Tag Archives: Mickey Mouse

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Dr. Yoo Who?

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Day 44 in my trek to meet Mickey at the Magic Kingdom

Today’s plan is phase three in my quest to be healthier when I meet up with the Mouse.  I went for my yearly physical this morning.  (So early…I do not usually rise before 7-something o’clock, but today was 5-something o’clock.  Argh!)  I wanted to check and make sure that it’s OK to ramp up on the exercise portion of my plan.  She (Dr. Sandra Yoo) assures me that even though I am out of breath when I move, it’s OK as long as I don’t experience any chest pain.  So far, so good.  No chest pain here.  So now I need to start walking on a more regular basis.  Baby steps, to be sure, but it was great to get the green light from my doc.

Mike teamed up with me yesterday.  I wanted to take a sauna, so I started out walking toward the farm.  He waited 10+ minutes then he drove up, picked me up where I was, and we went and sweated it out in the sauna.  He’s such a great support person!  I really appreciate him and am thankful for him every day!

Nothing more for today, dear readers.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

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NO MORE FEAR!

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Day 43 in my charge to meet Mickey

Confession time again.  There’s just something about Sunday’s that bring out the confessions.  Hmmm…  I did pull off yesterday’s three phase plan and even added some extra minutes on my feet at Walgreens.  It felt good.  However, what I wanted to do yesterday was to go and work at the AJ Katzenmaier Back to School Carnival in North Chicago.  St. James pairs with some other churches to bring some support to the staff and kids at a school in North Chicago, which is an economically challenged town.  I was determined to go and work the carnival this year.  But when it came time to go and do it, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to stand up long enough to be of any help.  Sad, but true.  My fear stopped me.  That makes me downright angry!  I let my fear stop me.  NO MORE.  The next time I want to try to do something, dang it, I’m going for it!  If I run out of steam in the middle of something, then that’s just too bad.  I’ll stand there and sweat and pant until I recover, and then I’ll keep on keeping on.  I’m done being afraid.  The bible says, “Perfect love casts out all fear.”  I know Him.  I know that perfect love, and I claim it right now in my life.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Now today’s plan: I planned my weekly menu and went and shopped for the ingredients.  BTW: Have you seen the Roasted Cauliflower recipe going around on Facebook?  It looks amazing!  That is definitely in my future.  Emi, let’s try it when you’re here, OK?  And I might try to squeeze in a little walk today, just to get out there and   breathe some fresh air.  (20 minutes a day walking in the sun for vitamin D, right Wayno?)

Love to you all, dear readers.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

 

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It Takes a Village

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Day 42 in my quest to be my best for Mickey

Today’s plan contains a few things:

  1. Mike eats seeds everyday.  They are his favorite snack, and he is nearly out of sunflower seeds.  So step one for today is to travel to Walgreens and shop for Mike’s seeds.  However, instead of running in and running out like I usually do, I will stay and walk and browse for at least 20 minutes.  That way I’ll get some steps in for me and my handy-dandy Fitbit.  And I will mo-o-o-ove some.  🙂
  2. We are singing with our besties, the Carlsons, the next time we visit the UP.  So step two for today is going into the basement and putting on a full-court-press to find a song, “Come, Let Us Reason.”  This means more time on my tootsies, and I’ll walk the stairs a few extra times today.  Plus there will be stretching and bending as I search.
  3. My dear daughter-in-law picked up a book from the library for me to see.  It’s titled, “I Quit Sugar” by Sarah Wilson.  So my third step for today will be to come home and looking through this book.  There are 108 sugar-free recipes in it, so I will look for some new ideas to try.

There you are, dear readers.  A threefold plan today.  As you can see it takes a village for my plan today.  Thank you Mike, Wayne, Jean and Eliza for getting me up, moving and planning today.

Meet you at the Kingdom!

BTW: 42 days ago I would not have had the energy to pull off this three step plan.  I’m definitely noticing the difference that the nutritious food and the more mo-o-o-oving are making.  🙂  PTL!

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“Eye” Strive for Better Health

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Day 41 in my march toward Mickey

Yesterday was a much better day energy-wise than the day before.  It was such a lovely day that I took a walk at Crab Tree Farm after work.  I was so glad to have the blue sky, the gentle breeze and the 60+ degree temperature to walk in.  I listened to some songs from Frozen while I walked.  Let it go; let it go…   It was only a 13 minute walk, but it was a walk rather than a slump into my recliner.  🙂

Today’s plan is phase two in taking care of my health.  I will go  and have an eye exam today.  Since I am pre-diabetic, my doctor wants me to have an eye exam every year to make sure there are no diabetes related issues.

And I might just go for another walk when I get home.  Stay tuned to this blog for further developments.  And thank you so much for reading, dear friends!

Meet you at the Kingdom!

 

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Magic Band Mayhem

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Day 40 in my dance toward Mickey

Forty days, wow!  I can hardly believe it’s been 40 days/posts already!  To celebrate, I did something fun today.  My plan for today was to research the Magic Band.  This is the latest thing in Disney World. When you make your reservation to stay on property, each person in your reservation gets a Magic Band.  You wear it on your wrist like a watch.  Then when you hold it up to certain things, magic happens.  Here’s what it does:

  1. Unlocks the door of your Disney Resort hotel room
  2. Let’s you enter Disney Theme Parks
  3. Checks you in at FastPass+ entrances
  4. Charges food and merchandise purchases to your Disney Resort hotel room.

And you can:

  1. Choose your color (pink, blue, red, green, orange, gray, yellow)
  2. Accessorize it with MagicSliders, MagicBandits, CoverBands  (I have to research this a little more)
  3. Seek specialty bands (like Mickey’s-Not-So-Scary-Halloween bands)
  4. Attach it to Memory Maker, so any photos taken at the parks are linked to it.

How cool is that?  Now I have to figure out how to make our 3 FastPass+ selections for each day we are there.  And all six of us won’t necessarily want to do the same rides/parades/fireworks/meals, so how does that work?  There is still much to discover.  I will keep reading up on it all.

Thank you to Disney Vacation Tips on Pinterest and Facebook for the info shared above.

Meet you at the Kingdom!

 

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Too Pooped to Pop

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Day 39 in my journey to see Mickey

Today I am just plain pooped.  True confession time: I didn’t make the 20 minutes in my walk yesterday.  I made 12 minutes.  I just have such a long way to go.  But I find it interesting that some days I feel full of vim and vigor and can push myself pretty far and other days it’s a no-go.  The walk was beautiful yesterday; I was just worn out from work.   I figure, at least I made the 12 minutes and I can push for longer next time.

Here’s my plan for today: take it easy on myself.  I will eat healthy: half of an omelet for breakfast with a piece of rye toast, lentil soup with a roll and an apple for lunch, a banana with sugar-free peanut butter for after work snack, and a grilled lean ham, 2% Swiss cheese, spinach and spicy mustard sandwich with a spinach and tomato salad for dinner.  Then I will go to sleep tonight (I hope I sleep better than last night) and try again in the morning.

Today I signed up for a 5K walk on November 29.  I will walk off some of my Thanksgiving dinner for a cause.  It’s called the COOL 5K/10K Walk/Run and it benefits the COOL Food Pantry in Waukegan.  They are helping me to help them.  🙂  They get the funds from the registration fee, and I get an incentive to walk more.  Win-win.

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

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Day 38 in walking toward Mickey

To quote Mr. Rogers, “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor.  Would you be mine?  Could you be mine?”  The sun is shining today in Lake Bluff, and we’ll hit the low-60s, temperature-wise.  So…here’s my plan for today: I will take a walk after work.  I think I’ll stop in beautiful downtown Lake Bluff  and walk those pretty streets again.  I will aim for a 20 minute walk.  Still not an easy thing for me!

I’ll try to imagine myself strolling up Main Street USA toward beautiful Cinderella’s Castle in the Magic Kingdom.  That should put a spring in my step, and a smile on my face.  I need to work on really embracing walking, instead of trudging through it.  A walk is good, instead of evil, right?   🙂  I need to do some serious praying about getting some help to love exercise, because right now it’s still on par with Chinese water torture, for me.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”     Philippians 4:13 NKJV  Help me, Jesus!

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Gettin’ Medical for Mickey

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Day 37 in my journey to meet Mickey at the Magic Kingdom

Today’s plan: At 7:20 am this morning I had a mammogram.  How is this getting me ready to meet Mickey, you ask?  Well, this whole quest of mine is to be healthier in 14 months (now 13 months until October 2015).  I need to get my health check-ups and make sure, I’m OK to make these changes in my life.  Step one was my yearly mammogram.

Modern technology amazes me!  I finished with my mammogram at 8:00 am.  I received an email with my results by 8:45 am.  Normal!  Yay!

So now, no more squeezy, boob torture for me for another year.  Yippee!  (Actually the technician was great and it really didn’t hurt this time.  Miracle!)

So, dear readers, the girls are healthy and ready to take on this Disney quest of mine.  Whew!  Meet you at the Kingdom!

BTW: I have completed my 5 weeks of being sugar-free.  It feels great.  I actually feel as though my ability to concentrate and focus is better than it used to be.  I plan to keep sugar-free as much as is humanly possible.  I’ll keep reading those labels and planning low carb meals.

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Sunday Sauntering

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Day 36 in my marathon to meet Mickey

Today Mike, Jake and I played/sang with Damascus Road, the contemporary band at St. James.  It is always such a blessing.  You know how they say that if you love your work then it never feels like work?  That’s my job as director of Damascus Road.  It’s so much more a blessing than a job.  I was bathed in the love of Christ and truly felt precious in his sight this morning.  He is healing the self-loathing that I talked about awhile back.   Slowly…but surely.

My plan for today was to decide on this week’s menu and then to shop for the ingredients.  Check and check.  I’m trying a new recipe for skinny chicken fried rice this week.  I’ll let you know what we think.

Now for an afternoon nap.  Then Jake and Eliza come over tonight and Eliza is making dinner for us: black bean stuffed red peppers.  I’m so excited that I’m doing an imitation of Pavlov’s proverbial dog.  🙂

God bless your Sunday, dear readers.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Lovely Lake Bluff Lingering

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Day 35 in my march to meet Mickey at the Magic Kingdom

My plan for today was to take a 20 minute walk.  However, here is what actually happened.

I got a call this morning from Wayne, a dear brother and friend.  We chatted about this blog and then firmed up some plans for this October.  It was a delightful way to start my Saturday.  Talking with the Best Man from our wedding and thinking of him, his amazing wife and their lovely family.  *happy sigh*

Then I went to breakfast at the Full Moon.  While I was there I im-ed with my dear sis-in-law.  There I learned of the death of another sis-in-law’s sister.  This is out of the blue, as she died from an aneurism.  So sad! My heart goes out to Judy and Howard.

Then although I LOVE the Full Moon for breakfast, their coffee is not-so-good.  So my next stop was our local drive-through Starbucks.   I ordered my coffee, but when I got to the window to pick it up there was a wasp hanging out there.  So I went inside to pick up my skinny caramel latte.  What a lovely surprise awaited me there: Jake and Eliza were there just ordering some coffee.  I had a short, sweet visit with them, and then I was on my way.

Next stop: I parked in front of Inovasi (a local eatery in town).  Now if you’ve been to Lake Bluff, then you know what a pretty, little, Norman Rockwellian (to quote my cousin Terry) place it is.  What better place to take an afternoon stroll?  I walked to Viola, a favorite local shop and picked up a 60044 bag.  Then I walked to Peg Ann & Co., another favorite local shop and picked up a couple of t-shirts.  Then I gathered up my bags and started walking.  I walked a block past the library to 4th of July corner, so named because we watch the 4th of July parade from there. Then I crossed the street and walked to the post office.  Then I crossed the road and walked back to my car.  Now you may be thinking that that is not a very far walk.  And maybe it’s not very far…for you.  But for me, who has been majoring in the five minute walk, it was far.  I was very out of breath and a bit shaky by the time I got back to the car.  And, here’s the great part, I was out there walking and shopping for 30 minutes!!  I can’t tell you the last time I was on my feet for 30 minutes.  Having just come through a year of sedentary depression, I know it’s been longer than that year.

I feel like Rocky must have felt when he made it to the top of those stairs!  🙂  Victorious!  Thank you for taking the time to read this rather lengthy entry.  Love all y’all!  Meet you at the Kingdom!