Life as a CrazyMimi

One of my Punkins asked me at breakfast a couple of days ago if I had written another blog post.  I said no, that I don't ever write more than one during vacation week.  However, something happened that day that changed my mind.  But to understand it, let me back up a bit... My family members know that I have a fear of water.  I won't put my head under water (except in the shower!), and I won't put myself in any situation where I could drown, because I can't swim.  My Dad almost drowned in the Marines, and a very unhealthy fear of water was instilled in us kids growing up.  We didn't go near water, and I never learned to swim.  I, however, was determined to never do that to my kids, so my boys became great swimmers, and my Punkins are becoming very good swimmers, too! When we arrived here at the lake,  the property we rented this year came with two kayaks.  Immediately,  Jeremy and some of the Punkins jumped in those kayaks, and off th...

Day four of my annual vacation at Lake Anna it occurs to me that I've seen no news.  No network news, no newspaper, or any other news.  This intrigues me a bit.  At home I like to watch the news in the morning, and in the evening.  Why?  It seems to be nothing but bad news.  So that started me thinking about what I have seen this week.  And not one thing has been bad! I've seen the sun rise over the lake, while sitting on the middle of the lake in a kayak, with my granddaughter Emily sitting in her kayak beside me.  We talked about how, with the sun rising behind clouds, the rays streaked down from under the cloud, and seemed to touch the water.  When the sun finally peaked out, the shimmer on the water looked like millions of diamonds sparkling, welcoming a new day.  As we glided along with the barely audible whisper of our oars hitting the water, we watched a heron soar overhead, watched silent, still fishermen waiting for the bite th...

If you have read my blog posts for a while, you probably have some idea of what our family vacation at the lake is like.  If you haven't read these particular posts, head over to my main page and check them out!  They will give you a glimpse into our crazy week! We have been going to the same house on Lake Anna, VA for the past 16 years.  Our first year, we went with my brother and his then wife.  Ryan came to visit since he lived only 45 minutes away, and brought my first Punkin Dalton who had just turned one.  I saw Dalton walk for the first time in that lake house, the first of many monumental occasions, milestones, and memorable moments.  The following year, and every year since, Ryan and family have spent at least a few days, if not the whole week there.  For many years, my parents and Troy's Mom spent part of the week with us, also.  And Jeremy and Brandon have spent time with us as well.  As a matter of fact, Brandon put in his first ...

As I sit on my front porch watching and listening to the rain, I'm reminded that this is one of my favorite things to do.  Unfortunately, I don't get to do this very often.  Life is so busy that we don't allow ourselves small pleasures such as this.  But, my house is clean, my laundry is done, and it's not time to fix dinner yet, so here I sit, relaxing to the sounds of nature.  The fresh rain smell permeates the air, and I can imagine our garden drinking this in, it's thirst being quenched by this beautiful summertime storm.  The wind has kicked up a couple of notches, the sky has darkened and thunder is heard in the distance.  This no doubt will be a strong storm as the cool front comes through. As I sit here relaxing, my mind drifts back to another storm and another front porch, many, many years ago... I was a child, not sure how old, living at home with my Mom and Dad and siblings.  I have always been fascinated by thunderstorms, so this summer...

It's Friday!  And to me that means it's "Weigh In " day!  I have been struggling a little lately with only losing a portion of a pound at a time.  I am so very faithful with my "Healthy Eating" (we do NOT use the D word...), and extremely faithful with my exercising, so when I only lose a portion of a pound, I get a bit upset.  Well, let me tell you about today!  I lost two whole pounds this week!  I am elated!   And speaking of struggling, I have been bothered with leg cramps lately.  I stretch before I exercise, I drink a ton of water, and I take calcium.  So I was kind of at a loss as to what was happening.  Come to find out, I am a bit potassium deficient.  So the VERY first thing everyone says to me is "Eat a banana"!  I like bananas.  I love bananas!  I used to eat one every single day as my mid morning snack.  However, I stopped eating them because they are very high in sugar.  As I write this and i...

If you Google "Live Life to the Fullest", there are 62,200,000 responses.  But I found one I really, really like: To  live life to the fullest means  facing  your  fears with bravery, an open mind, and a lack of prejudice. It  means  making the most of what you have and never settling for less than the  life  you are capable of living. It  means  being truly alive and awake to  life  and not asleep in  life's  waiting room. I often question whether I am really living life or just going through the motions.  I think at this stage of my life, I am somewhere between "stuck in a rut" and "Oh my gosh, I have to get more stuff done before it's too late"!  Troy and I have had a few discussions lately about what the next chapter of our life will be.  We don't want to be asleep in life's waiting room!  We need to be truly alive!  But we are always so consumed with getting the lawn mowed, the la...

Almost a year ago, I got up the nerve to try yoga at a local studio.  This was one of the items on my 60 before 60 list.  It was something I had always wanted to do, but never had the nerve!  I was absolutely terrified!  Yoga was something that other people did...people in big cities...chic people...YOUNG people!   But trying to get myself to a healthier place in my life, I put my sweats on, drove the 10 minutes, paid my money, and went inside on trembling legs.  Could I really do this?  What if I made a fool of myself?  What if I couldn't do it at all?  What if I'm too old, too fat, too anything? Well, I survived!  And 45 minutes into the one hour session, lying on a mat borrowed from the studio, my wonderful instructor telling us to start relaxing from the top of the head and slowly go down every inch of our body, I was struck by the most incredible revelation.... Why had I wasted 59 years of my life NOT doing yoga?  Why?  ...