behavior and all sorts of things.

I know there are always room for improvements, but I do not feel anxious for those improvements. I want to improve, but I am also content with where I am at.

I think that is a good thing.

Happy Walking!

Day 304: Simple things

I woke up before my alarm this morning.

I couldn't go back to sleep.

Yet, it ended up being a great day.

I got a lot done this morning - a good 2 hours before anyone else got up.

Not once today did I feel as if I was running behind or not accomplishing or not living up to some unknown standard I have set for myself.

I walked before breakfast (which I truly prefer).

I was thankful for feeling alive and doing so much - even though it was just the simple things, like reading a book, checking emails and sorting papers.

There is joy in the simple things. I am glad today was one of them!

Happy Walking!

Day 303: 5 Gratitudes for Friday, 39

1. Children who are willing to share and give, not only of their time, but of their belongings. This week we did some decluttering. All the children happily went through their belongings.

2. My oldest daughter working hard on her talk and the giving a flawless talk on Sunday. No one could tell that she was speaking from an outline nor that she was nervous. She spoke for 5 minutes (which is the perfect length for a young woman). She even wrote in some bits of humor that garnered the laughs she was hoping to get.

3. That it is Friday night, I am done with all my chores and errands! (Now I can focus on computer related items!). I am looking forward to relaxing tonight and sleeping in (maybe?) tomorrow.

4. That we can be silly as a family. Yesterday was National Pirate Day. Krispy Kreme Donuts had a deal if you talked like a pirate you got a free donut. If you dressed like a donut you got a free dozen donuts. We all talked like a pirate. The children dressed up like a pirate and Steve wore a pirate hat. The worker must of liked us because he gave us 4 dozen free donuts. yeah....that is a lot of donuts! We then came home and watched Pirates of Penzance in honor of National Pirate Day - who says home schoolers don't get a good education?  :)

5. A grown up girls shopping trip. My wonderful friend, Beth, went shopping with me earlier in the week. We normally go out to eat, but I really wanted to do some shopping. I bought a scarf - the decorative kind that is pretty fashionable these days. It is sage green with studs. Beth says I need to break out of my comfort zone. I am sure she is right. :)

Happy Walking!

Day 302: Sometimes...

Sometimes in life you just need a break. Maybe you feel overwhelmed, or suck, or just feeling down or maybe you are just super busy...what ever the reason, sometimes you just need a break.

Today was that kind of day for me. I just needed a break, but I didn't realize it. My oldest daughter did though. 

We were suppose to go on a date, but I wanted to cancel - feeling overwhelmed and all. She insisted. We had a fabulous time - went to a craft store to shop for items for our Halloween costume and then a book store.

Wouldn't it be nice if exercise became the thing that helped when I was feeling overwhelmed. It would be pretty cool.

Happy Walking!

Day 301: Quick Update

So the amount of exercise I am getting while my son is learning to ride his bike has been a roller coaster.

In the beginning, when I was holding on to the bike, the exercise was very brisk (practically running in a couple of places). Then, when all I needed to do was help at the beginning, the exercise was practically non-existent (I had to remind myself to walk in place as I waited). Now, the exercise is moderate.

This week, we are going to the church parking lot because it is large and usually empty of cars and activity during the weekday (daytime). My son starts on one end and rides to the other end of the lot. He is not good at starting himself off or at turning, so I must walk (following him) so I can be available when he needs a good push.

In some ways, I am anxious to do it all without my help (so I can get a bike and we can ride as a family), but another part of me is enjoying the simpleness of him riding and me walking. Deep down, I know the time is short - he won't need my help forever.

Happy Walking!

Day 300: Wow!

Wow! If I did my days correctly, I only have 65 more days to the end of the year...somehow that can't be right...it doesn't feel like a year.

I have had such a great time with this journey.

I love that I love walking and I love that my children love walking (or bike riding). It is such a wonderful change to our slothful existence before I began this journey.

Happy Walking!

Day 299: Dangers in family exercise

As everyone knows, we take a Kung Fu class as a family. Martial arts classes typically have some sparring, ours is no different. Our teacher, Sifu Adams, tries to have Steve and I partnered as much as possible, but the children also need to partner with us so they can practice without sibling issues.
Tonight, I had the opportunity to spar with all 3 of my children.
They are getting very quick with their punches which makes me work hard at defense. While sparring with K, she socked me right in the jaw. Man, did I want to take a breather - it hurt! Not super bad, but bad enough I wanted a few minutes to "walk it off".
Unfortunately, can't do that when my children are watching me - if I "walk it off" every time something hurts than they will too. So, I sucked it up and kept sparring...but trust me, I watched that right hook a little more closely!

Happy Walking!

Day 298: quick note

Just a quick note.

Loving today.

K did great on her talk.

We had a great night as a family watching football and a movie while munching on goodies.

I really like Sundays because I can be a bum and not feel guilty.

Happy Walking!

Day 297: Cycles

I have had this on my mind a lot lately - life goes in cycles. I sometimes feel like the struggles I had when my children were young I am having again - not the exact same struggles, but similar struggles.

I think about this the most when I take a nap during the day or a child wakes me in the middle of the night.

I am thinking about it a lot tonight because I am waiting for my oldest to call & say she is ready to come home. She is at a friends house for a movie party. I just want to go to bed, but just like when she was a baby and didn't go to sleep (for whatever reason), I am sitting up.

I sit up because I love her. I will nap tomorrow and go to bed early.

The cycle continues, but hopefully I have become a better mom along the way.

Happy Walking!

Day 296: 5 Gratitudes for Friday, 38

1 - Two wonderful weeks of home schooling. I am not exactly sure what has changed this year, but I feel like I am teaching my children in the best possible way for them and for me. We have had a great week (even if we missed having Steve a part of the homes school day) - we laughed, we learned, we worked, we played and we (for the most part) kept the love.

2. Z riding his bike. I have known for a long time he deep down wanted to learn how, but just was not applying himself. I am glad we finally got it done. He is all smiles when he is on his bike - and that means the world to me.

3. Today. I am grateful for today. It was sunny with a cold breeze and I know winter is just around the corner. We chose to spend the day out - we walked, we played at the park, we went to the children's museum, checked out a new library and just spent a great day together - enjoying each other and the good weather.

4. Having the sister missionaries over for dinner. I love having the sister missionaries over. They are always so enthusiastic, bubbly, excited, sweet. I just love them.

5. My husband consistently meeting my needs. He is a pretty terrific guy. I know I don't say it often enough, but he is. And I am very thankful for him.

Day 295: Mapping Adventures

The children have become increasingly bored with walking around our neighborhood. I do not blame them, we have walked it almost everyday this summer. Yet, I am still not ready to move indoors. The weather is nice and I want to enjoy every minute of it.

In history we learned about Lewis and Clark. I decided the children should make maps of our neighborhood.

It was (and hopefully we will do more such adventures) a fun way to walk around the neighborhood. The children were absorbed with landmarks, the maps they drew and they began to notice "new" things  on their walk.

The walk was not as brisk as I would have wanted, but we were out a lot longer....I wonder if that makes the two walks even?

Happy Walking!

Day 294: Achieving Goals

Achieving goals is a fine balance between group effort and solitary effort.

As I have watched my son this week struggle to learn to ride his bike, I see how all the help and support I give him does not actually get him to his goal. For him to reach the goal of a bike rider, he must put in the hard work. He must over come fears and failures. He must keeping pushing himself until he achieves his goal. I am merely the coach/cheerleader who helps, gives advice and tries to cheer him on.

My job is important, but it can not replace his hard work. On the other hand, when the goal is first realized - like today when my son rode, by himself, a good bit of distance, he needed me (and his sisters) to cheer, clap, holler and celebrate his success. If he had looked around and nobody had noticed or acknowledged his accomplishment....would he have felt the same or been willing to continue the hard work? (he still can't start himself off or steer.)

I think, getting healthy or staying patient or any other goal you have for yourself, is the same as my son learning how to ride a bike. For me to get healthy: go to bed on time, eat lots of fruits & veggies, walk daily, and etc. means I have to buckle down and do the hard work. I have to keep trying even when it is hard. Yet, during this journey to reach my goal, I need to be surrounded by people who can cheer me on, encourage me, share with me their knowledge and most importantly, when I finally reach my goal they need to cheer, clap and celebrate with me.

I have written before that I sometimes quiet after getting a compliment. I see now, that the compliment is like my words of encouragement to my son - it is not a reason to stop where I am at, but a reason to keep trying.

Just like my son, I can do hard things and will succeed in the end.

Happy Walking!

Day 293: Start with me

Over and over and over again I have heard that I must start with myself before I can help/influence those around me.

Sometimes starting with myself is hard.

Sometimes I don't know how to start with myself. It is much easier to fix/help other people.

Today, I realized that when I am frustrated with myself or at a loss on how to start working on myself, I  take it out on those around me. Sometimes it is just being nit picky, sometimes I nag and sometimes I get frustrated that the person I am working with is not catching on quickly enough.

To start with myself, in each of these cases, doesn't have anything to do with something physical, but with something much harder - my emotions, my patience....the part of me that makes me...me.

I am making great strides in taking care of myself physically - walking, eating better, sleeping better, etc., but now I realize I need to work on the other half...sigh...which is so much harder, I think.

I have felt for a long time, that our spiritual selves are tied to our physical selves. We need both selves strong - strength in one will increase strength in the other and vice versa. I know, and I don't know how I know, but I will not progress much further with my health goals, until I start working on my spiritual side - more specifically my patience, but also my procrastination. Both are holding me back.

Happy Walking!

Day 292: Just Keep Swimming

I can hear Dory's voice (the blue fish from Fining Nemo) in my head, saying over and over again, "Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming, What do we do? We Swim!"

I have declared this year to be the year of hard work and doing hard things.

It doesn't matter if it is my son learning to ride his bike, my daughter learning how to spell better or my humble attempts at getting healthier.

I did hard things today.

I really wanted to curl up with a book and a bag of chips...well, in the afternoon I wanted to curl up with a book and bag of chips. This was after a morning of doing hard things.

But I didn't. I just kept swimming.

Swim one hour at a time and one day at a time until I feel like I have been swimming my whole life. (Feel free to insert any habit for swimming.)

Happy Walking! (or should I say swimming?)

Day 291: A new day

I love waking up and feeling as if the new day is a NEW day....like it is magical or a clean slate or a do over....basically that all that went on before just doesn't really matter because today is a new day!

I don't have those NEW day kind of feelings very often, but I sure do love them.

Today was a NEW day. I woke up with the feeling that things could be different. should be different and maybe, just maybe are different.

What is strange is that the day was pretty much like any other Sunday, but it felt different...maybe it was my attitude that changed?

All I know, is that I am looking forward to this week. Looking forward to walking, to school, to reading, to writing, to going to bed on time. I am looking forward to taking care of me a little bit better than I have been. I am looking forward to working on the relationships with my children and husband.

And you know what is really great? None of those things were bad or needed to be fixed. I just want to do better and I am looking forward to it.

Kind of a nice feeling.

Happy Walking!

Day 290: What Are You Willing To Pay?

I watched the season premiere of Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, Making The Team, Season 8 last night. I find it rather fascinating that 500 young women show up for tryouts to make a cheerleading squad where they are paid so little.

I realize that many of them do this in the hopes of being discovered or that it will open doors for them in other areas...but I still find it fascinating.

I think the reason I find it so fascinating is that each young woman is paying a price for a dream. Perhaps the dream is to be a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader or maybe the DCC is just a stepping stone to a bigger dream.

These girls work a full time job, some still go to school, but they all attend tryouts, training camp, practices, games, photo shoots, special events, etc... If you watch the show, it will give time stamps of when the day begins and ends. Many of these young women are up before I am and go to bed long after me.

They are willing to pay a big price for their dreams. What are you willing to pay? What am I willing to pay? Am I even coming close to paying?

I told my children at the beginning of summer that this is the year of hard things. We all (me included) need to learn to do hard things. We all (me included) need to learn to pay the price for our dreams.

I want to be healthy, but I have not yet paid the real price to attain that goal.

Maybe having a goal like running in a marathon or trying out for the DCC would make it easier to attain the healthy goal....I don't know. What I do know, is that I am not truly paying the price yet.

Yes, I am walking. Yes, I try to eat better. Yes, I try to get enough sleep. But deep down where it counts, I know there is more that I can do. I can eat more fruits, veggies and whole grains. I know I can eat less sweets and refined sugar/carbs. I know I could get more sleep each night. I know I could move more through out the day.

The simple truth is that I want to be healthy, but I do not want to change. I want my cake and be able to eat it too. At this point in time, that is just not possible.

If I want real change than I have to pay a real price - the price of hard work and sacrifice. It is that simple.

Happy Walking!

Day 289: 5 Gratitudes for Friday, 37

1. Steve spending the week with us and helping/doing home schooling. He is a natural teacher and the children love his teaching style. I do as well. It was a great week and I hope we can do something like this every year.

2. Listening to my children talk about math the way they normally talk about movies, books or video games. Steve taught Z the "magic" behind the 9 times table  - Z was so excited that he was telling his sisters all about it as we drove to lunch. K already knows the magic, so the two of them talked and laughed about how cool math is and all the different "magic" of math. Pretty darn cool.

3. Working hard all week so we could take Friday off. The children helped me find my Halloween clothes (we are being pikmin this year), went to the library and to the park. It was a great day and so relaxing.

4. Gorgeous weather all week - made it nice to walk, ride bikes and play at the park. It would be wonderful if the weather could be this great year round, but I guess the cold weather makes me appreciate the nice days so much more.

5. I love watching my children create. This week, they each took the poem "Caterpillar" by Christina G. Rossetti and re-created it through their preferred medium. S colored a picture, Z used LEGO and K cut out the different pieces from paper (so she could tell the poem with the cut-outs). Each child did a great job of capturing the poem.

Day 287 & 288: More fun and games

Steve ended up taking the whole week off and joining us for home school activities. The children loved it, I loved it, but the best part (for me) was having Steve involved with the physical activity.

He helped with kung fu practice, he helped Z with bike riding (Steve and Z even added air to all the bikes and adjusted Z's bike seat), and just did a great job of being the example of someone who can play hard and work hard.

That is one of the things I admire about my husband, he does a great job of balancing his life: work, family, play, etc.

I sometimes get tunnel vision. If I am playing, I don't want to stop to work or vise versa. I just go and go and go until I am burnt out on whatever I have chosen to focus on! Not the best strategy.

This week was good for me to see my husband in action and then, hopefully, put into action what I have learned.

Happy Walking!

Day 286: Special Treat

Our special treat today was having Steve with us when we went walking/bike riding. In fact, Steve helped Z with learning how to ride a bike.

It has been a long time since Steve has had the time to be a part of our morning workouts, but we always enjoy having him along.

I will happily wish for this special treat every day of the week!

Happy Walking!

Day 285: Happy Labor Day!

Despite by best efforts to convince my children that Labor Day was the day I rested and they worked...we had a really great day.

We played and worked together which is the best kind of day.

My oldest daughter and I had a discussion about me not giving her enough time to prepare for something a few weeks ago. This really bothered me because I let her know I was available to help, but I did not nag her or force her. I was truly attempting to give K the chance to do an assignment on her own.

It hit me later that of course she felt like I didn't give her time - I haven't ever taught her the concept of "here is the deadline and this is what you do to meet a deadline."

I am pretty sure I haven't taught it or been the example because I do not do it very well. Oh, I do great for a talk at church, but not so much with other areas. I struggle to make good use of my time and to meet deadlines.

I am sure this plays a part in my health as well.

I know how to cram - work hard in a short amount of time, but I do not do a good job of working a little bit every day to meet a deadline. This past year is the closest I have ever come (in terms of setting a long term health goal).

I must think on this more.

Happy Walking!

Day 284: Practice does not make perfect...

Practice does not make perfect (despite the old saying)...all kinds of research shows that practice can not get us to the perfection, but more in the 90% area. (read this to understand more.)

However, practice does help us be prepared to do those things that are hard and to get us through the hard times keeping those habits we have been practicing all along.

Today, two of my children spoke in primary (the children's classes) at church. They practiced all week and did a superb job.

It was a good reminder to me, that I am not practicing for perfection, but for good habits that will last me a life time.

Yes, I still need to figure out the "quit when I get a compliment" thing, but I also don't need to beat myself up. I walk every day and that was the goal for the year. I am forming a life long habit of movement which is always a good thing.

Happy Walking!