I just love inspirational quotes. I had (well have) a board on Pinterest where I pinned some of my favorites. I just don't use Pinterest much anymore because I have a tendency to get lost on their for hours lol. 

Some of my recent favorites come from Gretchen Rubin:

"The days are long, but the years are short"

"One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy". 

and Brene' Brown:
 
"Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen"

"Don't try to win over the haters, you are not a jackass whisperer" (bahahaha)



Do you like quotes? If so, share some of your favorites in the comments! 

Wow, I cannot believe the difference that not getting 10,000 steps makes in my blood sugar! I mean obviously, I knew it affected it, but whoa. The blister seems a little better today so hopefully by  next week I'll be able to get back to my 10,000 steps a day. It still hurt pretty bad when I put my shoes on this morning. 

I almost titled this "Beaten by a Blister" but then I thought to myself "No, you're not going to be beaten by a blister". 

Here's what happened:

My shoes randomly decided to start rubbing the bottom/side of my foot a few days ago. I powered through and got 10,000 steps on Monday and Tuesday, but yesterday morning when I took my walk, every single step was excruciating. So I kicked my shoes off and left them off most of the day, hoping to give my foot a chance to feel better. Still hurts really bad today, but I did a 30 minute exercise video this morning (it was raining so I couldn't walk outside). Today instead of a bandaid on it, I put gauze and tape to give it some more cushion so I'm hopeful that it will help. I'm going to play it by ear on whether I do the 10,000 steps or not but for sure I'm not going to stop my #walk20in20, I'm almost 5 months into it and I"m not stopping now! 

Say some prayers for me that this blister heals up fast, please! 

Here's my update for Week 21:

Recording food and blood sugar/drinking water: met this goal every day.

Walking 25 minutes a day/10,000 steps a day: I moved every day and got 10,000 + steps five of the days!

De-clutter/paperwork/create projects: Four the five days I worked on this stuff, but if I'm honest, some of those days, it was kind of half a$$ lol

Devotional: did this every day

Writing blog: did this four days (took Friday-Sunday off)

Fruits/veggies: Five days I met the goal, over the weekend I did not

Gretchen Rubin classes/book: Three of the seven days I worked on the course I'm taking and/or read the book. 

Facebook groups: posted in the groups five days, took the weekend off. 

I've been listening to Brene' Brown's audio book: The Power of Vulnerability". If you haven't listened to or read anything by Brene' Brown, you're missing out. She has one of the most watched Ted talks ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o

Anyway, she was talking about people who are joyful despite whatever circumstances are going on in their lives. She said that in her research, every single one of them had this thing in common: They actively practice gratitude. It's one of the simplest yet important things we can do in our lives. Each time I'm feeling overwhelmed and stressed out (and I have many reasons to be this way lol), I try to shift my focus to what I'm thankful for in that moment. It may be the tiniest things, but where your focus is-that's where you are. It's easy to get mired down in the day-to-day dregs of life. But there is always, always, always, much to be thankful for. 

​What are you thankful for today? 

I had a nice and relaxing weekend and enjoyed taking a break from everything. It was hard to get up this morning and get going, but I did it. 

This is the last week of May, so I've been thinking about what I want to work on in June. 

One observation about the weekend, I didn't eat in the most healthy ways, lol, and it definitely affects how I feel and of course my blood sugar. I think it was also part of why I had such a hard time getting started today, I still felt sluggish from my meal choices over the weekend. Definitely something to remember! 

Tomorrow is my birthday and I've made the decision to take the weekend off from several things. I am also getting a weekend alone and away from everything for the first time in months and months so I plan to just disconnect and relax! 

The blog

10,000 steps (I'll still walk, but won't worry so much about getting 10,000 steps in)

Fruits/veggies: I'll still try to meet my goals, but I"m also going to give myself a break and have some French fries if I want them lol)

De-clutter/create/paperwork

The Gretchen Rubin book and course I"m working on

Posting in Facebook groups

I will still do my devotional each day and record my food and blood sugars in addition to doing my #walk20in20. 

See you all back on Monday! 

I simply cannot believe we are 20 weeks into this year! Here is my update for Week 20:

Food/blood sugar logs/drinking water: did this every day

Walk 25 minutes/10,000 steps per day: I walked at least 25 minutes every day and got 10,000+ steps six days (Sunday is my rest day). Some of those days I got over 11,000!

De-clutter/paperwork/creating classes: I've been working on clearing out more clutter. Our son masked up and came over and helped me (actually he did most of the work lol) haul all the daycare stuff down to the garage so it can be picked up soon. I've kept on top of paperwork. I've been working on getting webinars set up through my training organization and the first one is tomorrow night (eek!). I'm in the process of re-working another class to turn it into a webinar.

Devotional: I've done this every day

Writing in my blog/book: I've posted in my blog every day. As I wrote about a few days ago in the blog, I'm taking a break from writing in the book while I decide how to proceed with it. I started writing it to deal with a lot of my feelings around the journey that Tom and I are on, but lately I've just been doing it because I had to, not to help with feelings. So I decided it was time to take a break.

Fruits/veggies: I've met my goals every day

Gretchen Rubin book: I've been reading Gretchen's book "Outer Order, Inner Calm" and working on the online course I signed up for on her website. I did take Sunday off from this. 

​Facebook groups: I've posted in the groups every day. 

Last week, I had to take Tom to the dentist one morning so I got up early and walked before we went. After that day, I decided to change it up and get up and start taking my long walk early. I know soon it will be too warm to take long walks (sometimes even by 10:00 a.m.) so I thought this was a good time to start the new habit since I'd done it one day. I've really enjoyed the peacefulness of the early morning walk. 

​When is your favorite time of day to walk? 

The Gift of a Good Marriage
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You may not know this about me, but I was married before Tom. It lasted five years and we had two children together: Serenity and Josh (who Tom adopted after we got married). It was not a good marriage and of course there was fault on both sides. I’ve spent a lot time forgiving and moving on. I didn’t want to be one of those people who was still bitter about their ex decades later.

​
But today I was thinking about the gift of a good marriage. Tom and I have been married for 27 years as of last December. We have been through some really rough times and we have had some arguments of course, but for the most part, we get along really well. I have never for a moment doubted his love and devotion to me and hopefully he can say the same about me. It is mostly thanks to Tom that I am the person I am today. He has supported me wholeheartedly through our entire marriage. When I wanted to open a child care in our home, he supported me. When I wanted to pursue a CDA (Child Development Associate credential), he said sure and stepped up and did everything he could to help. When I decided to go back to college the first time to finish my Associate’s Degree, he supported me. He helped me study; he took care of the kids the multiple nights a week I had to be gone; and he even watched the child care kids one afternoon a week because I had a class that started at 5:30 on Tuesdays. When I decided to go for my Bachelor’s Degree, he supported me again. This one was online which was a whole new level of support lol. He dealt with my meltdowns and freak-outs and always believed in me. He did the same thing when I pursued my Master’s Degree (again online). If it hadn’t been for his support, I would have never had the self-confidence to do any of that and I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today (running my own training business, teaching college classes and CDA classes).
Having been in a bad marriage, I know how blessed I am to be in a good marriage. I am thankful every day for Tom and our relationship. Thank you Tom for being my person!