Favourite quotes and pictures!

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Here are some of your favorite quotes and pictures from this last year. Save them to a Pinterest board.

Or you can make them the background for your phone or computer.

Pick your favourites and put them where you will see them!

13079381314_906acc3f2c_z

Drink water it’s your body’s bff

GQVPIS7V8S bible

This next one is my one of my favourite quotes and

I am the author!

holiday healthy self-talk

weight loss plan

photo-1445633743309-b60418bedbf2mom whispering

motivation

I just had to raise my arms in praise to our Great God!

IMG_7121beachprayer

This quote sums up how I have made lifestyle changes!

healthy habits

This next quote applies to friends that want to lose weight for a special event.

we-fail-because-we-are-seeking-a-result-not-a-lifestyle

Let’s put this next quote near the bathroom scale!

A number does not define my self worth

Repeat this next statement often!

TODAY’S little STEP: Pick your favourite quotes and put them where you will see them! Remember every little step makes a difference!

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

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My life is crazy! But crazy in a good way! This last weekend we celebrated my daughter Katie’s graduation from University with family and friends.

Don and I also celebrated our 32^nd wedding anniversary! How time really does fly!

We spent the whole weekend at the Elliott Lake House!

I reviewed the stats. from last year and found some of the most read posts.

Just click on the link and review some of your favorites!

Post Favorites

What she did to triumph and get healthy!

Every little step makes a difference!

Best use of 10 minutes of my crazy life!

THE BEST EVER 21 NON-FOOD REWARDS

1 sneaky trick to lose weight

21 non-food rewards for you!

21 UNIQUE AND CHEAP NON-FOOD REWARDS

Recipes

Delightful pina colada yogurt, too yummy to be healthy?

Cinnamon maple chickpea nut – snack hack!

BEST NEW DESSERT RECIPE OF THE SUMMER!

EASY KALE SUMMER SALAD

TODAY’S little STEP: Reread your favorite posts. Keep taking little steps of imperfect progress!

EMBRACE IMPERFECT PROGRESS AND HAVE AMAZING HOPE!

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Thank you for inviting me into your life every week! It is my privilege to speak words of hope and encouragement as we navigate this crazy life together.

We’ve been taking little steps to health for 2 years now!

Happy Anniversary!

Now don’t beat yourself up because you think you should have made more progress by now.

Don’t let that negative self-talk take over!

Our health journey and this blog are about imperfect progress.

imperfect progress even in my graphics!

Imperfect progress is a mix of good days, when most choices are healthy and

bad days when there are more poor choices.

That’s what real life is like!

We don’t let the bad days be an excuse to quit, because everyone has bad days.

One of the smartest things we can do is accept the bad day or the poor choice and make a U-turn right away.

Make the next choice a good one and take the next step of imperfect progress. Every little step does make a difference.

I say it all the time and it’s true – “every mountain is climbed one little step at a time”.

Remember our core verse! “And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up”. Galatians 6:9 New Living Translation

TODAY’S little STEP: Embrace imperfect progress – a mix of good and poor choices. It’s a realistic approach to our crazy lives!

Please share this with your friends – we all need hope!

Crazy life? 7 tips to be energized

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Is your life crazy busy? I love spring. It’s my favorite time of year. The snow is finally gone. The weather is beautiful and I feel so energized. But spring is also a really busy time of year. Church programs are winding down with special evenings. There are graduations, weddings, and anniversaries to celebrate. For our American friends there are Open Houses to plan and attend for High School graduates.

With all the fun activities we can have a tendency to keep running on empty.

How do we get recharged and refocused?

When my life is crazy I have learned that there are some

important things I need to do to cope.

Get enough sleep. When life is busy it’s easy to stay up late and get more done. But then I start running on steam and even fun things seem like a chore.

I need to slow down in the evening and get to bed before 11!

If I’m short on sleep I want to eat.

It’s like my body says, “O.K. if you aren’t going to give me enough sleep then give me more food!”

We’ll have a blog post about that sometime in the future.

Eat good healthy food. As much as my emotions shout for junk food, especially chocolate, I know I need fruit, vegetables and protein.

Walk outside. Sometimes my walk is more like a stomp! It clears my brain and helps me deal with stress. The beauty of God’s creation touches my spirit.

Stay away from caffeine. I’m tempted to stop at Starbucks for a hot tall dark roast coffee to give me the energy to tackle my to-do list, but not anymore. The caffeine makes me jittery and then I don’t sleep well that night. I’ve switched to sweetened decaffeinated tea.

Quiet. No radio, no TV, no background noise. It’s amazing how much silence can refresh me.

A good chat with a girlfriend! There’s nothing like a phone chat with a good friend to vent my worries and frustrations. She doesn’t try to fix it like a man does. She listens, encourages and challenges me when my thinking is way off the mark.

SPEND TIME WITH GOD! It’s the most important thing I can do! He resets my priorities.

When I spend time praying, reading the Bible and good devotional books, I remember that God is on His throne.

I can rest because He is in control, not me!

TODAY’S little STEP: When life feels crazy take one or all of these 7 little steps to be energized and restored! But remember it’s not about doing every little step perfectly! It’s about imperfect progress!

If you have found this helpful please share it with your friends!

Cinnamon maple chickpea nut – snack hack!

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Are you ready to try a fun new snack? I saw chickpea snacks in the grocery store but the price was too high for my liking. So I took a look and found a snack hack.

Cinnamon-maple chickpea nuts

Here is the recipe!

Cinnamon-maple chickpea nut snack

Ingredients

1 can of chickpeas

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. maple syrup

2 tsp. white sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1) Rinse and drain the chickpeas.

2) Pat very dry with paper towels. Discard any loose skins

3) Arrange on a rimmed baking sheet. I have a Pampered Chef baker that I like to use, because nothing burns when I use it! Don’t worry, it’s supposed to look brown like that, it means it’s well seasoned.

4) Add olive oil, tossing to coat the chickpeas well

5) Place in 425 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes total baking time. Remove from oven and shake or stir occasionally, every 10 minutes.

6) The chickpeas should crisp during baking. Continue additional cooking testing for crispness.

7) Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with seasonings – maple syrup, (my son is part of the Superior Maple Syrup business- give it a try) sugar and cinnamon.

Toss to coat.

8) Return to the oven for 5 more minutes to caramelize.

9) Chickpeas will continue to crisp as they cool.

10) Once cool, enjoy! They aren’t very sweet and have a really nice crunch.

cinnamon-maple chickpea nuts

11) Store in an airtight container.

The chickpeas have 8 grams of fiber, and 6 grams of protein, for 1 cup that makes this snack a better choice.

Here’s the link for you to check out. There have other suggested seasonings too, Parmesan-herb, BBQ, Honey-sesame, and Spicy buffalo. http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/a40814/chickpea-nuts-recipe/

TODAY’S little STEP: Give a new snack a try!

Remember every mountain is climbed one little step at a time.

If you have found this helpful please share it with a friend.

Embrace Imperfect Progress and Have Hope!

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“I’ve failed so many times before that I can’t try again. If I haven’t made any progress by this age then I’m hopeless. If I can’t do it perfectly then I’m not even going to try”.

Can you relate to these statements?

Oh friend, please know there is always hope.

There’s hope because God loves you and His help is available.

There’s hope because just one little change makes a difference.

There’s hope because you are never too old to make changes.

There’s hope because you don’t have to do things perfectly!

We need to embrace the concept of “imperfect progress”.

Imperfect progress-littlestepstohealth.com

“There’s this beautiful thing called imperfect progress, slow steps of progress wrapped up in grace” Lysa TerKeurst

Imperfect progress means there will be days when the stress gets to us and we eat junk food to help us cope. Or days when we can’t even find 10 minutes to exercise.

Set backs are O.K.

But we won’t let that slip-up be the reason to quit and give up.

Imperfect progress means there will be some days when can choose fruit for dessert. Days when we take a long walk with a friend.

On those days – notice the progress!

We have hope when we embrace the concept of imperfect progress!

Remember our core verse: “And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up”. Galatians 6:9 New Living Translation

TODAY’S little STEP: Claim imperfect progress as your motto! Every little step makes a difference!

Every mountain is climbed one little step at a time!

Happy Spring

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I love spring! It’s my favourite time of the year!

Our snow finally disappears and everything comes to life.

spring beauty

I took some pictures when we were at the cottage this weekend.

I am always excited when I see tiny shoots breaking through.

Tiny shoots breaking through

I am reminded of a verse my Mom quotes this time of year.

“When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground”. Psalm 104:30

English Standard Version

We have a little brook right beside us.

It’s so relaxing to hear the water trickling over the rocks.

little brook

We enjoyed a long weekend at the cottage.

We spent time with family and friends enjoying God’s wonderful creation.

I love to look at the lake.

cottage view

Here are some of your favorite quotes and pictures from this last year. Save them to a Pinterest board.

Or you can make them the background for your phone or computer.

Pick your favourites and put them where you will see them!

This next one is my one of my favourite quotes and

I am the author!

I just had to raise my arms in praise to our Great God!

This quote sums up how I have made lifestyle changes!

This next quote applies to friends that want to lose weight for a special event.

Let’s put this next quote near the bathroom scale!

Repeat this next statement often!

TODAY’S little STEP: Pick your favourite quotes and put them where you will see them! Remember every little step makes a difference!

Share this:

Like this:

My life is crazy! But crazy in a good way! This last weekend we celebrated my daughter Katie’s graduation from University with family and friends.

Don and I also celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary! How time really does fly!

We spent the whole weekend at the Elliott Lake House!

I reviewed the stats. from last year and found some of the most read posts.

Just click on the link and review some of your favorites!

Post Favorites

Recipes

TODAY’S little STEP: Reread your favorite posts. Keep taking little steps of imperfect progress!

Share this:

Like this:

Thank you for inviting me into your life every week! It is my privilege to speak words of hope and encouragement as we navigate this crazy life together.

We’ve been taking little steps to health for 2 years now!

Happy Anniversary!

Now don’t beat yourself up because you think you should have made more progress by now.

Don’t let that negative self-talk take over!

Our health journey and this blog are about imperfect progress.

Imperfect progress is a mix of good days, when most choices are healthy and

bad days when there are more poor choices.

That’s what real life is like!

We don’t let the bad days be an excuse to quit, because everyone has bad days.

One of the smartest things we can do is accept the bad day or the poor choice and make a U-turn right away.

Make the next choice a good one and take the next step of imperfect progress. Every little step does make a difference.

I say it all the time and it’s true – “every mountain is climbed one little step at a time”.

Remember our core verse! “And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up”. Galatians 6:9 New Living Translation

TODAY’S little STEP: Embrace imperfect progress – a mix of good and poor choices. It’s a realistic approach to our crazy lives!

Please share this with your friends – we all need hope!

Share this:

Like this:

With all the fun activities we can have a tendency to keep running on empty.

How do we get recharged and refocused?

When my life is crazy I have learned that there are some

important things I need to do to cope.

Get enough sleep. When life is busy it’s easy to stay up late and get more done. But then I start running on steam and even fun things seem like a chore.

I need to slow down in the evening and get to bed before 11!

If I’m short on sleep I want to eat.

It’s like my body says, “O.K. if you aren’t going to give me enough sleep then give me more food!”

We’ll have a blog post about that sometime in the future.

Eat good healthy food. As much as my emotions shout for junk food, especially chocolate, I know I need fruit, vegetables and protein.

Walk outside. Sometimes my walk is more like a stomp! It clears my brain and helps me deal with stress. The beauty of God’s creation touches my spirit.

Stay away from caffeine. I’m tempted to stop at Starbucks for a hot tall dark roast coffee to give me the energy to tackle my to-do list, but not anymore. The caffeine makes me jittery and then I don’t sleep well that night. I’ve switched to sweetened decaffeinated tea.

Quiet. No radio, no TV, no background noise. It’s amazing how much silence can refresh me.

A good chat with a girlfriend! There’s nothing like a phone chat with a good friend to vent my worries and frustrations. She doesn’t try to fix it like a man does. She listens, encourages and challenges me when my thinking is way off the mark.

SPEND TIME WITH GOD! It’s the most important thing I can do! He resets my priorities.

When I spend time praying, reading the Bible and good devotional books, I remember that God is on His throne.

I can rest because He is in control, not me!

TODAY’S little STEP: When life feels crazy take one or all of these 7 little steps to be energized and restored! But remember it’s not about doing every little step perfectly! It’s about imperfect progress!

If you have found this helpful please share it with your friends!

Share this:

Like this:

Are you ready to try a fun new snack? I saw chickpea snacks in the grocery store but the price was too high for my liking. So I took a look and found a snack hack.

Here is the recipe!

Cinnamon-maple chickpea nut snack

Ingredients

1 can of chickpeas

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. maple syrup

2 tsp. white sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1) Rinse and drain the chickpeas.

2) Pat very dry with paper towels. Discard any loose skins

3) Arrange on a rimmed baking sheet. I have a Pampered Chef baker that I like to use, because nothing burns when I use it! Don’t worry, it’s supposed to look brown like that, it means it’s well seasoned.

4) Add olive oil, tossing to coat the chickpeas well

5) Place in 425 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes total baking time. Remove from oven and shake or stir occasionally, every 10 minutes.

6) The chickpeas should crisp during baking. Continue additional cooking testing for crispness.

7) Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with seasonings – maple syrup, (my son is part of the Superior Maple Syrup business- give it a try) sugar and cinnamon.

Toss to coat.

8) Return to the oven for 5 more minutes to caramelize.

Don and I also celebrated our 32^nd wedding anniversary! How time really does fly!