And then she fell…and I caught it.?? :)?? “It” not “her” – bad mommy.

I made a commitment to self that when school started I would get up early and go walking.?? It is WAY too early to “brag” but I thought I would list all the benefits to this even with only doing it for just over a week.

*?? I get to “meet God” on the mountain every morning.?? I walk about 3.25 miles and my halfway point is at the mountain (okay small mountain but still it’s a tough walk) where the water tower is.?? I listen to praise music on my IPod and just get to spend some really good morning time in prayer and worship.?? AWESOME.

*?? It energizes me for my day and gives me the stamina I need to school two rambunctious little boys.?? I am dedicating a full 3 hours of DIRECT instruction with the boys and trust me – that can be energy sapping like you wouldn’t believe!

*?? Getting school done by lunch time (at least my teaching part) means I have more afternoon time for chores and business.

*?? I need to lose a significant amount of weight and this will REALLY help.

*?? My appetite has decreased.

*?? Exercise kicks in my happy hormones.?? I feel downright joy filled when I am walking in the early morning.

*?? I am sleeping better.?? Because I am getting up between 6:00 AM and 6:30 AM (NOT my normal schedule), I am pretty exhausted by 9:00 PM and it’s hard to stay up until 10:00 PM.?? Thus…I am falling asleep fast and sleeping deeper.

*?? I have been having a lot of water retention issues lately – very swollen hands all summer.?? The morning walks are getting rid of my retention which is odd because usually walks make my retention worse – at least in my hands.?? I am carrying a cell phone in one hand and water bottle in the other so my hands won’t swell as much and that helps.

*?? My feet aren’t hurting me as bad.?? Makes me wonder if my achy feet issues could be tied to the swelling issues???? Hmmmmm…..?? Do my feet hurt worse to walk on when I am retaining water??? Not sure they are related at all but thought it an interesting coincidence.

*?? I want to get back into jogging so I am inching towards it.?? I am actually the slowest walker and jogger in the world.?? I am TRYING to walk fast but I don’t have a very long stride.?? In fact, I challenged a friend of mine to a power walk in a parking lot one day and she smoked me so bad I had to run to TRY to catch up to her.?? I am not kidding about this – there were WITNESSES – they can testify to this.?? 🙂

*?? I get to watch the way that the sun lights up everything in the morning (and photographers really enjoy watching light).

*?? I get to see some interesting stuff.?? This morning I saw a dead scorpian that was no less than six inches long.?? It was gigantic.?? I also saw a mom walking with her toddler and dog this week and the dog was carrying the child’s stuffed animal in her mouth.?? LOL.?? Okay – now that could be one good reason to invest in a large furry creature.?? Wonder if a great dane could just carry Ty for me hee hee????? When I used to walk four miles a day when Tanner was a baby, we use to see a gila monster on the mountain a lot of mornings.?? Haven’t seen him yet.???? (If you are not from AZ, gila monster’s are very poisonous.?? If they bite you, they lock their jaw down and just keep pumping venom.?? Aimee didn’t know this and picked one up out of a bucket to show Dad what a pretty color pink it was.?? Dad rescued it from her before she got bit.?? Dusty got bit by a rattlesnake under the trash can once but it only grazed him so he just had minor swelling.?? I hate snakes.)

If you live in my neighborhood and see me, don’t wave okay.?? Hee hee.?? I am wearing no makeup, rolled out of bed, am singing so loud that passerbys can likely hear, and wearing a way oversized tinkerbell t-shirt that I don’t want to wash every day.???? I pretend to be invisible.?? 🙂

Sidenote:?? I would, however, love to spy on one of Jodi’s jogs because I hear she worships and sings all the way and I would really enjoy seeing that LOL.?? 🙂