Z is for Zumba!

A couple of months ago my dancing group started doing ZUMBA!

We've been dancing for over a year or so and while doing the ChaCha

our instructor thought we all needed help with our "Latin hips", so

we switched to ZUMBA for awhile.

WELL!  I gotta tell ya.........the morning after we switched my American hips told

me in no uncertain terms that they 

DIDN'T WANT TO BE LATIN!

This very morning (so perfect for my Z post) 

I slipped the Zumba DVD into

the player and spent about 45 minutes 

on the Beginning moves tape.

Some of the beginning moves are pretty slow and pokey,

 but some of them,

like the Reggaton moves, 

I am pretty happy to be going through slowly.

While I'm looking forward to graduating to the 

regular dance songs I'm pretty

sure that in the morning my body will 

thank me for moving slowly through these moves.

In the past exercise for me has been in the form of 

hiking the mountain, which I really

enjoy until spring when the rattlers start showing up on the trails.  Snakes scare me!

I like to swim but the pool water is not quite warm enough yet.  

Jazzercise was a lot of fun, but for me it was a 2 hour commitment......1/2 hour before

and after the class for prep and driving time.  

A few years back I walked on a daily basis training 

to participate in the 

Susan G. Koman 3Day Breast Cancer Walk.  

It was fun walking and training with my friend, 

but walking by myself is way to slow for me.  

Biking is more my speed now!

Of course it'll soon be too hot here in AZ to bike.............

Excuses, Excuses!

I'm hoping that I'll enjoy these Zumba workouts!

Do you Zumba?

What do you do to stay in shape?  

or

What are your best excuses NOT to exercise?

Happy Sunday Morning

One of my friends on FB remarked this morning that the sun was shining and the birds were singing  (somewhere) just not where he was.

Well, Jim...........that somewhere is HERE!

It is only 6:30 am and it looks like it is going to be a beautiful day.

Hey!  I hit a golf ball for the

very first time yesterday!

3rd time is a charm.

I swung two times and missed,

but I got the little sucker on the 3rd swing.

I've never really had much interest in golf

(still don't)

but my son really likes golf and was over yesterday

to help his dad with some chores and he brought

along his golf clubs so he and Mike could hit a few balls in the backyard.

Just might be my first and last attempt at golfing!

Yesterday morning I attended a 3 hour Jazzercise extravaganza!

Yep, you heard that right.....3 HOURS!

Unfortunately I only made it for 2 hours, but HEY!

that's still pretty good!

The first hour was body sculpting with

Tana and Jen.

The second hour was Jazzercise Favs with Chelsie

and the last hour was Stretching with Lynn.

Sure wish I could have done all 3 classes,

but my old body

was talking loudly to me so

I ducked out before the last class,

which unfortunately was one I really wanted to take.

Friday Kathy came over and we completed the quilt top we had started the friday before.

This quilt will be auctioned off to raise funds

for the Susan G. Koman 3Day walk.

Then we attended a small quilt gathering at Cheryl's house.

Here are a couple more quilts that were shown.

(Cheryl....you are such a POSER!)

Guess it is time to drag my aching muscles

and creaking bones outta this chair and get to work.

We are having a baby shower for Jenny today

at the house so there is LOTS and LOTS to do yet.

More on that later........

The day is done

What a day this has been.

I am plum worn out!

I'm pretty sure that I will sleep

really well tonight.

I ended the day with a jazzercise class, but

before that Mike and I went on a 2 mile hike.

This is a picture from the top of mountain.

Can you see those mountains in the distance?

They stretch from one side of the picture to the other.

Those are the mountains I will be hiking in 2 weeks!

Phew! I've got ALOT of training to do!

Fall has finally come to Phoenix.

I spent some time in the garden today fertilizing my

tomato's and other plants.

It was really a lovely day here today with temperatures

in the 70's.

Kathy's quilt is on the frames ready to be

quilted. I'll work on that tomorrow.

1

I've been spending all of my extra time learning

my new laptop and new embroidery software.

Here is what I embroidered today.

I could see it on the large screen of the laptop

instead of that little screen on the sewing machine.

Remember those baby halloween outfits that I bought

at Burlington Coat Factory?

Here is the cute Pirate one.....

Remeber the great bargain?

Today I added an embroidery to

the back side of the outfit........

So cute!

Lots of things going on..........

The last couple of days have been busy ones

filled with family and friends and QUILTING!

This past week I finished up a couple of quilts.

This one belongs to Liz............

This is a close-up of a corner of Liz's quilt.

She chose a bear from Anne Bright's quilting patterns.

And a moose for another corner.

This next quilt belongs to Deb.

Close-up of one of the side setting triangles.

The inspiration this design came from

Kim Stotsenburg's "Just Leaf it" quilt design book.

The January meeting of the Friday Night Quilters

was held at my house last night and it was a fun-filled evening

starting with making pizza.

Here are Kathy and Katrina getting started.

We had some beautiful show and tell last night.

This quilt, made with Kaffe Fasset fabrics, belongs

to Katrina. It was a real beauty!

Cheryl is displaying a quilt made by Dolly's

11 year old daughter Kelly. Kelly designed, pieced,

and quilted this little quilt to donate to Ami Simm's

Alzhimers Art Quilt Initiative. This little ladybug quilt raised

$100 for this cause. The person who bought the quilt

requested that it be sent back to the maker since it was

her very first quilt. What a sweet story!

After Show and tell we all went downstairs to

make a little project.

So that was Friday night...........Saturday morning

Mike and I went on a little 4 mile hike in preparation

for the 15 mile hike he has signed us up for in 2 weeks.

Yikes! I'm a little worried about doing this!

After the hike we pushed back most of the furniture

in the living room and moved a bunch of it out to the

back porch for a little Family Jazzercise!

My daughter-in-law Jen is working really hard to become an

instructor and needed some students to practice on.

WELL! She got some pretty challenging students and

she did really awesome. I think she'll make a great instructor!

Our neighbors Bert and Gail started a holiday

tradition several years ago. We call it

"Bert bombs the Neighborhood"

He makes us a B52 Bomber.

They are pretty yummy!

Bert.....the Master Mixologist!

See the 3 layers?

Bert and Gail........cheers!

Happy New Year from Mike, Brian, Rafael & Tammy!

2009 is almost over

It is hard to believe that 2009 is almost over!

Where does the time go?

Today was spent going to Jazzercise, then to

Kohls to get a new pair of maternity jeans for

my daughter who is busting out of her regular jeans.

Mike and I then went to Savers and Goodwill to try

to find a sweater to wear to the Ugly Sweater Party

we are attending on New Year's Eve.

Ind found one, but MIke, sadly, did not. Guess He will just

have to check his closet!!!!!

Tonight we are going to Baccus for some wine tasting

with our son and daughter-in-law and some of her family.

Should be alot of fun!

Happy 2009!

Jazzercise

I've recently joined a group of ladies who Jazzercise.

I must tell you that I went kicking and screaming

every inch of the way.

A few years back I tried to Jazzercise and found that I was zigging while everyone else was zagging!

I stopped just short of bumping into people,

but let me tell you..........It was pretty embarassing!

My long time friend Tana, shown here, LOVES Jazzercise.

Tana is lighting candles on some "special" brownies

to celebrate instructor Lynn's 50th birthday.

(the special brownies were made with a can of pumpkin

instead of oil and eggs! lol! Certainly you were not thinking

that they were THAT special!)

When my daughter Jenny was out of work

SHE started going to jazzercise and asked me

to join her. I resisted, but finally caved in.

Can you see me?

I'm actually in my usual spot..........as far to the

back as I can manage with NO ONE behind me!

I'm so glad that I've joined this group.

Yes, I still zig when others are zagging,

but at my age, WHO CARES?

I'm moving, and dancing and

feeling stronger

everyday!