My girls made me this sign. I hung it up in front of my treadmill to keep me motivated.
Small Gifts. I Love It!

Great Website

Got a great tip from OCReggie on twitter today. Took an old TV/VCR combo to a Goodwill and got a $10 gift card for Starbucks in return. OCReggie directed me to this site
http://ocdeals.freedomblogging.com/
OCDeals gives Freebies, deals and discounts from and for Orange County shoppers. I'll be visiting this page often and just wanted to share it.

Mom Sets Goal to Run 5 k

Being of a certain age I have decided to run my first 5k.
That's my BIG GOAL
Couch to 5k in 12 weeks. Maybe, a little more then 12 weeks.

GOAL: Finish the 5k in 36 to 45 minutes. To do this I need to keep a pace of 4 to 5 miles an hour. Pretty sure this goal is obtainable.
WHY: Why am I doing this?
~To push myself
~Get out of my comfort zone
~Be an example for my kids(set goals and reach them.)
~Get healthy

Websites I've found helpful so far:
Couch to 5k in 12 weeksThis site gives you tips starting from all different fitness levels. Just follow the links.

It's almost May. May is known as the National Runners Month. Good month to get started. See you at the finish line. :)

Favorite Photo Friday

“Life is too deep for words, so don't try to describe it, just live it.”
C.S. Lewis

The Unhappy Mama Duck

I've had this conversation with Mom's many times. Is it Ok to correct other peoples children? Friends have told me, absolutely not. "I'll take care of my own." But what if a child is doing something mean, hurtful or illegal and NO Mom steps up to the plate to correct that child? Guess what? There's been times I've felt obligated. Just sitting back and watching isn't an option for me. Especially if something or someone is being hurt by the actions. I'm willing to take the heat.

It's a beautiful Spring day at the park. The sun is warm and their is a cool breeze. Lots of families enjoying the day. Turtles sunning, ducks swimming, kids playing on the play set and skipping rocks in the pond.

A group of kids gather by the water. One by one they start picking up rocks and throwing them at the ducks. I look around to see if any parents are heading in the direction of the children but I don't see any. I watch and wait. The mentality is getting worse. More kids pick up rocks and throw them at ducks and baby ducklings. Some kids are just skipping rocks. I can't wait any longer for someone else to stop this. As I head that way a rock hits a baby duckling. The duckling sinks for just a second. The little boy cheers like he just threw a strike. Other children, caught up with the excitement, cheer also. Still no parents come. There's a group of 12 to 15 kids now ages 4 to 11. A little sick to my stomach at this point. They aren't my kids but I can't stand back and watch this.

It doesn't take much to get them to stop.
Simple words.
"The ducks are living creatures, please don't throw rocks at them, would you like rocks thrown at you?"
A boy says "Oh? No I wouldn't want that" as if he hadn't thought of it in that way. The younger children need a little more persuading. I'm not mean. I believe the children only need a little bit of guidance. Kids don't always realize what they are doing is wrong. They need to be guided and taught. Maybe, the Mom's were somewhere close by but didn't see what was happening. I can't imagine ANY Mama thinking it was Ok for their children to through rocks at baby ducklings. They way I look at it. These kids were lucky they got me to correct them.
That MAMA DUCK didn't look to happy! She was ready to Take care of her own.

Precious Life

Recently, a little Brownie Girl came to my door. She was collecting donations for the Precious Life Shelter. I never heard of it. So, I did a little research.
Precious Life has a shelter and thrift shop. The Precious Life Shelter organization helps women that are pregnant, have no where to go, and are seeking to have their children in a safe and healthy environment. This organization then provides programs and services for these Moms to help them develop self worth and to become self reliant.

Do you like to thrift shop? Well Precious Life Thrift Shop is a fun one to visit. Two of my daughters and I went and checked it out. After speaking to some of the volunteers I learned that the shelter was receiving so many wonderful donations that they created a thrift shop with the overflow. The thrift shops proceeds in return go to help the women and the shelter.

Are you looking for a deal and want to help a good cause? The thrift shop has Super Saturday "Blow Out" the 2nd Saturday of each month. Doors Open from 8:00am to 3:00pm.

The shelter does accept volunteers and will be holding an orientation for volunteers on Wednesday May 12th from 10:00am to 6:00pm.

The Thrift Shop is always in need of volunteers and donations are accepted.
Precious Life Thrift and Gift shop is located at
3622 Florista Street
Los Alamitos, CA