Tag: my13daychallenge

Musings

The Christmas Tree is finally put away

my13daychallenge

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I love putting up the Christmas tree, but taking it down is not fun at all. So, this year the Christmas tree become a Happy New Year Tree and then a lovely Valentine’s Day tree. I thought about keeping it up all year long. Who wouldn’t want to have a Flag Day tree or a Grandparent Day tree?  Things do have to end though so the Christmas tree is now in its cardboard home. We only have 10 more months before I can put it up again.

I’ve decided to take a picture each month so I can see if all of my little health challenges make a difference in my appearance. I feel better than when I started the blog a year ago.

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Goal Tree · Musings

2014 Happy, Healthy and Whole

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It’s the time of year when the wonderful before and after photos show up in  diet commercials. The people are always frowning, wearing no makeup and dressed in ugly clothes for their “before” photo.  The transformation is amazing. The person smiles, puts on some blush, gets their hair done and gets a new $200 outfit from the mall. I’ve been thinking of getting an “after” picture. Why wait till the end of my diet to look amazing?

My theme for 2014 is Happy, Healthy and Whole. The plan is to have all of my 13 day challenges go along with one of those three area.  When I do things that help me be happy, healthy and whole, I get a leaf for my goal tree. The  leaves are color coordinated to the goal area. Happy is green. Healthy is orange and Whole is red. The plan is to fill my tree with lots of little leaves. Happy represents my emotional health and building relationships with my dear family and friends.  Healthy is just what it says. It is everything related to nutrition, exercise and stuff that makes someone healthy.  It also includes keeping my home healthy (a.k.a more clean). Whole is my spiritual side.

My Tree

This is extrinsic motivation at its finest. I’m excited. I already have three leaves on my tree!

Memory Lane · Musings

My Greatest Hits of 2013

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2013 is over.  As I’ve read other people’s blogs today, I’ve noticed they have re-posted the 5 best posts of 2013.  This was easy for me to pick the posts. I only have 5 followers and they are all relatives.  So, I just called one of those relatives and asked what they wanted to see again.  (Drum roll, please)

(1.) The Dress

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For today’s brave activity, I got rid of my old Winter Formal dress. The dress has been in my closet for the last 15 years. It is hopelessly out of date and no longer fits me.   Read the rest here.

(2.)  Popcorn

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The Accountant and I are doing a home renovation project. It smelled like a construction site so I decided to try burning a candle. Read the rest here.

(3.) Be Brave and Laugh at Something

I had surgery this last week.  The whole thing was not fun so I decided to make it more fun by dressing up like a flower child for my grand entrance to the hospital. Read the rest here.

(4.) Slow Cooker Tip of the Day

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Here is a tip for using a slow cooker. Slow cookers only work if you turn them on. Read the rest here.

(5) Boxes Aren’t Just for Little Kids

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We got a package in the mail.  Boxes are not just fun for little kids. I just had to know how much of me would fit inside of it. Read the rest here.

2014 will be a great year!

Challenge 13: Relax

Challenge 13: Relax

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This semester, I have been taking a Tai Chi class at the community college.  It  looks really easy when other people are doing it, but it actually requires a lot of thinking and coordination.   As part of the class, we do a ten minute relaxation exercise at the end where we sit still, breathe and imagine different colors. It is supposed to calm your mind and release stress. The first time I tried it my back hurt from sitting straight and my arms started sweating for keeping them in a “relaxed” open position at my heart. (For those of you that aren’t familiar with Tai’ Chi, you are not suppose to sweat when you sit quietly and breathe.)  At one point, I opened my eyes to see if anybody else seemed antsy.  Nope, they all looked peaceful and relaxed. I closed my eyes again and tried to relax, but  I got so bored that my mind wandered. (grocery lists, a better ending to season 3 of Downtown Abby, how to build a time travel machine etc.)  Fast forward after four months of class, I can now sit still for five minutes without sweating. Yeah for me!  Although I still find my mind wandering down crazy paths.  Ah, the blessings of an active imagination.

For my next 13 day challenge I’m going to practice my Tai Chi form every morning.  Wish me luck!  I will let you know if I figure out time traveling.

Musings

Fast Food Laughter

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I had the funniest thing happen to me today. I went to a drive through at a fast food place and the window was broken and kept opening and shutting automatically. The poor worker had about 10 seconds to hand something out before the window would shut again. I felt so bad for her, but it was hilarious too because it was like a race against the clock to try to give me my food. On one of the times it was open, I told her to try to prop the window open with a stick or something so she wouldn’t get hurt. She laughed and went and got a broken broom handle to prop it open. (Her crazy manager had apparently told her to just deal with the window.) It turns out the window had been broken for the last 15 minutes. Poor thing! We had a great laugh about it and it made my afternoon every time I thought about that girl trying to hand out food before the window shut.

Challenge Twelve: Use my Slow Cooker

Slow Cooking Fun

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I woke up on Sunday morning with a desire for chicken and dumplings. Luckily, the internet had a good recipe for slow cooker chicken and dumplings. It was very simple to make.  First, I gathered the ingredients. (cream of chicken soup, butter, biscuit dough, onion, chicken and 3 cups of water) I didn’t have any chicken in the house, but I did have some canned turkey. Second, I chopped up the onion. Next,  I dumped everything except the biscuit dough in the Crock Pot. The slow cooker was set on high and I set a timer for 4 1/2 hours.

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(In case you are wondering, I canned that turkey. Go me!)

Then I went to church. Yes, that is part of the recipe. Food always taste better after going to church. When my timer ran at 4 1/2 hours, I got the biscuit dough from the refrigerator and dumped it in the Crock Pot. Thirty minutes later, I had this delicious meal and a lot of leftovers.

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It was very tasty.

Challenge Twelve: Use my Slow Cooker

Slow Cooker Tip of the Day

my13daychallenge

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Here is a tip for using a slow cooker. Slow cookers only work if you turn them on.  I got wonderful ingredients for a potato and chicken casserole. (The chicken isn’t in the picture.) I put it in the slow cooker and then I left for a day of errands. I kept thinking that I was pretty cool, because I had already made dinner. When I got back home from the errands, there was a funny smell in the house. Yes, that is correct. I had plugged in the wrong appliance. The cord for the toaster and the cord for the slow cooker are the same color. I ate take out. I got a good fortune cookie though so the bad smell in the house was worth it.

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Challenge Twelve: Use my Slow Cooker

New Challenge: Use my Slow Cooker

my13daychallenge

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I own a Slow Cooker. Actually, up until ten minutes ago, I owned a Crock Pot. I just found out that it is actually called a slow cooker as Crock Pot is the brand name. Most of the time this appliance sits on a shelf next to the rice cooker. I’ve decided that for my next 13 day challenge I’m going to use my slow cooker every day. Today, we made Tapioca pudding.  It was delicious.

Tapioca Pudding

Ingredients: 4 cups milk,  1/2 cup small pearl tapioca, 2/3 cup white sugar and 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Steps: Stir together the milk, sugar, tapioca, and eggs in a slow cooker. Cover, and cook on Medium for 3 hours, or on Low for 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Eat it and feel like a fancy chef who made a treat.

 

Musings

The Bird

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A black bird hit our window today. It was a quite a shock and made me jump. “Don’t be dead”, I thought as I ran outside to see the fate of the bird. It was on the grass flopping around in a startled little dance. Now, I normally don’t talk to animals, but it looked so helpless trying to relearn how to fly after the startle of hitting our office window. My teacher instincts  kicked in, because I told the bird that it was bruised, scared but it still had the ability to get up and fly. The bird did eventually stop fluttering around the yard and flew away. I went back into the house and wrote a little poem for the bird in my poem journal.

Bruised. Shaken up. A bit scared from everything but still in one piece.

Raw emotions. Really raw.

But I am not broken.

It might be time to move on and fly.

(Note about the picture: The bird  flew away before I could get a picture so I took a picture of my garden instead.)