Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother...

These are my parents!

I look like my mom, and I act like my dad...

I didn't realize how true this statement was until I saw this picture! LOL

... I also have my dad's health. Thanks Dad. . .

My dad passed away 5 1/2 years ago, and recently my mom decided it was time to move to independent living at Legacy Retirement Village. . . She's almost 93 . . . and got tired of cleaning the house and PULLING WEEDS! That woman's a beast!

She is also the one who taught me how to clean.

And I'm not saying "clean" but "CLEAN".

It wasn't done right until the CORNERS were clean!

UGH!

So Yesterday, my sister Pam and I went up and finished cleaning the house to get it on the market to sell. By finish up, I mean the top floor. My sister Susan and her husband cleaned the bottom floor and garage.

The Top Floor . . . FOR SEVEN - 7 - SEVEN HOURS!

My name is Erlyn . . . and Scrubbing is my hobby.

Thanks Mom . . .

While I was scrubbing the tub I reflected on the blessing that my dad left my mom. He worked hard to pay off their house in 15 years instead of the 30 years on their mortgage.

He contemplated doing a reverse mortgage, but decided against it.

And now I was cleaning this very same house that I grew up in, and he paid off early, so that my mom could live the rest of her life in security, comfort, having meals prepared, housekeeping and maintenance taken care of, and people around her that lived in her generation and can talk about WWII and know how it FEELS to have gone through that, have kids the same age, and someone to check on her daily.

I didn't have to worry about my mom anymore being broke into (she always kept her back door unlocked) and being harmed, or falling down the stairs and no one there to help her. 

As I reflected on this blessing that my dad provided for my mom, I just breathed a "Thanks Dad" as I felt him near.

Parents are a blessing in our lives . . .

Whether or not we get along 24/7. . . 

And if you're a crappy parent, make things right... NOW.

I didn't always get along with my dad. Our personalities were too similar. But in his later years, every time he saw me he told me how grateful he was that I came into his family. (I'm a bonus baby). He made sure that I knew that he loved me, and told me how awesome I was. That made me feel good after so many years of not getting along with each other.

I think it was having kids that put such a stress on our family. After I married and moved out, my parents got along great. So if you're in this boat, hang in there. AND forgive each other. I know that there was a lot of forgiveness on both my parent's sides. It helped make my siblings and my adult lives more stable, and a great example of marriage for all of us.

My parent's were married almost 70 years when my dad passed. What an achievement!

Because of time constraints, and an aching body, I counted scrubbing floors, cupboards, cabinets, bathrooms and the kitchen as a good replacement for my yoga.

. . . except I don't hurt like this after yoga . . .

I could hardly wait to get home and take a bath! Not only to get clean, but to relax my muscles!!! Yay Epsom Salts!

One could say that I felt as much joy as this!

I think that picture pretty much explains things!

Today I actually got up at 9am! instead of noon to 2pm that I was planning on! WHAAAAT????

That is so odd! But I can say that I have been drinking the Shakeology every day. Again, I think that there is something to this Shake. . .

I was able to get up this morning, earlier than expected, and do my yoga and actually MOVE! even though I woke up stiff!

I am going to have my Shakeology after I write this blog, and then I'm going to clean my OWN house! 

Heaven only knows Mom's house smells way better than my own! So I'm going to take the training my mom gave me on cleaning and apply it here! FINALLY!

My hubster is hopeful, and says he'll believe it when he sees it. Smart Alek!

(He usually proves me wrong... I hope he's not right today)

So to conclude, I just want to post a few pictures that I took with my faithful selfie-stick! Pam and I took my Mom down to Saint George, Utah last summer for a trip to Tuachan to see the shows, a drive to Virgin City to see where Mom's Great-Grandfather, Alexander Wright, helped settle the Cotton Mission with the Mormon Pioneers, and to happen upon the greatest wood-fired pizza! YUM! We had a wonderful time with my mom and am so grateful we took the opportunity to spend that time with her! This summer would have been too late. The trip would just be too much for her to handle right now.

Pam, Mom and I at Tuachan, playing with the selfie stick!

Being "Sexy" at Tuachan

Whoops! I found the "fish-eye" lens! Let the FUN Begin!

I am having WAY too much fun! We started making faces in this
fish-eye lens, and then got the kids sitting in front of us involved.
.... Selfie Sticks can reach through crowds y'all!!!

Zions Canyon I believe...???

We found the wood-fired pizza on the side of the road. Since we were
on an adventure, Pam yells out from the back seat,
"Go see what that is!" as we drove past.U-turns are
in my repertoire' so we headed back! So glad we did!

Mom with PIZZA!!!

In Virgin City, mom pointing to her grandfathers name
 "William Walters Wright" on a city monument.

Close-up of Mom pointing to her grandfathers name

Mom thought this was the home where her
great Grandfather might
have lived in Virgin City, Utah.

Mom and I at the Virgin City Cemetary at the grave of
Alexander Wright
a Mormon Pioneer
and the first LDS missionary to Scotland.
Companion of Elder Mulliner

I am so grateful for my parents!

They gave me life, they gave me a great heritage of which I am proud to be a descendant of.

But most of all, they gave me Love.

Thanks Mom and Dad. You are AWESOME!

and I love you!

Alice Taylor Groneman and Earl Rose Groneman Jr.

I hope you take this day to be grateful for your parents and your family. There is good in all people. Sometimes we just need to look a little bit deeper, be a little more grateful, and express our love first. It makes miracles happen. Trust me on this. The blog post is long enough.

I am off to my Shakeology and scrubbing my own house!

Here's what I'm making today!

Shakeology of the Day:

in a blender add:

8-12 oz cold water or *almond milk

1 scoop Chocolate Vegan Shakeology

1 small or 1/2 large banana

1/2 tsp almond flavor

1/2 tsp Cinnamon (helps with inflammation)

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1-2 cups cubed Ice

Blend until Ice is slushy and you have a "shake" :)

*1 yellow

1 purple

1 red

Drink to your health!

**** if you would like to try or buy shakeology, you can go to my website, http://www.shakeology.com/en_US/?sn=fibrocoach

Have a great day! -Erlyn

Fibromyalgia, Shakeology, and Yoga With A Selfie Stick!

Fibro decided to rear it's ugly head this morning. Can I just tell you how excited I was to not be able to roll over? I was able to reach for my phone though and snap this lovely picture! I tell ya, this blog will show me in all my glory! LOL. Just look at that smile on my face ready to jump up and take on the day! Go Get Em Tiger! Rawr!....oh wait, that's the pajamas. . . and can I just add here that my sheets haven't been changed for 3 weeks because I'm too darn tired when it's time to go into the room and do the job! Thank goodness the hubsters cookie crumbs brush off! My actual goal today is to change those sheets! If I get that done, it's a great day!... and if I don't maybe I can put the roomba on the bed???

It only took me an hour and 15 minutes of laying on my heating pad to be able to get out of bed this morning. That's pretty good on a day like this. But I'll be honest here. What really got me out of bed today (after contemplating sitting in a hot tub over exercising) was the promise that I made to myself. I promised that if I was going to start this journey with Beachbody, that I would
1. Coach others and be honest with my journey.
2. Give it my best every day. Every. Stinkin'. Day.
3. Not drink any more soda..... Bye Bye Diet Coke!!! Hello Infused Water! 96 oz. a day!
4. Eat Clean and follow the Beach Body eating plan.
5. Drink Shakeology every day.
6. Exercise... Every. Stinkin'. Day. (except Sunday. Bodies, minds and spirits need rest y'all)
6. Give the program 3 months. Every day - for three months. EVERY. DAY.
7. I was going to put not just my heart in the game, but my head also. I am going to have a POSITIVE ATTITUDE DURING THE DIFFICULT DAYS.

Soooo... I dragged my saggy, tired butt out of bed this morning and put on my exercise clothes. Had an awesome idea that I should document today with my awesome selfie stick... did I say it's awesome?... then grabbed a bottled water, my equipment, and dreaded the energy that it would take to sit down on the mat to start my yoga. But sit down I did, and here's proof. Please notice that I still have that smile of extreme excitement on my face at this time. OH! and the wide open eyes ready to fight the day. Yeah baby! (Sarcasm in this blog included free of charge!)

I look forward to the day that these arms are a little smaller...
and the roll around the middle would be a nice delete also....

I managed a slight smile for this one as I give a military thumbs
up for "Let's Fly"! 

 I turned on Beach Body 3 Week Yoga Retreat that comes with the Plan when you sign up (They have a lot of different exercise programs to choose from). Comment or Message Me to sign up!  The first words out of the Yoga Trainer's mouth this morning were that I had made it to Day 4 (yay Me!) and that we were going to start with "Mountain Pose". That's a standing pose. :/ . I was SOOOOO happy! Now I could stand up again! Needless to say by the time that I got back up, I had to start the session over. I was too stiff to just jump up and go! But start over I did, and I CRUSHED THE SESSION. Oh yeah.

After the standing "flows" were over, they did some ground work and I was able to grab my camera again. It's easier to balance it on the floor. I think one reason that I like Yoga is because you can close your eyes while exercising. That sounds funny, but for a person with Chronic Illness, this is an awesome thing. To just calm your mind and your breathing while being engaged and making your body strong. It helps to conserve "spoons". (If you don't know what the Spoon Theory is, check it out!)

Back on the floor,
breathing and conserving
spoons!

Grab the strap because I'm too
stiff to do a lot of the poses.
The strap makes it possible!

Using the strap to help me in the pose to
reach out and lean out over my leg.
This is how far I can bend. Not much!

The 3 Week Yoga Retreat Sessions are 30 minutes each. Surprisingly today's session ended faster than I had expected! And I could MOVE after the session. 

I got up and fixed myself my VEGAN Chocolate Shakeology (Yes, they have vegan, which is great if you have gluten intolerance like me or are Celiac, Lactose Intolerant,  or are following a Vegan diet. There are four flavors to choose from - Chocolate, Tropical Strawberry, Vanilla or Cafe Latte). 

LOOK! IT'S A REAL SMILE AT THE END OF THE EXERCISE SESSION! AND NUTRITION THAT IS ABSORB-ABLE AFTER!

My Shakeology Recipe for today to help with my inflamation

12 oz water in a blender jar (can use 8oz but I like mine a little watered down!)
1 cup ice
1 scoop Vegan Chocolate Shakeology
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Blend or shake and then drink to your health!

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