Nope

The other day I was working around the yard when my daughter dropped off my oldest grand.  He walked over to me and said, "Granny, don't you ever stop? Don't you ever sit down and rest?"  Then off he went to play with his cousins.  I have thought about that a lot the past few days.  First of all I am so happy that he does not remember his "OLD GRANNY." The one who sat in a recliner with her swollen legs up and an oxygen tube hanging around her neck. The Granny who spent most of her day sitting and watching TV or sleeping.   The other day one of my grand's saw an old photo of me and said, "Who's that?"  Oh, I am so glad they don't remember. I want them to remember me as the Granny that never stops. The one that hikes, and swims, and does everything she can and as fast as she can.  I know that someday I may slow down (part of life) but as they are growing into their teens and years that they will remember me I want then to remember me full of fire. So the next time I get asked that question, "Don't you ever stop?"  I will look at him and say with a huge smile," NOPE!!!

Cleaning Day

My son as many of you know is a "Mr. Mom." He has 2 boys that he has living with him and he is doing a fabulous job of caring for them.  The other day he asked me , "how do I teach my boys to clean?" He then talked about the frustrations that come at his work place when several of the employees there do not seem to know how to clean.  Really clean. They do the jobs but just to get buy. I reminded him of when he was young and had jobs to do. He said he did but how did I get him to do them?  Many years ago and many frustrating cleaning days ago I realized that my children did not know and understand what really clean was. I would tell them to go clean their room, bathroom, kitchen only to go in and see they had done it but not. I decided that I was lazy and needed to take the time (and a lot of patience) to teach my four children how to clean.  I first took note cards and listed the job and then step by step how to do it. I then laminated the cards so they didn't get destroyed in the first cleaning. I took each child with their list and took them step by step through the card. Some of them were pretty young so had to gear the cards to their level.  I then would supervise them for the next few cleaning so they understood what needed to be done. The steps to take so they were not having to clean up messes they made when cleaning.   Often I would hand them out their cards on a Saturday morning and have them race. When that didn't work the next things was no playing with friends until all of their work was done. That would often involve teamwork.(especially when the Talbot Twins would be riding up and down the drive way on their BMX bikes shouting and having a lot of fun.) Or we would have a fun outing planned for the afternoon. It worked well and eventually they were able to do all of that on their own. Plus their own laundry. After thinking about my sons question I decided to make him some of his own cards. Today I took them out and spent some time with his boys. They were very interested and worked together to get as much of the work done as they could to surprise dad. One thing I had learned as a young mom was it did not work to share the cleaning materials. So I gave each of the grand's their own cleaners, rags, and off they went.  I had them look at their work after and see how nice their house looked and how it made them feel.  They were pretty proud of themselves and so was I.  The  icing on the cake was when dad got home and did many WOWS! AWESOME! and WAY TO GOS! They were like proud little peacocks.

Never Judge a Book by it's cover.

I was reminded of a quote I have heard many times in my life today.  Never judge a book by it's cover.  My 7 year old grand was visiting me and as we often do we were looking out the front window watching the comings and goings on my busy street.  A man came up the street walking his dog.  We have watched this dog for many years as it is walking its man because sometimes it has long shaggy hair and sometimes it has a new fresh hairdo. As the pair passed by my grand commented that he wondered if a homeless man should have a dog?  How did he buy it?  I sat there dumbfounded for a moment.  Yes, this man does wear the same type of clothes every day. Yes, he always has his bright orange hunter hat on everyday. Although I have seen him wear several different styles but the same color of hat. I have known this man for as many years as we have lived here.(20)  He is not homeless.  He has a lovely home. His wife drives a Cadillac.  He owns many apartments in our area.  He is very far from being homeless.  I asked my grandson why he thought he was homeless and he said he just looks like it.  It was a great time to talk with my grand and hopefully teach him a few things about judging others.  I am sure he is to young to really judge someone but that is what he had decided. The man in the same clothes and out walking several times a day must be homeless.   It once again made me realize that we all judge and assume things about others that may be very far from the truth.  I have once again been  taught by a child.

St George magazine online

Here is a link for the article my son and I were featured in. http://archive.thespectrum.com/sgm-ezine

What's In, What's Out

One of the concepts I was teaching about in my class the other day was what's in and what's out. A lot of comments were made about things that were popular in the world now that use to be big when I was younger.  Roller skates,  board games, and phones in homes were a few mentioned. Then the meeting took a turn asking, what is inside you that is holding you back? What needs to be put out? I was struggling with how to present this because I am pretty hard on holding a lot of stuff inside.  I struggle with the "What Ifs'" that would have been if I had not become addicted to pain Rx. Then  onto the "What If's" that I put my family through with the many years they had of worry and care for me. I could go on and on and on. We all have "What If's."  I decided I was going to listen to my friend and leader who I work with and go to her class to get some ideas.  In that class was a young mother. She brings her three little children with her to class each week. (that in itself is pretty awesome to me.) She has lost a good amount of weight but her journey is still continuing.  She expressed that she had gone home from the last week and visited with her husband. (Last week we talked about positive self talk.)  She shared that she has felt like such an ugly person that she could not even give herself positive encouragement.  She asked her husband to please help her. Each morning he sweetly told her how amazing she was and how special she was to him and her family.  As she told us this we were all very touched. I think she will continue on with her journey and be able to improve her life.  We all need that little extra encouragement at times.  I am going to continue to give myself positive encouragement. I also want to encourage each of you reading my blog to spend some time with yourself. Find those awesome things that are uniquely you and write them down somewhere. Read them often. Before bed and in the morning.  It might be hard but my hope is those words will help you to be able to start or continue on with YOUR healthy journey.

How to order Magazine

You can order the September St. George Magazine by calling 435-674-6200   It costs $2.95 per copy and about $1.80 for shipping.  They are sold out of the local stores and so at this time need to go into the Spectrum  office at 275 East St. George Blvd  or call and order it.  Just in case you wanted one.

St. George Magazine

Many of you have seen the picture of me and my son Eric on the cover of the  September St. George Magazine.  I want to tell you a little bit about it.  A reported called my son and began asking him a lot of questions about me and my health journey. Someone at the Newspaper had read my blog and felt like my story should be told.  I was told at the time of the interview that the magazine would have a few articles about people who had changed their lives.  I thought that would be okay.  I want to help people get healthy any way I can.  Then he decided that the interview should go in conjunction with a photo shoot?  I wondered about that but they did need a photo to put with the article. Eric and I met at the Spectrum office and had an elaborate photo shoot. Both inside and outside shots.  At the same time we met with the reporter and talked about our life changes.  The reporter them came to my home to finish up his interview.  I had no idea until I opened my newspaper and saw that magazine that we were going to be on the cover and the feature article.  I have to say, I have been so amazed and humbled by the response to that article. I have been told many times that because of the article someone has decided to change their life. That they have realized that they need to try. I never dreamed 5 years ago that I would be helping others to make the choice to improve and better themselves. I want to thank you all for the words of encouragement, thanks, hope, and love that have been given to me.