Happy Father’s Day to ALL the Dad’s!

Happy Father’s Day to all the GREAT Fathers in Mintdom,

I know there are some great dads out there and I would love to hear from the sons and daughters about their dads.  Please feel free to share your dads with us here.  I do not think that Dads get as much recognition as they should get, especially these days. So come on… celebrate your Dads this week! 

Of course, I think that I have the BEST dad in the whole world.  The top five words that come to my mind when I think of my father are Integrity, Dutiful, Family, Provider, and Courageous.  

My dad spent most of his career in the association business. His career allowed my mom to stay home with us (five kids) growing up. I think one of the best things about my dad is that I always knew that he loved his family. Even though he traveled a lot, I never doubted that he was thinking about us. I cannot remember a time that he went on a trip and did not bring us all some little trinket.  After attending a convention, he would make us stay out of his room while he spread out all sorts of doodads on the bed and then call us into the room to let us take turns picking things out until they were all gone.  It was so much fun! 

To be perfectly honest, things were not smooth sailing for my dad and me.  We always had family dinners together.  Now my dad did not get home until about 7:00 most nights.  I do not remember that dad had a lot of time to decompress between work and coming home to five kids, and to be perfectly honest, things were not always smooth sailing at the dinner table when I was a teenager.  I can remember many times, my dad saying something sarcastic that would send me flying away from the dinner table in tears, stomping up the stairs and slamming the door to my room. My dad would make me come back to “finish the nice dinner my mom made”. Things eventually evened out at the dinner table, probably because I grew up or maybe it was something that my dad showed me years later when I had my own children. That is when he gave me a book that he said helped him a lot. It was called ‘Between Parent and Child’ by Heim Ginott. As I was leafing through it, I saw paragraphs that my dad marked that talked about how harmful sarcasm could be.  There was also a note in pencil that said something like, “I will stop sarcastic remarks”. 

One of the most dramatic moments, I had with my dad was when he sat my brother, Jon and I down one evening and told us that mom had cancer. At that time, just the word cancer meant probable death. He said that she had gone to several expert doctors (one said that he would amputate her arm). The doctor that they chose was going to cut the cancer out.  My dad and my mom had five kids at the time and I think that the youngest was only two years old. I could tell that this was serious, but my dad was so reassuring that I did not realize that mom had the worst kind of cancer you could have. He never let on how scared he was. That before the age of 40, he could be a widower with five kids.  It turned out that mom had malignant melanoma and she was her doctor’s only surviving patient with that kind of cancer for over ten years.  Thank God, my mom is still healthy and happy today! 

On a lighter note – I have always felt that I could go to my dad with almost anything.  For instance, I went to my dad to ask him what a ‘wet dream’ was.  I figured that it happened to boys so he would be the one to ask.  I do not know how my dad felt about it, but he barely skipped a beat and just gave me the answer. 

My dad shows his love to his family and country.  My dad votes every election, he has definite political leanings, yet he allows all of us to share ours. My dad is still active in his 82nd airborne group.  He still takes mom on romantic trips to Europe. It is so nice to see them both holding hands and going out on dates together.   

Today, dad is out fishing with my cousin all day.  I sure hope he catches his limit – he deserves it!

AffirMINTion: I am grateful to have the BEST dad in the world. 

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to. 

What are you waiting for?

Life is good! 

A Mini Minty MoMINT 

I love my mom’s dad too.  He takes me for walks and brings me treats when he is home… AND I LIKE IT! 

Life is Minty Fresh

Hanging Out and Waiting for a Treat!

xoxo

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Step One AND Happy New Year!

01/01/2011 – 10 Minutes of Exercise – Zumba (beginners) H2O – 4

Happy New Year, Mintdom!

It has been a while since I have posted.  I have to confess that I have been in a bit of a slump and a little overwhelmed with life for the past several months. In addition, I have not exercised or eaten consistently in healthy ways and of course the results is any progress that I made was lost physically at least. I was frustrated with the little progress made after a lot of effort. I do not consider that I gave up though as it was always on my mind – I felt like I just kept putting it off until tomorrow.  Well, I am here to tell you that tomorrow never comes!  LOL

I have not written because I was not ready to come clean about it with you, dear family and friends, and I did not want to hear any suggestions or solutions. I suppose it was my form of isolation.  I am back now though, and I feel SO much better – so stay tuned!

Right now, I do not have a working pedoMINTer, but I have started a small challenge on www.SparkPeople.com. I am re-starting slowly and building back my exercise habit by doing 10 minutes a day for 5 days of some form of exercise.  I started learning Zumba, although I imagine I will have to do it low impact for a   while.  It is ok – it is fun and I love learning something new. I also am committing to drinking at least 4 glasses of water a day (I will work my way up to 8 Erin).  My last commitment is to come back to Mintdom

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” ~ Unknown Author ~

I am so excited to be in 2011.  I have a brand new start of the year.  I missed you all and I am so happy to be back and so looking forward to a wonderful year with all of you!

AffirMINTion: I love living a healthy lifestyle.

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

What are you waiting for?

Life is good!

A Mini Minty MoMINT

I like my mom’s quote but she also says that you can start your day over at anytime too, AND I LIKE IT!

Happy New Year

Life is Minty Fresh!

Have a Minty Fresh 2011!

 

 

RecomMINTing Again!

10/29/09 – 6,945 Steps

Food Journal – No

 

10/30/09 – 2,900 Steps

Food Journal – Yes

 

Good morning Mintdom,

 

I am back from my vacation.  I caught up with my relatives and met new friends. I had a wonderful time and I am happy to be home too. I am recomMINTing again (is that an oxymoron? LOL) to getting my exercise in AND eating right.  Being overweight is so not fun; however, traveling and being overweight is horrid!  Walking through the airports with a computer and a big purse slung over my shoulder was painful at times.  I DID use the people movers, but I walked them. It was so late on my return, that the shuttle was not operating and we all had to walk.  If walking through the airport was physically painful, then sitting on the plane was emotionally painful.  I am telling you that I REFUSE to get on another plane at the weight I am now. I am sure that most people take it for granted that they fit in the seat with room to spare, and when they fasten their seatbelt, there is a foot left over!  It is disheartening to put down the tray table in front of you and find that there is no space between you and it. When I get down to a healthy weight, I will NEVER take sitting in an airplane seat for granted.

 

As painful as my travel was, I am happy that I had this experience because today, I am more comMINTed then ever to my health.  I am going to start carrying a picture of a plane wherever I go to remind me of this experience.  Each time that I think that I would rather stay in bed instead of going to exercise, I need to think about my travels.  I need to think about my travels when I am ordering food at a restaurant, when I am planning my meals, and grocery shopping.  This was a GREAT lesson for me.

 

You have to love Lou Holtz!

“If you don’t make a total commitment to whatever you’re doing, then you start looking to bail out the first time the boat starts leaking. It’s tough enough getting that boat to shore with everybody rowing, let alone when a guy stands up and starts putting his life jacket on.”  –Lou Holtz

AffirMINTion:  I am totally committed to exercising and eating for my health!

 

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

 

Life is good!

 

Mintdom – Back and Not Forgotten – I Hope!

10/13/09 – 8,192  (whoo hoo!!)

Food Journal – No

10/14/09 – 8,461

Food Journal – No

10/15/09 – 12,517 (double whoo hoo!!)

Food Journal – No

10/16/09 – 8,035

Food Journal – No

10/17/09 – 5,467 (sigh)

Food Journal – No

Happy Weekend Edition, Mintdom!

Even though I have not posted since October 12, I HAVE been keeping track this week while I was away.  I love that my steps were in the 8,000, but my body (especially my left knee) is screaming at me! I have been icing my knee since yesterday, and after it calms down, I am going to try the elliptical machine.  I am also doing some of the knee exercises that I found on Spark People (www.Sparkpeople.com).  I know that I NEED to be diligent in this and I am comMINTing to myself to do so.

“Never Quit. “Don’t ever, ever quit. Recognize that stopping now, regrouping to try a new approach isn’t quitting. If you quit you’ll regret it forever.” -Rudy Ruettiger

Check out Rudy’s story here http://www.rudyintl.com/

I spent this week with an awesome group of leaders in the real estate world, helping to put on a retreat.  We held team building exercises from the beginning to the end, both indoors, and outdoors in the rain – talking about never quitting!  It was wonderful to watch individuals (and even competitors in the real estate world) come together as a team!  We held the retreat at Nemacolin, in Farmington, PA, not far from Pittsburgh.  If you ever get a chance to go, go; it is fabulous!

One of the team building exercises was for each market center (there were nine) to put on a musical skit.  Here is an example of one of the market centers.  You can find others by going to www.YouTube.com and search KW Rocks ALC Retreat.  You can also find them on Facebook.  They are a hoot!

http://tinyurl.com/KWRocksLG

Although the retreat was work for me and my body is screaming at me, I loved every minute of it!  The group that I was working with is not only energetic, smart, capable, dependable, and upbeat, but they are also ALWAYS upbeat, and positive. We are very blessed with that same kind of leader, and one that thanks you with time at the spa!

I am excited to be home in my real life, and to regroup with a fresh outlook and approach to my health (trying the elliptical machine, and some new recipes), and mostly to be back with you!

AffirMINTion:  I love trying to ways to reach my goals!

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to

Life is good!

PS  I cannot stop without posting these two items.  One is a poem from an unknown author, and the other are the lyrics to the song ‘The Climb’ I hope you enjoy and are as inspired as I am with these words!!

“When things go wrong as they sometimes will;
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill;
When the funds are low, and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but have to sigh;
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but do not quit.
Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you can never tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit-
It’s when things go wrong that you must not quit.”

~ Unknown

http://tinyurl.com/ItsYourClimb2

The Climb

By Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe

(from the movie Hanna Montana sung by Miley Cyrus)

Miley Cyrus – The Climb Ringtone

I can almost see it,
That dream I’m dreamin’
But theres a voice inside my head sayin’
You’ll never reach it

Every step I’m taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep tryin’
Gotta keep my head held high
Theres always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a up-hill battle
Sometimes i’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about whats waiting on the other side
Its the climb

The struggles I’m facing
The chances I’m taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But, No, I’m not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I’m gonna remember Most, yeah
Just gotta keep goin’

And, I, I got to be Strong
Just Keep pushing, on
‘Cause theres always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a up-hill battle
Sometimes i’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about whats waiting on the other side
Its The Climb

Yeah

Theres always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a up-hill battle
somebody’s gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about whats waiting on the other side
Its the climb

Keep on movin’
Keep climbin’
Keep the faith baby
Its all about
Its all about
The climb
Keep the faith, keep the faith woah

Mint Time!

10/02/09 – 5,275

Food Journal – Yes

Knee Exercises – 5

10/03/09 – 9,124

Food Journal – partial

Knee Exercises – No

Welcome to another weekend edition of Mintdom,

I know I talked about this earlier in the week, but I have issues with time.  If I want to do ALL the things that I want to do, I think that I would not be able to sleep.  Obviously, I know that my issue is not time; it is how I choose to spend my time.  Time is the one big leveler.  We all have the same amount in our day no matter who we are, how rich or poor we are, or how smart we are, or where we live in the world.  We ALL have the same amount of time.  When I tell myself that I do not have ‘time’ to do knee exercises, I guess that I am telling myself that I do not think that they are important enough to choose to do them.  That is interesting to me because I am the one that made a decision to do them in the first place, so at one point I thought it was a good idea.  I think I still do.  I am not sure what is holding me back. If any of you have an idea, I would appreciate it because I am struggling with this right now.  Feel free to reply to this e-mail and for all of you braver folks, to reply to Mintdom.

I am late with this posting today, and with good reason.  I spent time with family and friends this morning and into the afternoon.  For me, my favorite way to spend my time is with people that I love.  I would put people ahead of almost all choices.  I prioritize the people that I care about in my life.  This morning, my sister invited me to a brunch she was giving for some friends. It was a beautiful drive out to the country, a scrumptious brunch, but most of all a treasured time spent with everyone that was there.  I could not have ordered a better day. We all have 24-hours to spend each day.  How do you spend yours?

“Lost, yesterday, somewhere between Sunrise and Sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes.

No reward is offered, for they are gone forever”

-Horace Man

People have been talking about time since biblical times.  I thought you might enjoy listening and watching this beautiful presentation with words taken from the bible.  Click on this link for the presentation:  www.tinyurl.com/YourTimeTo

For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

OK, here is my October goal – I am going back to the 7,000-step goal.  I think I can do that if I take it easy and do not get on the treadmill.  I will commit to doing at least 10 minutes of cardio daily, and go to the pool at least twice a week.  I think that will work.  That said, I am off to the pool. I have Toastmasters in the morning so do not look for Mintdom except for possibly a short one.

Make the rest of your day a GREAT one, IF you choose to

Life is good!

Reward Your AccomplishMINTs!

09/25/09 – 4,568

Food Journal – Yes

09/26/09 – 5,440

Food Journal – Yes

Welcome, to the Weekend Edition of Mintdom!

I think you can see that I am struggling with getting my 6,000 steps in.  I only hit my goal three out of seven days.  Looking back at the weeks before though in September, I actually did better this week then others except for the first week when I went over every day except two and I had two 10,000-step days!  Am I losing momentum?  Maybe a little bit.  The beauty of keeping track though, is that I can see what is going on.  I have no illusions.  Today is day 90 of keeping track on the calendar.  I certainly have not lost momentum on my tracking.  Wow – I just did 90 days of doing something consistently!  <Patting myself on the back> I think I need a reward for that.  Hmmmm I suddenly see a flaw in my program.  I have not come up with a reward system for myself.  I am going to have to think about that for a little while.  Do any of you have any ideas?  Rewards need to be healthy, fun (anyone who knows me, knows that I am all about the fun!), and inexpensive (or FREE).  What kinds of things do you do to reward yourself?  Please feel free to share with me here, or on Mintdom.  It is easy to comment on Mintdom.  Just click on www.Mintdom.com, go to the bottom of the subject that you want to comment on, type in your comment and click Reply.  It is easy!  I cannot tell you how therapeutic it is to post and think about the many people you will help.

Since I started on www.SparkPeople.com, it has helped me go deeper into my program.  There are many forms of support.  There are articles, videos, and the wonderful Spark People that share the ups and downs of their journeys.  Many of you know that I am not a Yoga person, and that not long ago I tried it again.  I found out that my mind did not match what my body could do.  Today, I found a Yoga video on www.SparkPeople.com that I can actually sort of do.  Here it is for anyone that wants to try it. http://tinyurl.com/SunSalutationA. It is from the Livestrong website www.Livestrong.com that is another great site.  I hope that you at least take a peak at the sites that I give you here.  I understand that it takes time, but don’t you think that you are worth the time it might take? I believe we ALL are worth taking time out to do something good for ourselves.

Speaking of doing something good – as I am writing this, I am listening to a beautiful CD by Moonlit in the Sun.  It is their latest CD called Happy Interludes, and it is just that – a very happy interlude.  I wish I had a picture of the cover – even that is happy!  If you go to www.MoonlitInTheSun.com you can buy a copy.  Moonlit in the Sun is a local group, and you can often hear them at First Friday in Leesburg.  They are available for weddings and receptions, and we just had them play at a broker open for a special property that we are selling.  Anyway, my something good is listening to their beautiful music as I write.

Moonlit in the Sun Happy Interludes: Carla Deniz,Viola/Violin; Nancy Prestipino, Piano; Alban Deniz, Violin; Valerie Wride, Cello (not shown)

Now I am off to continue to work on my speech for Toastmasters tomorrow.  The title is ‘See What you Want, Get What You See’ – I will let you know how it goes!

AffirMINTion:  I take time for myself and I reward my accomplishMINTs!

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to

Life is good!

The MintBlitz!

09/19/09 – No Data

Food Journal – Yes

Welcome, to another Weekend Edition of Mintdom!

Ok, there is no data from yesterday because I did not even put on my pedoMINTer (Michelle <smile>).  I slept in until 8:00 yesterday and I got productive right away by making my bed.  I had a nice smoothie for breakfast, and got ready to go to the pool.  I walked out the door and it was actually TOO cold to go to the pool.  I chose not to walk too.  I figured I would go to the pool later in the afternoon when it warmed up, and if it did not warm up, I would swim in the indoor pool.  After 2:00, I made it up to the pool.  It was beautiful!  I finished the book I was reading “Training Camp” and decided to go in and swim.  Well, I never made it inside.  I saw a girlfriend and we ended up sitting out in the sun for the next hour or so, and then I ended up going home.  Therefore, yesterday did not walk, swim, or go to gym.  Do you see a lesson in all this?  I certainly see it.  The lesson for me is, ‘Do It Now’ or it will probably not get done. Jeepers – September is looking a little skimpy on the exercise.  I need to really need to have a Mint Blitz until the end of the month, which is only a little over a week away.

My Mint Blitz starts or I should say, started today in the form of my retreat with myself.  (To see retreat schedule, click on MintBlitz tab) My daughter Patsi laughed and said that most people call this alone time.  She asked me if I was going to put signs up on my doors to designate which room had which activity!  Well, I am not putting up any signs, but I am having different activities.  I learned my lesson from yesterday, and I started by making my bed before it cooled off, got dressed in gym clothes, turned on FitTV , http://www.FitTV.com and did a cardio workout WITH my pedoMINTer on.  I did the low impact exercise because my knee is giving me a fit, and I am getting nervous now that the doctor might tell me to stop, so I am babying it.  I still had a GREAT workout and worked up a good sweat.  I am going to try this for a while along with swimming a couple of days a week after work.

FitTV

I also discovered the best site that I have come across.  It mixes health and life goals together, and the BEST part is that it is FREE – EVERY part of it is FREE.  It began when Chris Downie started an auction site that was so successful that EBay bought it.  Now Chris’s mission is to Spark people to meet not only their health goals and to lose weight but any other goals you have in mind, AND he has already spent $5 million dollars of his own money to do this.  Watch this video for more details.

Fox News Video Sparks People

The site is www.SparkPeople.com.  It is such a robust site, AND you get points for meeting your goals, which perfect for us Facebook game people!  My name is TheMint2 (TheMint was already takenL) and if you decide to sign up, please write that TheMint2 referred you because I get points!  LOL!  Anyway, it is an amazing site, started by an amazing man – try it today.

Well, I have six minutes before my next retreat activity, so I will sign off for today.  Try FitTV and Spark People – I promise it can help you.  Now… on to my next activity – cleaning out the refrigerator!

Make it a MintBlitz day, IF you choose to.

Life is good!

Journaling in Mintdom!

09/11/09 – 4,988

Food Journal – No

09/12/09 – No Data

Food Journal – No

Good morning Mintdom!

Welcome to the Weekend Edition

Hmmmm, looking at my stats this morning and for the last week, it looks like I might be on a slow decline.  I only did intentional exercise two times, and to be honest, I do not know where my food journal is at this moment.  Even though I had a bad knee week, there are other exercises that I can do other than walking. Last week was a very intense week and work, and this week, it will probably be the same, and intentional exercise would probably have helped me.  Yesterday, would have been a perfect day to get out and do some sort of exercise; however, I chose to stay home.  Having said all of that, there IS good news to all of this.  The good news is that I KNOW all of that because I wrote it all down this week. The other piece of good news is that I had a 10,000-step day last week.  In addition, I went to the doctor and have an appointment on Thursday for my annual checkup.  Can you see the beauty in journaling?

I imagine that many of you are thinking that journaling is too much work, or you do not like writing.  There are many ways to journal, and some do not even include writing.  For instance, I keep a calendar journal.  My daughter Patsi made it for me and each month is a different array of photos of my grandchildren.  I am enclosing a photo of my July and August Calendar Journals.

As you can see, it I have a simple system and it takes me less then a minute to write it down.  I started counting the days when I was doing GretaWire.com and I restarted when it ended.  I make a line for each day (I do not know what happened in that one week that is blank) and I make an X when I walk on purpose.  I have not come up with a system for days that I do other kinds of exercise – I need to.  Occasionally I write some happening, like whether my knee is bad or if I am sick.  Anyway, you can decide on your own system.  My point is that journaling does not have to be difficult or time consuming.  It can be as simple as this calendar journal or as complicated as a blog.  I do have other kinds of journals.  I have a celebration journal, prayer journal, a regular journal (this one has taken a back seat to Mintdom) and a 4 Vitals / 10 AccomplishMINTs journal.

Speaking of journaling, there is a new feature on www.Mintdom.com.  I figured out how to put up a poll!  I think I will do a new poll each week, or maybe each month.  I should do a poll to find out which you prefer LOL!  Sometimes I just crack myself up, although I am easy (but not cheap).  Please check it out and let me know what you all think.

I want to tell you one more thing before I sign off today.  Guess what I found when I went to scan my calendar journal so I could post it?  Yep – I found my Food Journal – it was in the copier!  I guess that I have no excuse to write in it now.

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

Life is good!

PS  I think many of us are wondering how the newest Mint, (or should we call him tic-tac) Luke Alexander et al are doing

Hair Mints!

09/04/09 – 4,382

Food Journal – Yes

White Food – No (potatoes)

09/05/09 – 8,236

Food Journal – Yes

White Food – No (wafer crackers) I did not even think about it until I had 5 that they were white. <Sigh>

Good afternoon Mintdom!

My youngest child turned 30 on Friday, I am getting my hair cut and :::::::shhhh colored::::::: and a real estate ad sent me on a total head trip this morning.  What does my youngest child turning 30, getting my hair done, and a real estate ad have in common.

Please bear with me for a moment.  Maybe you have this figured out already, but as I was on the treadmill this morning, I started to think about what I was going to do with my hair.  My hair does not look as bouncy as it used be, and my first thought is that it is probably because I am getting older.  Gosh – in 4 years I will be sixty years old!  Then the realization that my youngest is 30 years old just put me over the edge.  I thought I am old, overweight, old, single, and old!  Now I do not normally think about my age.  I do not look or act old, so this was a very unpleasant feeling.  As much as I immerse myself in positive reading, music, and people, it takes but a nano-second to head down the wrong path. The good news is that the feeling did not last long. By the time I walked home, started my morning reading, I was feeling better.  The following quotes cinched it.

“Drag your thoughts away from your troubles… by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.” –Mark Twain

“It is important to remember that our thoughts are like water for a garden.  Wherever we let them wander, they will water that area, and help it grow.”

–Brook Noel from her Good Morning book

Although I do not have a garden at my house, in a way I am a gardener of my life. My faith in God nourishes my ‘garden’ and I water it daily with positive people; by reading positive books and articles; and listening to positive music.  These are the things help me grow and change, in order to lead a healthy and balanced life.

I bet you are wondering how the real estate ad fits in with growing and changing and hair.  One of the driving forces (I debated on saying fertilizer but I think that could go down a wrong path ha ha ha) in my garden is my sister Nancy. Nancy has been in real estate for 20 years.  Several years ago, she did a real estate ad in the newspaper showing all her different hairstyles over a period of 14 years.  The ad said something like, “Some things may appear to change over the years, but the quality of service remains the same.”  If I were doing that ad today, it would say,

“No matter how her hairstyle changes, Nancy remains dedicated to her family, friends, and her quest to grow and improve.”

I tried to figure out a way to surprise you with this photo, but the only thing I came up with is this:

Scroll down for photo

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AffirMINTion:  I water my garden with ONLY thoughts that are positive and encouraging thoughts.

Make it a GREAT HAIR day, IF you choose to.

Life is good!

One Minty Step at a Time!

08/29/09 – 3,300

Good morning Mintdom!

No amount of commas (looks like a bigger number with a comma) or font size will make that number look bigger or better.  No excuses – it is what it is. AND I did not go to the pool yesterday either.  I had a low-step day in addition to a low movement day.  I am also not going to say, this is all a process, even though it is a process, because to me, that sounds like an excuse.  It is what it is. The GOOD NEWS is that I actually KNOW that I had a low step day yesterday!  There is more good news too; I am not kicking myself about it. You know when I am kicking myself with one foot it is very difficult to take a step!  I woke up this morning and I am ready to tackle my goal again.

“It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.” -Goethe

This quote fits right in with me right now.  Each step in itself is a goal, and when I put enough of those together, WOW, I will be at the 10,000 mark and beyond.  Just think though, even the 3,300 steps looks good when I think that I accomplished 3,300 goals in just one day!  If that does not boost my self-esteem, nothing will!  It can boost yours too.  Now that I said that, I need to go back and revise my 10 accomplishments* that I wrote last night. LOL!

I have decided that I need to step up my health goal so I hired a VERY strict health coach to hold me accountable, my sister Nancy.  LOL!  I am just kidding, sort of.  I am cracking myself up.  Seriously, Nancy is such an inspiration to me when it comes to as she calls it, “self-mastery” and I could not think of a better person to help me.  If that is not enough, I am including all of you too, to help hold me accountable.  Yikes – I think I might be going off the deep end here!  Starting on Monday, August 31, and for 7 days I am going to keep a food journal, and write down EVERYTHING that I eat and drink.  That means starting Tuesday morning, there will be a new statistic at the top of the page.  It will say Food Journal – yes or no, depending if I kept it or not.  My goal is also to stay away from white food (white flour, rice, sugar).  It should look like this:

09/01/09 – step #

Food Journal – Yes (I kept the journal)

White Food – Yes (I stayed away from white food)

I think that if I eat white food, I will tell you what it was.  It is timely that I am starting September 1.  September is a memorable month.  My sister Becky’s birthday is the first.  My daughter, Kelly is turning 30 on the fourth (yikes!); My son Michael is turning 32 on the fourteenth; and my Mom’s birthday is on the 30th, but I will not tell you how old she is; although, you would be shocked because she looks a lot younger then she is!

Thank you in advance for helping me achieve my goals, and for accompanying me on this journey. Now, I am going to take advantage of the weatherman’s error ** and go to the pool for an hour.

AffirMINTion: I accomplish my goals, one-step at a time.

* Each night (honestly, most nights) before I go to bed, I write down the three things that I HAVE to do the next day, and my 10 accomplishments from the day.  They do not have to be big things even.  It could be things as I made my bed, I worked on my budget, I read an article that I wanted to read, or I leveled up on a Facebook game!

** Visit www.UmbrellaToday.com for the BEST weather website

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

Life is good!