And the Winner Is. . .

And the winner of the Pilates ring is. . . Ann . Congratulations. I will be having another giveaway soon. This time I'm giving away a food journal. Watch for it. Ann please send me your contact information so I can mail the Pilates Ring to you ASAP.

Today Is the Final Day

Today is the final to enter this giveaway. The winner will be announced tomorrow. Thanks for entering and for your support.

America's Nutrition sent me two Pilates rings—one for me and one to giveaway. Pilates rings are great resistance training tools. The one I'm giving away comes with a workout chart. I love these things. If you would like a chance to win this terrific prize here's how you can get three entries:

1. Become a follower of this blog and leave a comment that you did.

2. Go to America's Nutrition's site look around for at least five minutes and then come back and leave a comment about what you thought.

3. Leave a comment explaining why you'd like to win this prize.

Do any one or all three—but at least one comment will be required for entry. Thanks.

This giveaway will run from July 26 through July 30. The winner will be announced on Saturday, July 31. The winner will be determined in a random drawing.

I'm looking forward to your entries. I will include a link to this giveaway daily through Friday. Good luck!

Remembering Dreams – A Beginner's Guide to Dream Recall

Remembering Dreams – A Beginner's Guide to Dream Recall

Spooky Action at a Distance

by Joel W.

Strange day—to say the least. I've been very good about exercising. I'm still struggling with the diet. I bought a food journal I intend to start using next week. I think that will help.

I have no idea what's going on at my job—if I'll even have one. I pray that God will help me make my life into what I dream it can be. I'm still working on the law of attraction and trying my best to employ "spooky action at a distance" as Einstein called it. Quantum mechanics—a vanguard of physics where science and philosophy merge, according to Science Daily—says that an entangled pair of atoms can have an effect on one another a few feet away, across a room, and even at a distance light years away. I think that's how prayer works.

I have been working hard to understand how science and philosophy merge. That's part of my research into the Secret. Some days I'm more clear than others. Some days I'm lost. Anyway, I'm praying for the absolute best outcome.

Pilates Ring Giveaway
Once again, I want to plug my giveaway: Pilates Ring Giveaway. A Pilates ring is an excellent exercise tool. It provides resistance for chest, thigh, and abs exercise. It's especially good for those darn flabby inner thighs. All you need to do is leave a comment to be entered for a random drawing. It's a nice prize at about a $25 value. You can get additional entries by following by blog and visiting America's Nutrition's website.  Thanks.

Everybody's Clock Gets Punched—Sooner or Later

Today, I feel kind of blah. I'm doing well with the exercise. As usual, my diet could be better—but it isn't terrible. I mean I haven't eaten a whole pie by myself. It's just one of those days, I guess.

Or maybe I'm just questioning life. My nephew's girlfriend's grandmother—I hope you can follow that—was tragically killed in a car accident this past Friday. The story is really a sad one. And the outcome is the grandfather is now left lost and alone. He's 78. My heart bleeds for him. I have cried for him. They were married for 59 years. Even though I didn't know these folks very well, this tragedy has had major effect on me. Life is so fragile. We're here one minute—squashed like bugs the next.

So I'm not left wondering what it's all about, but wondering why we don't make the most of the time we have? Everybody's clock gets punched—sooner or later. Armed with this information, I should be more than willing to eat right, get fit, and live the life I want. And I am doing better. But I'm also taken back to when I quoted Bill Murray's Groundhog Day character when he said, "What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today." Why is it so hard to do the things I need to do to make my life what I want it to be?

OK. I have another movie quote. This one is from The Answer Man: "The truth is, you're always doing what you want. Nobody makes you do anything." So my truth is that I'm not doing the things I could be doing because I'm doing what I want right now: eating the wrong things and avoiding the truth. Because there's always tomorrow, right?

I don't intend this post to be doom and gloom. It's supposed to make me realize that if I really want to lose weight, it's up to me to do it.

Don't forget about my giveaway: Pilates Ring Giveaway. It really is a cool prize. At least, I think so.

Pilates Ring Giveaway

America's Nutrition sent me two Pilates rings—one for me and one to giveaway. Pilates rings are great resistance training tools. The one I'm giving away comes with a workout chart. I love these things. If you would like a chance to win this terrific prize here's how you can get three entries:

1. Become a follower of this blog and leave a comment that you did.

2. Go to America's Nutrition's site look around for at least five minutes and then come back and leave a comment about what you thought.

3. Leave a comment explaining why you'd like to win this prize.

Do any one or all three—but at least one comment will be required for entry. Thanks.

This giveaway will run from July 26 through July 30. The winner will be announced on Saturday, July 31. The winner will be determined in a random drawing.

I'm looking forward to your entries. I will include a link to this giveaway daily through Friday. Good luck!

Short Update

The exercise is going well. I'm glad to be back in the gym. I met with a personal trainer, and he gave me two workouts to do—one for M-W-F and one for T-Th. I think the workouts are going to be fun. The machines at this gym are very smooth. Some are so smooth, it doesn't seem like exercise. I've worked out nine times now.

The eating is OK. Not as good as it was. Seems like if I'm OK in one area, I'm not OK in another. But the eating is as OK as it's going to get for right now.

So, sorry I don't have a lot to say today. I'll catch up once I can sit down and really think about creating a good post.

Hope and Bucket Lists

I have a little tree on my front stoop that I got from the Arbor Foundation. I'm trying to get it to grow. Sometimes I think it died. It has made it through some tough times. It has made it when I thought hope was lost. Sometimes it looks pretty rough. But I refuse to give up on it. That's the way I'm thinking about my health and fitness plan. I refuse to give up on it.

Well, I made it to the gym four times this week. I'm tracking my exercise on the Daily Mile. The eating is getting better. I'm trying to do as much as I can to health and fitness in the front of my mind. So I'm trying to find as people as possible who have made them a part of their lifestyle. So if you're on Facebook, let me know.

I decide to create a bucket list. Here's what I have so far.

1. Finally get down to 144 pounds

2. Learn Spanish

3. Learn to play the guitar

4. Be a billionaire (I know this should be before learning Spanish, but what the hey)

5. Have a beach house (See I had to have the money first)

6. Devote my time to charity (Once again, it's all about the money)

7. Write about only what I want to write about.

There's more to come later. But I think that's a good start.

I Am Thankful to be Here to Try Again

Each day I try to find a reason to smile. Today, I'm thankful that I'm working toward meeting my goals—and that makes me smile. I intend to be healthy.

I did 30 minutes on an elliptical this morning. Not too bad. I still need to meet with the personal trainer. And I have to set up physical therapy for my shoulder. So I'll do that today.

I hope to have a giveaway soon. I'll let you know as I know more.

Enjoy Your Day

Too funny not to share. Have a wonderful day. 

So  after landing my  new job as a Wal-Mart  greeter, A good find for many retirees, I lasted less than a day... About two hours   into my first day on the job a very loud, Unattractive, mean-acting woman  walked  into the store with her two kids, yelling  obscenities at them all the  way through the  entrance. I said pleasantly,  'Good morning  and welcome to Wal-Mart. Nice children you have  there.  Are they twins?' The ugly woman  stopped  yelling long enough to say, 'Hell  no, they ain't   twins. The oldest one's  9, and the other one's 7. Why the hell would you  think  they're twins? Are you blind, or  stupid?' So I replied, 'I'm neither blind nor   stupid, Ma'am, I just  couldn't believe  someone slept with you twice.  Have a good day  and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart.' My  supervisor said I  probably wasn't cut out for  this line of work.

I Did It

First day back in the gym. So I decided to take it slow—you know, get accustomed to working out again. So today I did 30 minutes on the treadmill. I avoided the elliptical because my shoulder hurts like the dickens. Anyway, I'll catch with a personal trainer in the next week or so to get a workout program together. I would like to wait a week so the shoulder can heal a little.

Diet still OK. I'm still avoiding sugar and doing pretty well—I could be doing better. But now that I'm back to working out, I think the eating will get in line, too. Yes, I'm confident that it will.

Not much else to say right now. I may have more later.

I Finally Did It

Well, I joined a gym. I start working out tomorrow morning. In few days a personal trainer will call me to set up an appointment so I can get started really getting fit again. I'm so glad I did it. I've been struggling with myself about it. I don't know why it took me so long to get the courage to just go. It will be tough to get myself into the habit, but I can do it. I have no fear.

Having no fear is a key to a lot of things—or maybe it's doing something difficult in spite of fear and pushing it to the side and saying: I will do this. So that's where I am. I think my posts will get better over the next few weeks. Stay turned.

Sound Advice from a Filmaker

Today I noticed that I have 333 followers. 333 is a very special number to me. It involves a dream in which God was talking to me. Laugh if you wish. But it's held a place in my mind, heart, and soul ever since.

I've been studying people who are successful. Today I watched a bio of George Lucas. In it he said: "If you can't imagine it, you'll never do it. And if you can't imagine yourself successful, you never will be." Sound advice for almost anything from career to weight loss. Don't you think?

How do imagine yourself? Successful? Or do you think from the moment you begin a weight loss program that you will fail before you meet your goal?

Need to Knuckle Down

I gotta get serious.

My Front Yard

 My little flower garden. It keeps me happy and busy.