Life as a CrazyMimi

We all have doubts.  Everyone.  How we deal with our doubts is what's important. My very favorite author and Life Coach Valorie Burton says this: "Fear. It creeps up on us, often without a sound. It asks, “What if everything goes wrong?” “What if I fail?” “What if I never get what I want?” And disastrous answers to those questions can send us down a path of negative thinking that spirals out of control. Psychologists call it “catastrophizing.” Next time it happens, stop fear in its path with an opposite question: What if it does work out? What if you succeed? What if you finally get what you want? What if things go right? Asking these questions gives you a sudden burst of energy. That energy is hope."  So in my life right now, doubt (fear) has reared it's ugly head.  Here's what's happening: As you all know, I've gone through a total "transformation" since last March.  I turned 60 and decided it was time to get healthy.  So I have los...

We've all had them.  That day where you resist nothing.  You don't start out the day with those intentions. You start out the day like any other. You have your breakfast protein shake, you have your banana for your snack mid-morning, and then you see that bag of chips.  Nothing prepared you for this detour this morning, you had no plan of action prepared, but there they are... In all their thin crispy salty goodness! And you eat them. You eat a lot of them. And they are heavenly! And then you see candy. And you eat that too. And by the evening you are having a very serious conversation with yourself. Yes, you had your yogurt for lunch, and your grapefruit.  In all actuality, the day was not a total loss. You had a healthy dinner but then you sat and ate an entire chocolate chip protein cookie because it was the only sweet thing in your house.  Half of a cookie is a serving size by the way. Now, let's revisit the dark, deadly places I visited yesterday...Car...

I've talked a lot in the past year about change....me changing.  I've changed my eating habits, fitness routines, etc.  I've felt pretty good about myself in the last six to eight months.  But something was missing.  Something.... I have always be a church goer.  I was raised in church.  I raised my kids in church.  I have always been a believer.  But while working a part time job on weekends for many years, I had no Sundays free to attend church.  This allowed me to break the habit of going regularly.  And once that habit is broken, it just becomes a new routine not to go to church every Sunday.  Now please don't think I am using this as an excuse.  It's not an excuse.  It's what happened to me.  Realizing that something was missing in my life, I started contemplating returning to church.  But as much as I love the church I was raised in, I felt that I needed to explore other options.  I needed somethin...

Sugar can be addicting...true or false?   I have always had a sweet tooth.  As a child, I was a sugar junkie... no really!  I. LOVED. SUGAR.  (Still do actually!)  As an adult, growing older, I became "pre-diabetic" with warnings from the Doctor to cut back on the sugar or I would be diabetic soon.  So as a side effect of my new healthy lifestyle, I changed those important numbers on that blood test, and am no longer "pre-diabetic".  Yay me, right?  Absolutely.  I no longer craved sugar.  No longer needed sugar.  Until.... Ok, so over the holidays, I indulged in cookies, candy, sweet punches, cakes, etc.  Having lost 42 pounds, I felt like I deserved those treats.  And I worked out like a crazy person to counteract those extra calories.  I put on 2 pounds over the month of December.  And that's ok.  Not bad really.  I will take those off quickly, so no worries.  However, the one thing that d...

It's 8AM on December 31st, 2017.  When I asked Alexa to start my day, she started singing Auld Lang Syne.  So that started me thinking.  What does it really mean?  We all sing it, but do we know what it means?  Roughly translated, it means "for old times' sake". Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, and old lang syne? For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne. And surely youll buy your pint cup! and surely Ill buy mine! And we'll take a cup o kindness yet, for auld lang syne. Looking at the lyrics makes me want to warmly remember old friends, appreciate new friends, and hug my family.  Maybe I'm just being sentimental this morning.  I'm missing my Son and Punkins who are usually here for New Year's Eve.  It's when we do our big Petty Family Christmas.  Maybe it's because we are coming to th...

As 2017 is coming quickly to an end, and 2018 looms large in front of us, it's a natural time for reflection, for fond memories, and for saying thank you to those who have been good to us this year. For what seems like many years now, I've approached the end of the year with some regret, wishing I had accomplished more.  Not so this year.  Not so at all.  This has been my year.  My year of change.  My year of accomplishment. When 2017 began, I had the normal resolutions....lose weight, get healthy, be a better person, appreciate life more, etc., etc.  Then I turned 60 in March.  60!  I have lived six decades!  Whoa! Sixty hit me hard...but not in a bad way.  It woke me up.  If I was going to get healthy, now was the time!  So I set out to walk several times a week, do yoga, and eat healthier.  Well, let me tell you how that went down!  Walking led to running, eating healthier led to weight loss, weight loss led ...

A couple of Sundays ago, we held a party for my parents who recently celebrated 70 years of marriage.  SEVENTY years....let that sink in for a minute.  Here's their story.  Enjoy! Seventy years ago, two “kids” fell in love and were married, after meeting at an after church gathering.   As the story of the wedding day goes, the Preacher had to be called in from the field where he had been working, to perform the ceremony.   Now some of us wouldn ’t want the one officiating at our wedding to be wearing his dirty overalls while marrying us.   But these two crazy 18 year olds didn ’t mind.   They were in love and that ’s all that mattered! I ’m sure they had their dreams, their visions of what their life would be like.   I ’m also sure they differed greatly from what brides and grooms of today might be dreaming of.   The world 70 years ago was a vastly different place.   It was the era of the Cold War.   Truman was Presiden...