My happy place

Anyone else have a happy place?

My husband and I take a vacation every year, back in 2017 we decided to go to Montana and see Glacier National Park.

It was so beautiful and amazing and I fell in love. 2018, we decided to go back to Glacier to hike the mountain that we tried to hike in 2017, but didn’t make it to the top of. We stay in a different town named Whitefish, and I fell even more in love.

It had been a few years since we were in Glacier and I knew I had to come back. This year we changed it up and decided to make it a motorcycle trip. It was definitely interesting packing 8 days for two people in 1 bag that fits on the back of a motorcycle. We have been riding all day and sleeping in different towns each night.

Today, we made it to Whitefish and it made it all worth it. This is definitely my happy place and I felt so energized the minute we got here. The breathtaking drive past Flathead lake helped as well.

I am looking forward to breakfast at our favorite little cafe in the morning before we have to leave. It gets harder and harder each time to leave. The countdown is on until I can relocate my family to Montana. I truly feel that is something that will happen one day.

Until that day, I will have to get my fill and come as often as we can come. I soak in all the breathtaking Mountain View’s and have some amazing photos to look back at.

Be intentional with your time

Another book reference for you, this one comes from “How to Get Sh*t Done” by Erin Falconer. I believe I reference this book before, but this week I was reading about the importance of time tracking.

We all say we do not have enough time in the day, truth is we all have the same 24 hours in the day. It is more about how we use our time and what we prioritize in our day that causes us not to be able to get what we want done. How much time are you spending mindlessly scrolling Facebook or Instagram? Be honest here, I myself are just as guilty of this so I have my hand raised too.

I challenged myself to track my time this week and see where exactly I was spending it. With my personal time I did do pretty good, I did notice that in the morning, I would spend a lot of time sitting on the couch before working out. What I was doing with this time was scrolling social media, checking my Fitbit app to see how I slept, and watching TV. I was drinking my coffee and eating my pre workout meal on my run days but the majority of the morning time was being wasted.

It is still a work in progress but I did manage to not turn the TV on right away when I get up. This has allowed me the time to drink my coffee while I ready my journal book by Bob Goff, my 3 minute women devotion book and sit in silence even for a few deep breathes. It is not easy to change habits so I am celebrating the small win here. Next week I will continue with these 3 things and add in writing in my planner what the 3 big things I need to do for that day. I may even not allow myself to sit on the couch at all (it is an idea anyways).

I know that I give myself plenty of time in the morning to get to my workout on time and not feel rushed. The key is I need to be more intentional with my time and this will happen. I have had to rush on my run days because of all the time I waste.

Just like starting a day with a routine is important, ending a day with one is just as important. I believe my post from last week went more into detail on this. While I still have my few chores that I have to do every night, I mean for some odd reason my cats and husband think they need supper hehe. I am adding a personal routine to help me relax before going to sleep.

My night routine looks something like this, I come home and try and take my make up off before doing anything else and change into PJs of course. The last few days I have rubbed a little coconut oil on my face, then use my Mary Kay under eye cream and night lotion. If I have already at supper I use my floss picks to floss my teeth, brush my teeth and use mouth wash (working on brushing and flossing my teeth 2 times a day). I then put a little lotion on my hands and head to bed.

I sit cross legged in my bed, pull out my planner to do the rest of my time tracking and if I have something I cannot forget for the next day write it in right away. I then turn to medication. I have been meditating to the angels and my guardian angel, a practice Gabrielle Bernstein talks about in both her books I have listened too “The Universe Has Your Back” and “Super Attractor” (both I highly recommend in audio for sure).  I do this for a few minutes and then say my nightly prayers. When I am done with both of those I then write in my journal anything that came to me during meditation and make sure to write things that I am grateful for. Gratitude is the number 1 thing that relaxes me at night.

I have only done this night routine a few nights, I missed in Friday night and I could completely tell that it made my start to my Saturday the way it was. The one thing at night I do need to improve is after my night routine, I need to put my phone down right away and just sleep. We are all a work in progress of course.

I know, my routine is a little different and it may not be your jam. That is totally cool, what you need to take away from it is this: it is important to find a morning and night routine that works for you. If you have a routine it will help you be more intentional with your time and your day. I am seeing, that with routines, I am more relaxed and I feel like I have more energy and time in the day. It is almost like I added more hours to my day even though I know that is not possible.

Starting routines are extremely hard, so do not give up. If something is not working find out what it is and adjust course. It took me many years to get into the habit of working out in the morning. I tried different times of the day until one just clicked and it felt natural. I knew that meant it was meant to be and that I finally found the habit that would help me stay accountable with working out.

Need help setting a routine, message me and I would love to chat and help you get started with a routine.

Morning Routine Goal:

• Alarm goes off (do not hit snooze).
• Put on workout cloths right away.
• Make bullet proof coffee and pre-workout breakfast if its run day.
• Do not turn on the TV or scroll social media
• Write 3 main goals for the day in planner
• Get out devotional books
• Sit in silence and deep breathe
• Get workout started by 4:45am on run days
• Shower after workout (listen to audio book while getting ready)
• Floss and Brush teeth

Night Routine Goal:

• Remove makeup
• Under-eye cream and face cream
• Floss and Brush teeth
• Time tracking in planner
• Meditation
• Prayer
• Journal
• Do not look at phone after journaling

 

Remember: Change takes time so be patient with yourself!!!

Embrace the training

Half marathon training is HARD! I think I now know why I did not train last year.

Today was long run day, since I did not run last week I repeated so had a 10K race to do. I thought I would start there and push myself to go longer and do 8-9 miles.

Of course, my girls woke me up at 3:45am again so that right there did not help my day to get started on the right foot. I tried to sleep off and on on the couch until finally getting up around 6:30am. Had my coffee, ate some food then made the hubby breakfast and off to the treadmill I went.

The run started off okay, my speed was going well and the first few miles were not too bad. I began to struggle to find something to watch, which caused me to focus more on the dreaded numbers. I felt like I should have been doing way better and watching the miles go up so slow just took a toll on my mind.

The one think I can say, is I stayed on the treadmill and I got to the 6.1 miles. I walked way more then I am proud of and felt very defeated in myself.

More important than the running and not the best time is actually what I did after that. I allowed myself to be disappointed and then I knew I needed to fix my attitude and fast.

This week I had focused on working on a morning and night routine. We went out to celebrate a friends birthday and when I got home I did not due the last few things I should have in my new night routine. Which I believe is why I was not as motivated to do my morning routine. Since I did not do that before my run, it did not set me up for success.

After my running and allowing myself the few minutes to be discourage during my stretching. I got right to work on what I knew I needed to do. I got out me new 365-day journal reading book by Bob Goff. If you have never heard of him or this book you should check it out. Since I hate to wait, I got mine at Barns and Nobles but it is also on Amazon of course.

I did my 3 minute devotional for women, took a few deep breaths in silence then went and took a shower. I listed to “The Universe Has Your Back” by Gabrielle Bernstein. The book helps you to align yourself with the universe and has meditation practices in it to help. There is just something soothing and calming about her voice and the cleansing of a hot shower that does wonderful things for the mood.

I had a different post in mind for this week, which I still plan to write, but I felt strongly pulled to share this experience of both a disappointing run day as well as the 3 things I did to get out of my funk. After Doing my devotions, that few deep breaths in silence, listening to a positive audiobook and a cleansing shower I feel ready to take on the rest of my day.

The biggest thing I want you to take away from this post is this: Not everyday will be great, not every moment will be great. The important thing is to find something that will help you change a bad mood into a good one and not ruin a whole day. There is always something to be grateful for in each and every day.

This training for a half marathon is tough, but I know I can do it and when I get done I will be both stronger and so proud of myself for doing it. It was one bad run day and I will make the next one a better one!

Embrace the Training

Embrace Fear

Did you set a New Years resolution?

I heard this from a few different people that only 8% of people who sets goals for themselves in a new year succeed. When you think of how many people set goals each year that is not many.

I feel I can say with a large amount of confidence, that people have the best of intentions and truly want to make there change that will impact their lives for the better. Why do you think it is, that people have the best of intentions starting a new year and then they fail?

For me it comes down to fear. Whether it be fear of change, fear that someone will judge you, fear you will fail or fear of the unknown. Feeling fear is enough to completely stop anyone from reaching their goals.

I know even myself, I am feeling fear right now as I type this this post. Wondering if this will resinate with anyone. Will someone make fun of me. How many people will judge me because of all the errors I am sure are in this post. I mean I did score high on writing test when I was in high school but that was years ago.

I am choosing to push through this fear. 1. Because I truly do enjoy writing (especially on my new computer) and 2. Because I feel like their is someone out there who needs to hear this message right now. Fear can either hold you back or drive you to be stronger. I am choosing to use it to fuel me to be in that 8% of people that reach their goals in 2020.

My girl, Rachel Hollis, says you can only focus on one dream at a time. While I 100% believe in that, I do have a few things I am focusing on right now and why I think I can make it all work it 2020.

Some of the things I vision for 2020 are this:

1. Training for my half marathon
2. Drinking more water
3. Getting more sleep
4. Eating all the veggies
5. Completing craft projects
6. Reading 1 book a month
7. Keeping my house clean
8. Saving money
9. Paying off debt
10. Writing my book (side note, this is very scary for me to even put in this post to share with the world)

Here is why I feel this is not too ambitious for me, some of these items go together. I have run a half marathon before and since I have worked out 6 days a week for a while I have already built the fitness habit. This does not mean it is not challenging, it is completely challenging adding running in, trying to get the right amount of training miles done and improve. I have a ways to go but I do have until the end of April so I will get there.

My half marathon, as I said above is in April. That means I only have that for about 3-4 months of 2020. I will continue fitness and running but less miles. Adding items is a little easier for me then removing. I have increased my water and try to make sure at every meal I have a serving of veggies. They are both health related and how I stay motivated to do this is because I feel so much better when I do.

I am crazy about sleep. I aim to get 7.5 hours of sleep every night. Since I get up around 4:30am weekday mornings that does sometimes mean by 7:30-8:00pm I am in bed sleeping. Now I know some week nights I do not get that accomplished. This week some unexpected things came up and since it was bible study week, which is a priority for me, I didn’t get to bed early that night either. It is just all about balance and if I get to bed early most nights of the week, when I go to bet a little later a night here or there it is still manageable. I do try to sleep in on the weekends, but usually my fur babies have my awake by 5:30am if I am lucky. I have transitioned to a morning person over the years so for the most part I do not mind.

The paying off debt and savings kind of go together. I have medical issues so I know my medical bills will cost a lot each year so putting that money in savings right away helps a ton. I do need to cut back on the shopping, but I do also save a lot of money too. My husband and I have a budget for the bills and that also allows us to focus on one bill and pay extra. Some times unexpected bills come up and they extra money goes to that but that is okay. I am just so grateful we have both the money to pay for those unexpected things and for my medical bills out of pocket. It is sad to me sometimes to know my savings is just for that but that is just what I have to expect. Being a person with medical issues it is better to be prepared that way and plan for.

The reading, cleaning and crafting I am putting into the “self care” category so to me that is a easy goal to work on. I have my cleaning that I have to do nightly, with 3 cats in the house and 1 outside they need food and litter boxes scooped daily. I am talking some of the deep cleaning you only get to maybe once a year if your lucky. That I plan to set a side 1-2 nights a week to work on one of them. So some nights it will be I clean something when I have a spare hour, the next night I plan to craft and so on. I also have been taking my crafting with when my husband shoots pool (yep I crochet in a bar lol). This way, I still get to spend quality time with my husband, we tend to make it a date and usually get food before/after and then he practices while I work on my hobby. It actually has been working out great doing and helped me to get some crafting done and not feeling guilty because I should be cleaning. I also only have a couple projects with true “deadlines” which means I can take my time and just enjoy the activity that is relaxing to me.

This is also how I plan to write my book, okay so maybe not taking my laptop with while he shoots pool. Although, that thought has crossed my mind. It has helped that I have a functional laptop again and can take it places if I choose too. I will also set aside time in the mornings or evening during the week and weekends to write. I have a goal to get it finished this year. I still need to work out the logistics of editing and publishing, but if I don’t write the book there will be no need for those items. Once I have a book that is when I will worry about that.

That got long so let me recap really quick. Fear can either hold you back or move you forward. I am choosing, this year to Embrace (my word for this year) fear and have it move me forward. I believe with planning and building habits anything is possible. My gaol list may look long but many of this items work together and I know when I drink my water, eat all the veggies and get all the sleep I have energy to do all of the things. It actually makes me feel like I have more time in my day!

I hope you are having a great 2020 so far and I want you to be in that 8% of people who reach their goals this year!

Embrace Fear!

Money, Savings and Cash Back

Who doesn’t like to save money right? I felt with it being the first week of the New Year, this would be the perfect time for a post like this. I wanted to list our a few apps that I use to save money, get cash back or get gift cards by saving up points.

I have been using some of these for a while now, and one I have not used much but I am starting to use more. I have gotten many items from doing this anything from my under cabinet radio (yes I still have a house radio with a CD player lol), my wine fridge, saved up to buy a Ninja Foodi. I have gotten smaller things such as Fitbit bands and water bottles as well. Right now I am currently saving up points and gift cards to purchase a Ninja Grill, since it is an item that I do not NEED just WANT, I have to save up the money to purchase such a big item.

So lets get too it!

Rakuten Ebats:

I have had this account for a while, it was know as Ebats the last time I used it. I got reminded of it while watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel. This one I always thought was a little more work to use. There is an app or you can use it on a desktop computer which ever you prefer. You go to the site, sign up for an account and then you can search for whatever store you want and it will tell you how much cash back they are offering. The cash back does change so sometimes you could get more then others.

There is also an option of you linking debit/credit cards to the account. If you choose to do this, there are some stores that offer cash back for in-store purchase. You do have to activate it before going to the store so that is the part that takes a little bit of work. The first place I remembered to do this too was for PetSmart which was huge for me with having to buy food and litter for 4 cats.

I started focusing on this site about a month ago and I am already up to about $10 cash back. The money comes in the form of a check and they pay I believe quarterly, I do know my next Big Fat Check, as they call it, will come in Feb. 2020.

Shopkick

This one is my favorite by far. This app you get points and when you reach a certain amount you can get a gift card. Right now my points goal is 6250 and I have it set to get a $25 Bed Bath and Beyond card so I can use it towards my grill. I am on the 2nd gift card I have gotten from them. I have not found the points to expire and the gift cards do not have an expiration date.

There are a few ways to get points.

• Walkins: The app shows the stores that are participating and when you walk by the specific store with the app open it picks it up and gives you points. I know Target is one of them and sometimes you just have to drive by the door of the store to get the points. Pro tip for anyone who does online pick up 🙂
• Scanning: The app will have a list of stores and some of these stores if you go in and scan items you get points for that. Sometimes you do have to answer a few question survey but it is usually only a few questions. Some items if you do purcahse them and submit a receipt you get bonus points. I have not done that part so not sure exactly how it works.
• Online: The app has an online shopping option as well. You clink on the store and it take you to the site. I have started doing this with my Walmart groceries since I get them every week. It does recognize right away you placed an order but it does take 90 days to process and get points. I have about 6 of them waiting right now so starting in Feb. they should all start coming in and I can update on how that process works.
• Watching videos: On the main screen of the app they have options to gain points to watch a short 2-3 minute video. There is also a spot to preview sales and sometime they have secret points hiding.

This one is my favorite because even lately I have put very little effort into it, it may take a little longer to add the points up but the reward is worth it. Plus, I am not having to but anything special I can just watch a video, scan some items if I happen to be in the store and watch the points increase.

Achievement

This one is a little different. I was told about this one a few years ago, and when I signed up I was on a waiting list for a few months. I have had it now for about 3.5 years. This is another one you don’t really have to do anything with. It is a points system and you can link other apps you use and when you use the apps you get achievement points. I get the majority of my points from my Fitbit app. When it traks my workouts, heart rate and sleep. There are occasionally quizzes and other things for additional points.

The reward is $10 and you get your choice, I can’t think of them all off the top of my head because I usually just get a Amazon gift card. I know $10 doesn’t seem like much but you literally don’t have to do anything extra to get the points so it is the easiest $10 I have made. I have gotten a few of them since I started and it is kind of fun to get a little gift for myself occasionally. I got a water bottle once and I think I bought a book the other time. I am very close to getting my next reward.

Cashback on credit cards

I am not big on using credit cards because I don’t like having a balance on them. We do have some automatic bills that have to come out so we link them to the credit card. Life sometimes happens too and we do have to put some big expenses on the card and then we pay them off right away. This also helps us to build up rewards points.

The rewards I have had to use before to pay the credit card bill but sometimes I have gotten fun things with them. I for my radio and wine fridge using the points. I also got gift cards and that is what helped buy my Ninja Foodi and even get all new decorations for my bathroom. We have 2 main credit cards and the one I will use to get the gift card and the other I will just use the cash back to pay for the bill.

I know some people who have used the points to get cards and other gift for presents, for Christmas for example, which is also a great idea. I usually find something I want and this is how I get them. I save up all the gift cards and rewards so we end up paying nothing or very little.

Weekly savings chart

One last thing I want to mention is a savings chart. I saw this a few years ago and did it once. I will admit, once it got to the end of the year it got more challenging and I did not actually finish the chart but I had saved up a large amount that we used to help pay for one of our vacations. It is a plan that I found on Pinterest, you save the amount of money to what week of the year it is. Example: week 1 is $1, week 2 is $2 and so on. So by the end of the year it has all built up and is around $1100. I am going to try it again this year and see how it goes.

I also set a side $20 each paycheck for our vacation. This year I am adding a little more being a nurse I have license renewals to do every few year so now I set up a savings plan so when they come due I have the money and it doesn’t impact the budget at that time.

We do have a budget set up, but since my husband and I have separate accounts as well as the joint accounts it makes it a little easier. Each check I transfer money to the joint account for bills and for savings right away so I don’t miss the money. I have been doing this for a while now and it has gone very well and I am very blessed that we are able to pay for my medical bills from my savings account. I meet my out of pocket max every year so it makes it easy to know how much it will cost for me. Having the money on hand, I am able to call and pay my bill in full and get a discount on the bill. So I save money there and I also put it on the credit card which I pay off immediately but that transaction help me to build up points.

I hope this was helpful. I am not an expert at all when it comes to finance, I have just learned a lot from my husband and our financial planner says we are on the right track so that is something.

Even if you don’t use any of these apps or strategies I mentioned above maybe you will check them out and see if it would be something for you. I know some of them are some work and it does take some time for the rewards to build up but since it doesn’t cost much it is worth it to me. The best part for me is I have not put a ton of work into getting these rewards and it hasn’t cost my anything. If I know my family won’t use the item I don’t buy it and if I don’t need to but something online I don’t buy it just for the rewards. If I need to purchase an item I just check the apps quick to see if there is a cash back opportunity.

Let me know below if you like a post like this and I can certainly create more like this. Hope you at least learned a little something new and happy shopping.

New Year, New Word

It is hard to believe today is New Years Day and its now 2020! I started this post by writing out things that have happened to me in the last decade. Then I realize how many things that was and got a little nervous it would both get too long and I would miss something and be sad. So, I decided to change the directions a little bit in a good way.

I do want to take just a min to highlight a few large milestones for me. I became and RN and got married to my amazing husband. I also finished my BSN degree, I actually finished my last class while recovering from the surgery they found my cancer. One day after my diagnosis my dad was out on hospice and passed away during my treatment. I ended up beating cancer and now 5 years in remission. We also paid a few loans off including both of my school loans which felt amazing. I have learned many new skills and even hiked a mountain in Glacier. We have now fallen in love with Montana and can see a future living there. We went from 3 to 4 kitties as well as in the last decade we added our baby Bailey to our family which keeps us on our toes for sure. She is a huge mommy’s girl and can be naughty but can be so sweet.

That is a very brief overview of 10 years. I have started a list of my memories and plan to keep adding to it so at the next decade I will have a better idea of all the amazing things I have accomplished. It was really cool looking back on the last 10 years and the good and bad times that have shaped and made me the person that I am today. Although bad times are never fun, a person can never truly grow with out them and I am choosing to embrace them as part of my story.

Speaking of embrace it brings me to the other thing I wanted to write about. 2019 was the first year that I picked a word to define my year. My word in 2019 was Joy. While I wish I could say that I 100% of the time found joy in everything and was happy that is not real. I can say this, there were sometimes that I did say Yes to certain things because I knew they would bring me joy, and No so other things that I knew would not bring me as much joy.

For 2020 my word is going to be Embrace. I was struggling to find a word and then the other night, I work up and the word just came to me. I took that as a sign that it should be my word for 2020. After really thinking about it, it is a great word. I tried it with a punch of other words such as:

• Embrace Chaos
• Embrace Change
• Embrace the suck
• Embrace the pain
• Embrace the journey

It seemed to go so well with so many different things and even seemed to make some of the hard things easier to handle. It fit perfect so that is my word going into this year and my goal for it is to put it into everything I do this year.

I encourage you, if you have not yet or like me last year never picked a word pick one. Make sure it is a word that you can take with you the whole year and help you grow and become the best version of you in 2020. You really can do anything you dream of with hard work and determination.

Happy New Year!!

 

I Am a Runner

First I feel I should start off with a little back story here. I was the girl in high school that walked the mile and it was not a fast walk either. I wish I could say I had a good reason, but I really did not. Sure, I was diagnosed with authorities in my ankles, and they would occasionally pop when I ran. But knowing what I know now, it was far more the fact that I never pushed myself to do it.

Fast forward to about 4 years ago, I still did not classify myself as a runner. Although by this point I had ran a few miles on my trusty old treadmill during my 30 lb weight loss journey. I had a friend (who mind you just had a baby 6 weeks previous) want to go for a run with me. So, my husband sat with her 3 kids and off we went. She then talked me into a 5K for that weekend, about 4 days after this run we did. She ended up not being able to do the race, she did have a good reason but I still pick on her to this day that she bailed on me lol (You know who you are if you read this and you know I still love you).

After that race, I started running more. I eventually signed up for a few more 5Ks, then did a 10K and a trail run. The trail run was by far my favorite race, I also decided to hike up a mountain. The first attempted we did not get to the top of the mountain, but we were determined so the next spring went back to Montana and reached the top of Mount Brown! It was an amazing feeling and we have really fallen in love with Montana and can see myself living there some day.

Enough side chatter, back to the point at hand my running. I learned a while ago to never say never. So when another one of my friends asked me to do a half marathon with her, my first thought was I need to think about it. I had about two weeks before the next price jump, so I set that as my decision deadline. Truth is, I had been thinking about doing one anyways so this basically gave me the push I needed. I bit the bullet and signed up for the race.

Let the training begin I thought, but I did not train anywhere need what I should have. I ran a few days here and there but nothing consistent. In fact, my longest run was 8 miles which was the weekend before the half marathon, and I did not even run the whole 8 miles.

I was pretty nervous going into the race, I had a rough time goal based on the one 10K I had ran a few years back. I did way better then I ever thought I would. I was able to run about 9.5 miles, stopping only at water stations, which is what I have read is the thing to do anyways. The last 3 miles about, I just kept telling myself everything hurts and I am dying but that is okay. You have run this many miles and you are going to hurt but it does not mean you stop. I kept pushing until I got to the end of the race! I accomplished my first goal which was finish the race! My time was 2:36:14 which I was extremely proud of for my first ever half marathon.

I was not sure if I would run another one, but decided that I was going to do the very same race again in 2020. This time, I made a commitment to myself to actually train for this race. I was doing a work out program when I signed up so I promised once that program was done, I would run 3 days a week and do strength training the other 3 days and have 1 rest day. So far I have stayed on point. I did have to take one week off of the running due to a cold, but that is the beauty I have plenty of time yet.

I am very proud of how on task I am staying with my running days, and now just need to focus on increasing my miles. I live in the midwest so this time of year I have to do most all of my running on my trusty old treadmill. I am very happy that I have that option and so far my free treadmill from 7 years ago is still working for me. Treadmill running is not my favorite and is hard to do some days.

I made today a run day, and I learned something I did not realize before. I did not want to run today so I told myself to do it anyways. I had a mile goal of 3.5 miles, which has been a struggle for me to get that amount lately. So, I told myself I was going to do 3.5 miles, or 45 minutes which ever came first because that was the amount of time I had before I needed to get ready for work. I hit by 3.5 miles right at 45:05, think it was meant to be that I did the 3.5 miles today.

What I learned was this, even when you think your not doing well there is always something to show you how you improved. I was trying not to focus on my mile time or my 5K time because they were not my fastest and it would discourage me. Instead I kept telling myself what I have accomplished, I had run longer intervals then previous runs and I also ran at 5.8 mph  at one point which is one of the fastest speeds I have had. I got done and entered my run into the log on my computer, turns out even with slower mile times, I decreased my 3.5 miles from Wednesday by 1 min 21 sec. By not focusing on the time so much I still was able improve! It was such a great feeling and I am excited to see what my run tomorrow will be like.

The biggest take away today is that in every situation there is always something positive you can take away from it and focus on!

And it turns out,

I AM A RUNNER!

Merry Christmas

It is that time of year already, and it is my favorite time of year. Quick side note, this is my first post on my new laptop that my amazing husband got me for Christmas. I was not expecting it since I told him we needed to saved up for it, but seeing as the other one I was not able to move because it could not be unplugged it is definitely time for a new one.

Christmas has looked different for me the last few years and I can’t say we have even set down any traditions yet. In went to Christmas Eve church service again this year, it was always my favorite as a kid and still is as an adult. Tomorrow we will be having a repeat of the Thanksgiving meal which will also be work but so delicious and worth every minute.

I heard something on the radio the other day and it got me thinking of what my childhood Christmas were. We would have my big family get together on Christmas Eve night. My oldest 3 siblings were out of the house and married when I was young, so them and their families would come to my parents house. We would get together and play games and have an amazing meal. Santa would stop by each house in our small town for a visit and bring all the kids something little. Some years we did gifts before church, others was after church. Then we would play with our new toys until it was time to go to bed and wait for Santa to come.

I have some great memories of childhood Christmas that is for sure. Now that I am an adult that has changed for sure. Many years I have worked, being a nurse I had to take my turn and sometimes would pick up since the hubby was working. The last 3 years, we both have been off and it has been nice. We usually find one day to do our Christmas and gift exchange and spend some time together. Last year was the first year I found a Christmas Eve service to go to and I am so glad I did. I am brining that back into my Christmas tradition.

Although we may not do the same thing each year, the tradition of exchanging gifts and spending some time together at home hasn’t changed and for that I am grateful. Some years we spend time with family, some years we spend time with friends but every year we try to do things that make us happy and bring us joy. This year is the first year I tried to make Christmas cookies for my hubby to take to work, they all got ate so I must have done an okay job for a first attempt.

This Christmas, what ever you are doing, remember to take time and enjoy the moment. This time of year can get very busy with all the events and parties that it is easy to not take in the moment and truly enjoy your time with family and friends.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog website. If you have been with me for a while, thanks for coming back. If you are new here, let me tell you a little about myself.

My name Kimberly, I am 33 years old and proud of it. I have been married to my wonderful husband for over 7 years and we have been together for almost 12 years now. We have 4 fur babies (cats) June, Kallie, Angel and Bailey.

When I was a kid I had a life saving liver transplant which has caused some other medical problems that I deal with as they come. In 2014 I beat cancer and celebrated 5 years of remission in July 2019! Huge accomplishment in cancer survivorship.

Hobbies I have include cleaning (yes I like to clean), crocheting, knitting, sewing, reading, running, hiking and the newest riding motorcycle with my husband. With so many hobbies I do not get to do them all regularly but I enjoy them when I get the time for each of them.

I hope you find something of value from this blog. I plan to share my highs and lows of my life to show others to find good in every situation.

 

Thanksgiving Memories

If your reading this and live in the USA is is Thanksgiving today.

I remember being a kid and waking up on Thanksgiving morning going downstairs and sitting watching the Macy’s parade. While I would watch the parade my dad would be busy getting the stuffing ready for dinner. He made it from scratch for years and I would sit and watch and knowing me chat with him about anything I could think of because I am a talker.

I am grateful for those memories. Thanksgiving is different now, not just because I am grown up and have my own house. My dad has been gone now 5 years so he is not around to make the stuffing.

Time goes so fast, but I think it was about 4 years ago it hit me that my husband and I never really had our own traditions when it came to Thanksgiving. Part because for many years one or both of us would have to work. We now are blessed with jobs that holidays we get off and can spend it together. I decided it was time for us to start some traditions for ourselves.

My husband is not a huge Turkey guy so we started by having ham and then I make some sides for us. Hy Vee makes the most amazing peach pies so I get one of those every year. A few years ago we got a Honey Baked Ham and they are amazing so that is what we stick with. We have stove top stuffing, not the homemade my dad made but I am sure he would understand. I tried a few years to make a corn casserole and failed so this year I went with brussels sprouts in my Ninja Foodi using the air fryer setting and they were amazing.

The food may change a little from year to year but what hasn’t change is us being home together with our fur babies (cats). It has turned into a wonderful and relaxing tradition that we both have came to enjoy!

Whatever your traditions maybe weather you spend it with extended family or friends I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!