Yes, Andie, Old Albert certainly is quotable. Smiles. Lilo, I agree. This quote reminds me of a great art teacher of mine. He said to be a good artist the most important thing to practice is to see. Similar concept. Facts are facts until you do something with them. I have a real fondness for Albert stemming from some of my earliest memories. I've told this story here but I think it was probably a decade ago, so I'll retell. Smiles. When I was 3 we lived in one of these little cottages next to a farm house where the owner lived. It was right on Route 1 just outside of Princeton and was on a large farm with lots of acreage. Everyday in the morning while my baby sister was napping I would go outside in the yard to play. Every day this older man would walk slowly by. He fascinated me with his long black coat and wild hair and a mustache much bigger than my fathers. At that age I was an annoyingly happy little person and would always wave at him and say hi, hi. He very nicely would look over at me, give a little nodding smile and a small wave as he continued on his walk. Everyone in the area knew Albert Einstein took these long walks and the locals were careful not to disturb him. LOL..Apparently he got a lot of attention at the University and chose to do his walking outside of town. It was quite rural only a half mile from the center of the University and for miles around. We were about a mile and a half from the University. I was very faithful about waiting for him to pass by. The nice old guy with the wild hair.

Hellloooo Healthy Peeps! My exercise routine went to hell in the proverbial handbasket. DH and I bought a business in NH (we live in MA) and agreed to work at another location up there, as well as our jobs that we have here during the week. Add a concussed teenager who needs PT two times a week and the holidays..it has been ugly over here. The good news is that my weekend gig is busy and I haven't time to over eat. I do miss Crossfit a lot. In my new job I make Waffles and burned my hand pretty badly on some caramelized sugar. I was afraid that it would keep me from the gym, but it isn't as tight as I thought it would be, so I totally could have gone there this morning. I'm just so freaking TIRED! So I decided to just be kind to myself and take it slow. BIL told me that some people were asking for me which is nice. Someone on FB posted this post from Michael Moore, who I dont' always agree with, but it has stuck with me this week and I thought I'd throw it out there for you all..... I am now in Week 42 of my walks. Each day, 30 minutes, that's it. Thousands of you have joined me since that Sunday night on March 18 when, as a joke, I said I was going for a walk. I had read that morning in the paper that there were now more people in the U.S. on anti\-depressants than those who go to the movies. I tweeted out that maybe that's the problem \-\- perhaps if people got out and went to the movies more they might feel better. This unleashed a lively conversation about mood\-aletering drugs, the lousy movies these days in theaters, the rip\-off prices for 3D films, etc. Finally, someone wrote: "Sometimes I think what I need is just a brisk walk." I tweeted, "Hey, there's an idea! I'm putting my shoes on right now." I went out and came back home after 30 minutes \-\- and a few hundred of you had amazingly joined me where you live. So I went walking the next night, probably out of some sort of obligation because so many had written to say "please let's do it again tonight!" So I did. And the night after that. By the end of the week it was hard to determine how many thousands were now going out with me on these "virtual walks" in hundreds of cities and towns, but it had taken off like a rocket and so we all went walking every night from that point on. Now it's 250 days later. What a simple, great idea that person had! Some have asked, "Why are we walking?" "What's the cause?" There is no cause other than to go for a walk. We do it just because it feels good. We do it because we can. We do it because it's free and it takes no time. All you need to know is how to put one foot in front of the other (or, for the disabled who've joined in, by any means necessary). It's the perfect slacker/schlub activity. I am often asked "How much weight have you lost from all this walking?" For a while I didn't understand the question. I mean, why would I want to lose anything? I have enough trouble finding my keys! Then I got it \-\- skinny people (1/3 of the country) want us, the majority, to be like them. That's so nice of them. But the truth is, exercise does not work, diets do not work, feeling crummy does not work. Nothing works. My advice: Quit trying to be something you're not, be happy with the life you've been given, and just go for a pleasant walk outside. With me. Wherever you are. Get off the treadmill, stop drinking diet Coke, throw out all the rules. It's all a scam and it conspires to keep you miserable. If it says "low\-fat" or "sugar\-free" or "just 100 calories!" throw it out. Remember, one of the main tenets of capitalism is to have the consumer filled with fear, insecurity, envy and unhappiness so that we can spend, spend, spend our way out of it and, dammit, just feel better for a little while. But we don't, do we? The path to happiness \- and deep down, we all know this \-\- is created by love, and being kind to oneself, sharing a sense of community with others, becoming a participant instead of a spectator, and being in motion. Moving. Moving around all day. Lifting things, even if it's yourself. Going for a walk every day will change your thinking and have a ripple effect. You'll find yourself only eating when you're truly hungry. And if you're not hungry, go clean your room, or have sex, or call a friend on the phone. Without knowing it, you'll starting eating like the French (there is no French word for "fast\-food") \-\- and you will feel better. You do not feel better admonishing yourself or beating yourself up or setting up a bunch of unrealistic rules and goals with all the do's and dont's that are just begging to be broken. You wanna know something? I eat ice cream every friggin' day. I drink a regular Coke every single day. I put butter on things. But I also walk every day. Some days now, I walk twice. And now I've started to do some push\-ups and lifting stuff. It's building muscle, and in doing so, has created an extra furnace to burn stuff and create energy. Weird! That, in turn, makes me sleep 7\-8 hours a night which is another game\-changer. And all the walking and lifting makes me thirsty, so that makes me drink more water \-\- another huge plus! So, you can see from the photo of me up in the box that something has changed. I have no idea how much weight I've lost and I don't care. I don't care about that or diets or home gym equipment or rules about what I can or cannot eat or anything other than making sure I go on my walk today. That's it. That's the big secret. It costs nothing. I feel great. I can see my feet! There they are! Hello, feet! Wanna go for a walk? The feet say YES! Ask yours right now. And if you want, join me. But do NOT go on that walk with me if you are doing so to "get fit", "be healthy", or "lose weight". You are fine just the way you are. Only walk outside with me right now because you know it might just feel good, because it's a beautiful day, or someone is joining in with you, the fresh air is invigorating, you have to drive down to the drug store but you realize you can walk there, or simply because it's just nice to be alive for one more day. Walk to walk and nothing else \-\- and the other stuff will take care of itself. I'm heading outside in an hour. Join me. And let me know how it went! 18,068 Anyway, I'm going for a walk on the beach tomorrow. Even though I haven't set my business up in Quickbooks, even though I have a billion things to do. I'm aiming to get 8 hours sleep a night this week (without the "monkey brain" at 3 AM worrying about the proofing of a waffle or whether we have an employee or not) Beth P.

I just finished. I put the step counter on my shoe instead of waist and counted steps to make sure it was fairly accurate. Shoe seems to be better than waist for me- guess my budding fat roll gets in the way of it measuring, LOL. I just did 1,200 steps marching in place, doing side steps, and using the bottom step of the stairs. Took about 15-20 minutes. Skipped the treadmill because my legs were not happy but I wasn't going to completely skip doing anything. I also had oatmeal for a late lunch- that should count for something! I have a coffee bean grinder that I use to crush pecans. I pulverized the dry oatmeal and some apple chip. Mixed them together and added some cinnamon. It wasn't great but I ate a good size bowl without gagging. Janie

I'm just beginning to exercise for real again after all the problems associated with my chemotherapy for the lymphoma diagnosed in July. Have my "ok" from the doctor and have an appointment next Wednesday for an evaluation at the fitness center. I'm anxious to start, but want to be careful not to aggravate any old injuries that have healed while I've been a couch potato. I've been walking the dog about 15 minutes twice a day for the last several days. Moni--please keep these posts going, I'm sure it will help my motivation as soon as I get started. :)