Month: January 2017

What Does “Go Get ‘Em” Mean to You?

January 30, 2017

At a Starbucks that I drive through a couple of times each week, the Barista hands me my drink and says, “Go get ’em!”  The first time I heard it I thought he was talking to someone else.  Then, I realized he was talking to me and every other car that goes through the window.  It made me think about what it means. Now, I have started saying that to myself every morning when I wake up.  I don’t say, “Rats, it’s morning.” Actually, some days I do say that. But you can’t lay in bed for another 20 minutes after you say to yourself, “Go get ’em.”  You just can’t do it.

Now, I don’t say to myself , “Oh no, hello morning. I am not ready for you.”  Actually, some days I do say that. But you can’t lay in bed for another 20 minutes after you say to yourself, “Go get ’em.”  You just can’t do it.  It feels lazy.

So, I try to have my day laid out in my head when it hits the pillow, so I don’t worry about it in the middle of the night and toss and turn.  That allows me to “Go get ’em.”  I find myself in such a bad mood when my day gets derailed: when the things that I wanted to accomplish just get put on the next day’s list. It makes me grouchy.  So, I look at my calendar every evening to get myself ready for the next day, even if my day is wide open (isn’t that about the best feeling on earth?).  If I am working out first, I get my workout clothes out and ready to be slipped on, so I can sleep until the final second, then “Go get ’em.”

If it is not a workout day, I have my clothes all picked out.  I don’t like the feeling of having to hear the weather forecast them come up with something when I could have done that the night before.  I have my bag ready and my electronics ready for action.  I know, I know, it is a little silly, but it works for me.  I like the feeling of being in control of the morning.

For me, what “go get ’em” means is that I am ready for that busy day.  I am charging forward and making progress daily.  I like that.  I find that the older that I get the less time I want to waste.  I want to fit everything into every day.  I don’t want to just coast.

That doesn’t mean I want to be on the run all the time.  I do not.  I love my downtime.  But I find that the more I “Go get ’em,” the more downtime I create for myself.  It’s the best.

Whatever it takes to put that spring in your step, to get you fired up for the day, do it.  It makes life so much more enjoyable and satisfying.

Go get ’em!

 

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Vegetables, Vegetables, Vegetables

January 26, 2017

All I ever hear from my trainer when we are talking about weight loss is, “Eat more vegetables.”  It’s like a broken record.   But, I know he is right. Remember when you walked into the grocery store years ago, the vegetable selection was based on season, as it should be.  Well, as you know, all that has changed.  You want Okra in January, you can find it (like anyone wants Okra in January, or any other time).  You can probably find a pumpkin in May if that’s what you want.  The point is, there is no excuse for me, or any of us, to not be eating enough vegetables.  And, I have to say, I feel better when I do.

I have been on Weight Watchers a few hundred times over my life and the one thing that any Weight Watchers member knows is that vegetables are free.  Free.  No points!  What does that tell you?  Nothing’s better than free.

So, please join me today in adding more vegetables into your life.  I am trying to do the same.  Salads for lunch with some chicken.  I packed them all at once this week just like the experts say and I have to admit that it worked really well.  Since I am a party of one, I buy a rotisserie chicken at the beginning of the week and use it for several meals for salads or dinner.  I added a baked potato last night and I was very proud of myself.  Am I losing weight?  No!  But I have to say that I am trying very hard to become more health conscious.  I know the older I get the more important the nutrition piece of the puzzle is for me.  I have to keep my energy up for all the fun I am having!

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Beat the Winter Blues with Flowers

January 25, 2017

The Winter Blahs seem to set in about this time every year.  It isn’t even February and we are already counting the days until the warm temperatures return.  My best tip for beating those winter blues is with flowers in your home or office.  They don’t have to be expensive flowers.  Grocery store flowers are just fine.  But make them colorful.  And you can add more greenery to them to make a small bunch seem fuller.

I have two tricks up my sleeve for making flowers look great at home.  You can’t just unwrap them from the store and stick them in a jar.  I think they always look fuller when you cut them to fit the container better.  By cutting a few inches off the stems the flowers stay close together in their container and look fuller.  Not spread out.  And, I always use a container that looks a little too small for a number of flowers I have.  Nothing looks sadder than a small bunch of flowers in a too-big container, just sticking way out one at a time.  Just take a look at the flowers here.  They are held tightly together by the paper which makes them look full.Make sure you give them a trim at the bottom every day so they have the chance to drink up more water.

Make sure you give them a trim at the bottom every day so they have the chance to drink up more water.  You will see how much water they can take in because you will have to refill the container often.  Enjoy.

If you really want to stretch your flower dollars further, use several tiny vases.  You can even put just one bloom in each, on the dinner table or buffet, to make a low “line” of buds.  Color without breaking the bank!

 

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Hope Is What It Is All About

January 20, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

As the new year turns into plain old winter, it is no wonder that we get a little blue, a little draggy.  For most of us around the country, the skies are gray, it is chilly at best, or worse, and we have about twenty minutes of daylight each day.  But there is one factor in my life that has changed dramatically over the past year and that is this: I now have hope.

For probably most of the last 15 years I told myself I had hope and I tried to manufacture hope and I pretended to have hope.  But pretending to have hope is more pitiful than having no hope.  Even after I had been dragging myself through the muck that was my marriage, I still clung to an atom of hope for some miracle: maybe my husband would get it, that he was tearing apart his children’s family, and make real change.  But, I know now that it wouldn’t have worked out.  I was done.  I was pretending that our family could still have life.  But all the King’s horses and all the King’s men…you get it.

I don’t know exactly when I let the hope go, but the letting go didn’t make me hopeless.  The hopelessness was in having false hope.  And, once I knew in my heart that I was never going back to that life, I freed myself up for hope.  I made room for it.  Now, I couldn’t be more hopeful.  I actually have a smile on my face most of the time and believe me, that was not the case a year ago.  I smile for no reason, just walking down the street.  Sometimes, I catch myself smiling while I am walking the dog, for no reason.  I am watching TV and smiling, crazy.  At the grocery store, smiling. Driving and singing with the radio, smiling.  Knitting, smiling. Cooking, smiling.

And, I really have nothing to be hopeful about.  It doesn’t matter.  That hope comes from within.   I don’t know where I am going, but I know it can’t be as bad as where I have been.  I am so optimistic about the future that I feel excited every day when I wake up.

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Keep Warm Wipes and Lotion

January 10, 2017

Here’s a way to keep warm wipes and lotion on hand in the winter.  I use a combination of face wipes and cold cream in the winter to take off my makeup.  Yes, cold cream.  My after-sixty skin is so dry and nothing beats cold cream in the winter when my face feels like it will just crack off. But, the wipes were always so cold and I would dread touching my face with them.  So, I got a baby wipes warmer.  Problem solved.  Why should babies be the only ones to enjoy warm wipes?

Then I had an idea.  My body cream in the morning is too cold to put on, so I hardly ever use it in the winter, even though I love the smell and the way it makes my skin feel.  So, I set it on top of the wipes warmer. Nothing gets hot, just enough warmth to take the edge off.  OK, so, if the body lotion on top of the warmer was a hit, why not put the cold cream on top as well.  So, I did.

I remember hearing Joan Rivers once say that she threw her body lotion tube into the bathwater when she was bathing and it was nice and warm when she put it on, so maybe that was in the back of my mind when I tried my “cleansing station”.  I also pretend that the wipes warmer is smiling at me when I walk in and I say hello to it (doesn’t it look like it is smiling in the photo.  And isn’t it pitiful that I say hello to it?

Give this a try.  The warmer was about $17 from Target, but you can get them anywhere.  I even use the wipes to clean up my bathroom counter quickly in the morning and I don’t have the shock of a cold cloth in my hand.  It makes a big difference.

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