Yey! Comments!!

I want to thank all the readers who left comments today - Foxtrotters, Breast Friends, Lillysnotepad, and Catherine! Reading your comments really does help, especially since I started beating myself up (just today) for skimping on training AGAIN this week.

Here's how the week has worked for me (so far): I didn't walk on Sunday. Then, I walked 1/2 mile on Monday, instead of resting - and although 1/2 mile is no where near the 3 I missed the day before, it is still SOMETHING. I didn't walk on Tuesday completely dismissing the 3 miles I was supposed to walk. Since I started the week by switching, I kept it up! I switched my Tuesday with my Wednesday, or tried to anyway. Then Wednesday showed up and Mother Nature squashed my plans with a thunderstorm - I'm on the fence as to whether (weather!) it counts against me or not. Then today, I had dance class, so instead of walking I had 1 hour of cardio as we danced our butts off for a full hour. So I'm switching my Thrusday with my Friday and planning to walk tomorrow - I'm going to try and pick up some neighbors along the way (?) - and try to complete at least 4 miles, anything less and I will be too behind for the walk I booked on Saturday.

Since my team isn't walking this week, and I am so very HORRIBLE about excercising on my own, I found an official training walk through the Participant Center Calendar. (You can find it under the participent center menu along the top of the 3-Day member site.) In making it so that I am obligated to walk, I RSVP'd to the training walk. My name is now on the list of attendees, so the world knows I am supposed to be there and if I don't show up, the world could end up knowing I didn't show up! So, even though these ladies are not my teammates, I am still obligated to them to show up and walk. Oh, and since I RSVP'd for the walk, the calendar automatically sent an email reminder so that I won't forget I RSVP'd. Which is a good thing, because I almost forgot (twice), so without the reminder sitting in my email with a star next to it, I'd never remember that I have something to do on Saturday morning other than sleeping the day away.

I am so glad the 3-Day trainers and coaches have enough experience to think of these things. I am so very horrible at excercising on my own, and now I know more than ever that I am not doing this alone - I have more than my team with me, I have the whole 3-Day community here! And, knowing that there is such a supportive community within this event - countrywide - has really made my less than complete training week!

Thank you for keeping me engaged!

Thanks for reading! ~ Deanna

My First Official Team Training Walk - 4 Miles!

Today, I met up with my team The Sisterhood of Pink Sneakers at Dellinger Park in Cartersville, GA to walk in my first official training walk. We walked the park's track - a 2 mile loop - twice. I am shocked at myself. Truly shocked. First, I have trouble sticking to excercising, as shown by the drop off of the workout reports I used to post on this blog. I haven't been posting anything about them because I haven't doing anything! And, even though I have been receiving the virtual training schedule and my husband has been bugging me about following it, I haven't been able to bring myself to complete a single thing until today......

And complete something I did! The full 4 miles! Yey me!

When I woke up this morning, I was completely prepared for having trouble with this 4 mile walk, thinking "4 miles is a lot to do without previous training" and "I will fail, I just know it." Again, setting myself up for failure and giving me the excuse for not doing it.

But, I made a committment to meet my team, and I made up my mind: I was going to walk as far as I could today even if I couldn't finish - because the worst thing that could happen was that I wouldn't finish. I convinced myself that not finishing isn't so bad - after all, it would give me a gauge as to how much more work I will have to put in to get myself up to snuff.

Then, what happened? I not only completed all 4 miles, but when I was done, I felt as if I could walk even more. Sure, my legs will hate me tomorrow for putting them through their paces today, but I need to have my butt kicked for not keeping up with training! Now, I am printing up this week's virtual training schedule and I am going to do my best to keep up with it - as I don't want my legs to hate me forever!!!

Thanks for reading! ~ Deanna

Welcome Kindle Readers!!!

For those of you that read my blog regularly, you probably know that I have been feeling a bit down because my donations have slowed down somewhat and I missed a training walk (or possibly two?). Over the past week, I have gotten some tremendous support from my team, and my motivation has returned. Now, I'm back to thinking about ways to get my donations back into a groove. Always keeping thoughts of donations in mind, I found something interesting while buying dance shoes on Amazon.com. I came across an ad for Kindle blogs.

Granted this ad was geared toward Kindle readers to subscribe to blogs, but as a writer of a blog, it sparked my interest. Maybe, just maybe, I could get my blog on Kindle....and open up a new world. I stumbled around on Amazon for a while and got myself to the page where I can add my blog to Kindle. When I started signing up, I thought I'd be able to stream it free of charge to readers, as all I wanted to do was open my blog up to a new audience. After all, I am not looking for a personal profit out of this endeavour, just some support while I walk my very first 60 miles for Susan G. Komen's 3-Day For The Cure! Apparently, I didn't have the option to set pricing. Instead, Amazon sets the price. Kindle readers get a free 14 day trial, and then after that a monthly charge of $1.99.

Did you just say Amazon charges $1.99/month to read this blog through Kindle, a blog that can be read free on the internet? Why would anyone pay for that? Are you crazy? YES I AM!!! Here's why: all proceeds deposited in my account from this blog are going to be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation! The way I figure it is that $1.99/month is less than $0.07 cents a day and donations will go to help breast cancer survivors, educators, and researchers to help treat those with breast cancer, educate people about how to detect breast cancer, and develop treatments to put an end to breast cancer FOREVER!!!!

It's a WIN-WIN situation: Adding this blog to Kindle opens my blog up to a new audience and my Kindle audience knows that they are contributing to the world leader in breast cancer funding!

If you are currently reading this blog from your Kindle, thank you for your support and welcome to my blog. It is good to have you here, I hope you stay for the long haul!

If you own a Kindle and are reading this on the web, please follow this link to my Kindle page on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003N2PWG4 By reading this on Kindle, you will help put an end to breast cancer!

If you don't own a Kindle and are reading this on the web, please feel free to keep reading and know that your support means a lot, so please leave a comment so that I know you are here!

Thank you for reading ~ Deanna

Motivation/Training.....

My motivation is waning. Outside of baking, my fundraising has hit a stand still, although there are team events planned in the future, they seem so far off and so unattainable. Along with the lack of donations, I missed the first training walk due to a pre-planned vacation, so I feel so behind and so lazy that I can't motivate myself to walk.

But, I find that writing about the accomplishments of our team, of myself, of my friends, in this blog is helping me to see that this is a PROCESS, not something that I need to accomplish all by myself and all at once. This blog reminded me that I have a TEAM - a team that plans training walks (next weekend), assists with fundraising events (future and past), and helps me climb the walls I may hit along the way - like the one I have hit this week - so willing to just say "I can't do this..." I am grateful for my team, and I don't know if I could accomplish this daunting task without their help.

I get so lost in the crappy economy, the bleak future, the things I haven't done that I forget that there are goals to reach and people to help me reach them. There are stickers to put on my ribbon, there are walks to enjoy with my newfound friends, and there are events to work! It is not about what I haven't done, but rather what I can accomplish!

So, thank you for reading this, as I don't think I could survive without the therapy session I get while writing about what I am doing!

Official Bake Sale - Success!!

Our official bake sale was held on May 1, 2010 @ Belk's Charity Event in Cartersville, GA. The bake sale raised $300.00 for the team!

This is the bake sale that I have been baking my heart out with test runs over the last three months. So, I have to show you what I donated for the sale - a pink ribbon yellow butter cake hand frosted with strawberry (pink) and cream cheese (white) frosting and two dozen strawberry cupcakes frosted with white vanilla frosting and topped with pink chocolate ribbons. Here are photos:

The bake sale also included two dozen cookies donated by Z Cakery. Please read the story behind these cookies on The Z Cakery blog here: http://z-cakery.blogspot.com/

The great thing about these cookies is that they sold like hotcakes - I sold 11 cookies between the time I picked them up and the time I dropped them off. Some of the people that bought them prior to the bake sale have placed an order for two more dozen of these cookies, so they are still selling like hotcakes! These were a big hit at work because they were wrapped individually and priced at $1.00. At the bake sale, they sold all but 2 cookies in the time allotted for the sale.

Since I didn't sell the cupcakes prior to the bake sale, I also have an order for two dozen of these as well, priced at $2.00 ($1.00 for the cupcake and $1.00 for the chocolate). It seems that I can't bring baked goods into the office without selling out!!!