https://share.yourdailywalk.com/product-preview/yourdailywalk/109776/Just%20finished%20the%20%22Super%20Beat%22%20workout%20from%20Your%20Daily%20Walk!%20Why%20not%20join%20me?

Starting a new routine now that my month contract is done. This is actually the last day of August but I needed a short workout today. My last day of August will be over an hour long…something to work up to.

“Your Daily Walk”

I’ve been more diligent about documenting the health side of my journey and this is the link to that, if you want more information.

However, I do want to share my experiences this week with a new app that I purchased last week.  I have owned and used Leslie Sansone’s walking DVD’s for several years, albeit sporadically.  The problem with DVD’s is that they get tedious after several uses and you are not so inspired.  So I am grateful to my friend Jean, who posted her completion of a Five mile walk on Facebook.  Investigating further led me to purchase the app for about $70 CDN.  A birthday present for myself.  My next gift will be some Thera bands to add to the workout as needed.

HEALTHIER  The Your Daily Walk app has had me walking every day this week, both indoors and out for a varied workout that walking the dogs does not give.  That’s a bonus.

WEALTHIER: The cost of the app is not expensive (for a year’s subscription) and after a week, I’ve brought the cost down to $10/walk.  I like keeping track of things that way!  You can pay monthly, but I think you still need to commit to a year!  

WISER: Variety is the spice of life, some people say, and this is true of exercise as well.  Being able to have different walking activities every day this last week has been motivating.  Adding variety or observing change helps us explore ourselves and our world.  The changes in my fitness routine have done both.

I’ll just share the link to Leslie Sansones’ Walk at Home site and you can explore that yourselves.  

Thanks for journeying with me as I strive to meet my goals!

Marcia

 

Walking

It’s been hard to get my 10000 steps in on a regular basis.  Beijing was always easier because I didn’t have access to a vehicle.  So I have added dog walking to the routine.  At least twice a day.  I slso began doing Leslie Sansone dvds with my grandkids.  It is so much fun!

Today I also took the time to weigh myself.  I don’t do that often but I was pleasantly surprised.  247.5, and I’ve decided to re-start my Ipound a week.  But the most important goal at this point is to get close to my step goal. 

 This was taken this morning – we had a bit of a frost.

Enjoy the day.  Thanks for helping me stay focused.

April 7, 2017

I won’t be able to think of brilliant titles every day or so, so sometimes, the date will have to do!

Health! It’s been wet, chilly and today there is snow on the ground.  While I enjoyed two walks on Wednesday, yesterday I stayed indoors all day.  Not a great choice and one I need to change.  Today the wind is blowing and I know my coat is not built for this challenge.  On the plus side, I am enjoying my daughters tomato soup (from scratch) full of healthy vegetables, including a whole head of garlic (not just a clove or two!)

Wisdom:  Somehow this moved to the middle part, so I’ll leave it there.  I’m learning to see my life as a process that I move into.  Still working through Designing Your Life.  I’m reminded that life is flowing, changing, and navigating it is a process.  I will never be done with it.

Personal Finances: They are depleting!  I need to start my employment search now.  One of the challenges is the needs of my family.  They need to be considered when I’m applying and interviewing.  I suspect online teaching and being a substitute, or something totally different will be the end result.  We are working hard to eliminate waste in the kitchen – and garbage.

 

Catching up!

I haven’t paid this blog much attention for a while, and it shows.  I’m not sure I’m getting healthier (at least my knees are complaining more than usual), my savings are going down a little too quickly for my liking, and wisdom – well, according to Designing Your Life failure is part of the journey of life.  It allows you to reframe and try something different.

April 4, Health:  I ate reasonably well, starting with a smoothie for breakfast.  We brought a snack for “running errands” time – an apple and a banana.  Lunch was rice pudding left over from breakfast.  We are trying NOT to throw food away, but I don’t want to have two breakfasts!  Supper was a “butter” chicken recipe without butter. We used coconut oil instead.

I took the dogs for a walk – each one individually, so that added some steps to my day.  While my goal is to get over 10000 steps, I made it to just over 7000.  The lesson I have been learning over the past month is that I need to be more intentional about what I eat AND how much I move in a day!

WEALTH: Since arriving home from China, I have been spending my savings.  I needed some time to regroup, but now the job hunt is on.  As a family we are collecting our receipts so that we can see just exactly what we are buying.  I’m enjoying access to Value Village again, just to get clothing in my size.  

WISDOM:  From Designing Your Life, try stuff.  Take a chance.  Fail. Try something different.  Test alternatives.  But never, never, never stop moving.  

See you tomorrow!

Marcia

Happy Monday !

Just want to say that this is my daughter’s blog.  I worried about how she and I would cope being 12 time zones apart for 10 months.  THis is part of her story.  She’s rocking it and so am I!  So without further ado… Happy Monday!  (Which is Tuesday in Beijing!)

Ok ! Challenges for this week are… 1. Every day work on a blog post. I have 5 subjects written down that I’d like to expand on. So this challenge involves expanding on these and getting…

Source: Happy Monday !

Dramatic Changes!

 

These pictures were taken on a  hike in October 2015.  The sky is blue, the scenery is beautiful and I am in China – Miyun to be exact, just north east of Beijing.

After years of “talking about it” and lots of time spent loving my two grand-daughters, I left my home of 28 years and my homeland of 56 years and came to China to teach English.    I know many people didn’t believe I would ever leave my family behind, especially as grand baby #3 was due to arrive in October, but the end of August saw me bidding farewell to my daughter, son-in-law and three precious little people, knowing it would be a long time before I could hug the newest little fellow.

Although I had planned to combine my three blogs into this one blog, that hasn’t materialized.  My health journey, which has drastically changed since leaving Canada, will be recorded at One Year, One Week, One Pound .

Here I will try to share with you some of the things I am learning about money and money management as I live outside of our country.  I haven’t thought much about taxes, but I’m sure some will have to be paid.  There are also other considerations that I hadn’t thought of, but may be helpful to others considering the “ex-pat” scene for a season of life.

In the meantime, I wish you a wonderful 2016, God’s richest blessing, and joy on the journey!

 

 

2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,000 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 17 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Life Changing!

I haven’t blogged in quite a while and I am surprised that people still visit this space that seems to change as I change.  And right now I am in the midst of a very big change.  Not sure how it’s going to work with my life goals at the moment – I’m eating crazy, I’ve resigned from both my jobs (with a bit of a life-line to both of them, but still…) and some moments I think I’m going crazy.

 This image floated across my FB feed this morning and I so needed to be reminded of this truth.  I’ve used the analogy with a few of my friends – that I am getting ready to climb out of the boat.  Yes, I still have the potential to come back to the jobs I am leaving behind, but I am also applying for jobs in countries that I have no experience with – places like Turkey, China, Korea and just lately Saskatoon.

I’ve decided that since this is a journey that other 50 something women might consider embarking on and maybe some who are younger and not women, I would chronicle the experience instead of just sitting on it and internalizing it.  Life is meant to be shared and this is one way of doing it.  Of course, I may be going about this all the wrong way – but I don’t have a road to follow in this.  If I make a wrong step, I can share it and  help someone else from making the same misstep on their adventures!

Have a great day!

Marcia

Babette’s Feast – Finally

I’ve made three Babette blankets of various sizes – and I’m working on the final panel of a fourth – but last night I was finally able to watch the movie.  I remember it being recommended to me many years ago – possibly more than 10 years ago even – but getting the movie from the library and actually having time to watch it?  That combination has been long in coming.  And of course it goes off the radar for a while and then comes back on.

However, I have at last been able to sit and enjoy the movie – while at the same time enjoying my own feast of sorts – sushi, red globe grapes and chocolate mint ice cream.  Quite delicious, but certainly not what the villagers enjoyed!
So, was it worth the wait?  Were there lessons to be learned from this movie?  I certainly think so!

First of all, good things – really good things – take work, time, resources (in this case a lot of money) and patient practice.  Babette was an amazing cook who worked from the view that cooking was not just something to do, but something to do well.  She saw it as ART, not housework.  Yesterday my daughter made an omelette and she added a sprig of kale and a mushroom to the middle to make it look nice for the picture.  That’s the extra  mile that makes the mundane beautiful.  That is all over not just this meal, but every meal that Babette cooks.

 

 

Secondly –  you may have to go away to find the ingredients that make up the ART that is your life.  I’m reminded of the woman in Proverbs 31 who scours the market place.  My Pinterest board is evidence of my scouring and searching for things of beauty that may possibly add joy to my life!

And because a good essay or sermon always has three points, I need to make one too.  While Babette was busy in the kitchen, paying attention to all these details, making everything “just right”  her guests had no clue as to what they were being offered.  Thank goodness the General came to help them discover the truth.

The people of that village had chosen to close their minds and to deny the sensation of taste that was offered them.  They deliberately turned the conversation towards the mundane, rather than fully enjoy the good things that Babette had prepared.  This is, I think, the point of the story.  I can choose, deliberately and completely, to ignore the abundance of good things that God in His grace has provided for me.  By pre-judging, I deny myself the possibility of a good friend, a new turn of thought and an opportunity to grow and learn.  I deny myself a fuller, broader, more experienced life.

 

 

All of my Babette blankets have been made with “stash” yarn – the stuff I have on hand.  I wonder, what it would be like if I deliberately sought out the colours that make my heart sing and one day, made a blanket that is truly a “Babette” feast for the eyes and the body.

Please take this post as an encouragement to enjoy this film.

Marcia

(Still learning to fully live!)