:)

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Well, well, well......

Well, here it is a year and ten days later and my after picture is much the same as my before picture.  I fell far short of my goal.  Of the 365 hours that I had planned to log in "Me Time", I only logged 80.  And out of the 365 Exercise hours I'd planned, I only logged 91.  I feel certain that had I come through, I'd have a much different picture to show you today.  That's the bad news, but there is a bit of good news to report.  First of all, I learned something.  I learned that I need to set a more attainable goal  for myself.  I found that 2 hours a day were much harder to come by than I thought they were going to be.  I had myself rather overwhelmed by the end of the first week.  I think I'd have been better off had I set a goal of 1 hour of exercise 3 days a week, or of 15 minutes every day.   Had I been more consistant in my hour per day I'd be better off today.  For instance, had I not just exercised 1 hour every day for several days and then nothing for weeks, but rather spread it out evenly I'd be more fit today.  So what do I do now?  Throw in the towel and count myself beaten?  I think not!  I believe it's time to switch it up a bit.  The good news is that I did manage to exercise 91 hours which averages out to be 14.958 minutes per day.  Other good news......I'm participating in a "Biggest Loser" challenge with my sister, my brother-in-law and some of their friends.  And guess what.... I've been losing weight!  Look for more about that in a future post.  Also, Bountiful Baskets ( http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/ ) is helping me to eat healthier.  More about BB in a future post as well.  And one more thing, we have been fortunate enough to aquire a plot in the neighborhood community garden.  That equals more exercise and healthy eats.  Watch for updates.

As for the "Me Time", there's good news there as well.  I have started painting again and I'm loving it.  I'm slowly working on starting an ETSY shop to sell some of my creations.  I'll let you know when I have it up and running.  I've also been attending the temple about twice a month which makes for some very rejuvinating me time.  And since my old camera had been dropped about a hundred too many times, Mark gave me a fun new camera for my birthday.  I'm having a blast with it, and it makes for some good bird watching as my little Lazuli Buntings have returned.  Oh, and I've been teaching Heather to sew.  Great mother daughter time!

Well, I must be about other business now.  There's a pile of work waiting for me in the lab.  You can expect a post in the very near future with my goals and plan of attack for the coming year.  I think I've made some good modifications which will lead to better results.  I'm out of time for now, but here are few pics taken with my new camera and I promise to post a current photo of myself with the next post.  I'd do it now, but I'm enjoying a frump day today.  Like I said before, I look much the same as I did a year ago.

See why I love these cute little birds?

Atop the Boise temple

A very strange bird at the feeder.  (Courtesy of Toby's camerajacking.)

Heather putting the finishing touches on her very cute skirt.

Mark turning the dirt with Sarah overseeing the work.

View from the garden. (photo courtesy of Sarah)