Week 11 Celebrate Living Reading Chicken Soup for The Soul and Eating Chicken Soup for the Cold!

Beginning week 11, lost my voice due to cold/flu symtoms and I hold onto a chair while I Zumba 5 to 10 minutes every time I get a burst of energy.

Week 10 ended with a 5 mile jog/walk along the Beach and when I came upon vollyball players barefoot in the sand it reminded me of handsome Barefoot Todd and I wanted to take off my shoes. 

 Barefoot Todd, a Barefoot Running Coach, has been very encouraging during training for my first marathon.  Thank you Barefoot Todd.  It was great meeting you. 

Zumba! Beginning of Week 10 Celebrate Living Dancing to Zumba!

These two little boys are watching Grandma Zumba!?  A great way to start week 10 with an upbeat attitude to compensate for the downbeat attitude I'm feeling today after watching the stormy weather yesterday during the notorious LA Marathon with 26,000+ people crossing the starting line in the rain(whew!).   And the September 2011 Disney Half Marathon that I was training for has SOLD OUT!   About two weeks ago I was introduced to Zumba by my daughter Tasha and dancing for my health looks much more inviting now in lieu of a marathon.  My grandsons look fascinated watching grandma Zumba and I see a little doubt in both faces when I look closer, like, "Do you think grandma is OK?"  Starting week 10 dancing Zumba is fun since it rained most of the day today and I haven't gotten brave enough to walk in this kind of weather yet.   So, all I wanted to do was Zumba, Zumba, Zumba and have fun making miniatures.  Of course, I love having my boys over for the weekend and when they went home yesterday I missed them to the max.  They are so much more fun now that I'm dancing and walking my way to better health and feeling great!  What a way to end Week 9 and start 10!  Zumba with my boys while looking outside at the pouring rain!  Thank God that when one door closes another one opens and all we have to do is have faith and ask.  How simple.  "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."  Matthew 7:6-8

Yes, faith: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.  Psalm 23:4 

I memorized the above Scriptures when I was a child and as an 11 year breast cancer survivor, heading to age 62 in a couple of weeks,  I've repeated them over and over during my walks through the valley of the shadow of death and they are very comforting.  Lets pray for all the people in our World.  Pray that we can all find comfort in whatever valley we are walking through today, tomorrow and forever.  Thank you!

Again, thanks to all of you for your e-mails and words of encouragement as I continue on my journey to Celebrate Living.  Please keep them coming.

Come Out Of The Closet With Me - Celebrate Living Week 8

If you tell me I'm not having fun I will not believe you!  Week 8 was brutal.  Yolanda's calender filled up so my husband had to take over my training for the Disney Half Marathon and he was so happy.  If I thought Yolanda was brutal, I must say he is liking his title too much.  He walks behind me with a golf club in his hand to measure the distance between us and I have to stay ahead of the club.  If I slow down to talk to him he nudges my behind with the golf club to keep moving forward at a fast pace.  Now imagine doing this every day of the week for five miles in which two and a half are uphill.  Is it fun?  Yes.  Is it good for me?  Yes.  When we finish I am ready to go.  Go where?  Go figure.  I think some women really like to be pushed.  Don't go figure.

My hope is that you will come out of the closet with me to celebrate living.  There are things that I have energy to do since coming out, for instance, in the above pictures I was at KTLA 5 Morning News - Live yesterday, the beginning of week 9, with Yolanda as one of her friends and supporters during an interview by one of my favorites, Michaela Pereira.  The LA Marathon is this weekend and I was so happy to be on live television in Hollywood as part of the ongoing celebration.  It was a blast and we had a great time.  They even fed us at the end of our filming!  See the interview on video by clicking on the link below: 
http://www.ktla.com/videobeta/b0f7a1cf-091c-495d-985f-a980380866fa/News/KTLA-LA-Marathon-Yolanda-Holder

End Of Week Seven - A Second Day Of Adventure!

We went back to  mountains.  This little buddy in the picture to the left was looking at the video of his brother and grandma in the mountains having great fun and adventure.  Looks like he got so angry his eyes started turning to slits, his tongue started to move outside his lips and quickly he jumped down out of his chair, went to the front door and wanted out!  When I opened the door he pointed towards the mountains and said, "Go!"  What could grandma do?  We (Papa went too) went back to the mountains to take him and had lots of fun.  It's really great that grandma is having more fun with grandsons now that she is walking her way to better health.  Thank you God!  Thank you Yolanda!  Thank you Daughter and Son for giving me this great opportunity to enjoy Celebrating Life with my grandsons!  Thank you Papa for supporting me all the way!  Week eight is going to be brutal.  Thanks to all of you for your supporting e-mails!

Nature Walk - Just The Two Of Us! End Of Week Six



To take a nature walk with my four year old grandson today was a blast and an eventful way to end our weekend together and my six weeks of training.  Our walk took about two hours as we climbed hills and went down into valleys, but we feared no evil because Thou was with us.  When we returned home and got out of the car, my grandson said, "Grandma, I feel soooo good!"  My heart went thumpity thump with joy because that made me feel so great I took my 16 month old grandson for a long stroller ride.   I also managed to make a magnificent Dollhouse Miniature dress.  Please click on the link below the dress to view it eBay.com

Can't wait to see what week seven has in store.  It is supposed to be very challenging; a five miler at a faster pace.   I was actually dreading week seven, but during the nature walk and hearing the little happy voice demanding, "Come on Grandma!" I look forward to finishing.  Thanks to my followers.  Please let me hear from you readers, I need all the help I can get.  Thanks a million for all the e-mails you've sent. 

http://shop.ebay.com/anyminimore/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25

WeeK Six - Words of Confidence From 4 Year Old Grandson

A really brutal but great workout this morning.  I know it is going to get better as I drop pounds and continue to better my eating habits.  Words of encouragement from my grandson makes it worth the challenge.  Thank you grandson! My diabetes reading is dropping to target level and blood pressure is below target.  Thank You God!  Thank you Yolanda!  Please, I need encouragement from all of you reading my blog.   Don't be afraid to leave a message or give me a thumbs up.  Thank you in advance.  Coming out of the closet as a breast cancer survivor and letting the world know who I am is not an easy task, but I feel this is what I must do to help other survivors and people in general to get off the couch, start moving and Celebrate Living.  Yes, the world is changing and we are in what may seem like the worst of times, but we can and shall survive.  "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."  Galatians 6:9 NIV

Finishing Week Five! Before and After Training This Morning

My dear friend Yolanda, practically pushed me two miles uphill and said I (we) made good time.  I had to go back downhill too, but it was a breeze, temperature at 41 degrees.  Yolanda set another goal for me! 

I was back home by nine A.M. with lots of energy!  Turned on some soft music and let the creative juices flow.

Please click on the link below
to see more of my
creations on eBay:

http://shop.ebay.com/anyminimore/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25

Fourth Week In Training - Celebrating Life

It was a beautiful clear morning last week after returning home from training when I looked out the window and saw this gorgeous pink in the mist of trees with bare branches in winter.  I decided to grab my camera, Bee in Bloom....a real peach tree, a real live bee!  How cool is that? 

Cool because I usually start creating dollhouse miniature projects at ten in the evening until about three in the morning.  During this time it's really nice and quiet with the occasional sound of my husband sleeping well, as he calls it, but I call it snoring. One wall of my workshop is adjacent to our bedroom.  Sometimes with a little soft music that inspires my creativity, I may work until sunrise, then sleep until ten or eleven in the morning.  But, now that I'm in training, 'early to bed - early to rise' is my new way of thinking.  Going to bed so early?  What about creativity?  Well, I'm still being very creative and the soft music is still playing, but on the other side of the wall.  How cool is that?! 

Training is getting to be more fun as the weeks go by.  We are still climbing hills and walking faster and faster, but the great feeling I get afterwards surpasses all the sweat, aches and pains I've endured.  I was able to keep up with my grandsons during the week they were visiting and they even discovered that Grandma could be a lot of fun.  We jumped up and down on the bed, went for walks and lots of fun things.  After training last Thursday I was inspired that evening to take my grandson to a local high school basketball game.  He was so excited and so was I.  On Sunday morning I took him for a bike ride and ran to keep up with him.  On Sunday afternoon my boys had to go back home and I still had lots of enery!  Thank you God.

My Miniature Friend Janyce Valentine

This gorgeous lady, Janyce Valentine, Miniature Hobbyist, is responsible for designing and creating the elegant dollhouse bedroom and bathroom above.  When she invited me to see her dollhouses I thought I was going to faint because they are spectacular!  She is a graduate of The Fashion Institute of Los Angeles and she loves my Miniature Clothing line!  She keeps encouraging me to turn my hobby into a business for which I am grateful.  She is Manager/Co-Owner of an 82 year old family-owned business http://www.woodsvalentinemortuary.com/ and I eagerly seek her advice.  Well, she said I must have my Dollhouse Miniatures by Felma website up and running by June 2011.  That is her goal.  I just love talking with goal setting people. They make my life so much more interesting and easier.  I don't have to think, just do what they tell me to do.  Yes, she is as brutal as Yolanda, but I don't see her every week, THANK GOD she is training for the Disney half marathon in another city, but I really enjoy our conversations about our minis.  Yesterday, Yolanda worked us out like we were in Boot Camp!  Two and a quarter miles uphill and yes, we had to come back down.  And yes, I wanted to QUIT!  Please click on the website to learn more about Janyce's family-owned business and read the bio for Janyce and her parents.  Her father, Mr. Fred Valentine, just turned 92 years-young and works every day as President of the business.  Her mom, Mrs. Arzella Valentine, published her first book on her 75th birthday and is encouraging me to publish my first book.  WOW!  Celebrating Life is starting to look a lot better at 61.  Thank you God, thank you Yolanda, thank you Janyce and especially thanks to you Mrs. Arzella for encouraging me to write my book, "The Voice." But, please be brutal like your daughter and Yolanda.  Make it easier for me and give me a deadline. 

Third Week In Training

Yolanda Holder, A Guinness World Record holder, please read her interesting blog at myjourneytoguinness.blogspot.com decided to put me on her Vision Board to coach because she is also a dear caring friend.  I knew her before she became a Walking Diva and joined the Marathon Maniacs club.  After she tied the World Record for 106 Marathons, she called me a few days later and said, "Now that I've reached my goal for for 2010, I really don't have any goals or challenges set for 2011 written on my Vision Board."  I said, "Oh, well you need to think of something, otherwise you are going to get bored.  Also, I really don't know why anyone would pay to walk a marathon.  Especially a half marathon." She was silent for a few seconds.  "What are you doing?" I asked.  "I'm writing your name at the top of the list on my Vision Board to coach you to walk your first-half marathon this year," she said.   My heart skipped a beat!  If you read Yolanda's blog by clicking on the link below you will get an idea of why my heart skipped a beat.  She went on to tell me her reason;  She knows some of the medical challenges I've faced and some of those challenges made it very difficult to motivate myself to exercise everyday.  Therefore, her goal is to coach me and other first-time marathoners (she loves first-timers) to walk a marathon in 2011.  I felt joy and fear. 

Joy:  My faith increased because I knew God was answering my prayer of, "Lord, please  help me.  At 61 years old and I need to get this poor body in condition to keep up with my grandsons and enjoy this life you extended for me.  Lord, please!"  Yolanda telephoned me before I could completely forget about the the dream of my mother calling out to me and my encounter with that mirror.  Also, I had forgotten how I called out to God.  My goodness!  When He answers prayers He answers in Grand Style.  WOW!  You know, just blogging about this experience is really motivating me, but I still need your encouragement!  I want Yolanda to reach her goal so that I can pay it forward.  I'll talk about fear next time.  My blogs may seem long at first because this whole experience with blogging is a love affair and I really hope it doesn't peter out!

I think these pictures are too cute to keep to myself. Grandsons at six months and three months respectively.

We walked  hard and fast this morning trying to get our time down and it is only the third week!  The marathon is in September.  We are close to 24 minute miles and will go for more on Thursday.  Our goal is 15 minute miles.  Up at 2 AM rubbing my body down with muscle relaxers.  Feeling great because when we started this journey three weeks ago my blood sugar reading levels were anywhere between 140 to 176.  This morning my reading level was 116!  And my blood pressure as greart!