Marian’s Journal

A chinese lion statue

This area of my web site represents a patchwork of my thoughts, hobbies, life as a parent of an Autistic child, travel, and general interests.

We love getting out for the occasional photo safari, which can be as close as our back garden or as far as the imagination can take you!

Today’s Workout

Marian June 13th, 2009

ACTIVITY TIME CALORIES BURNED 3292145208_6663594d2e
Treadmill :: Walk / Run 43 min. 420
Walk :: 1.1 Loop 23 min. 191
Walk :: 2.1 Loop 40 min. 324
1 hr. 46 min. 935

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It’s been a while….

Marian June 13th, 2009

It’s been a while since I have made any contributions here!

Me, Winter 2008Since my last post I have undertaken some changes! For the past several years, I have have had a variety of problems with my feet, which has curtailed a lot of my activity. But, last Autumn, I had a catharsis! Time to make a change. As I approach the half century mark in my life, and look to the future with a challenged child, I decided I need to do a little maintenance on myself! I also knew that I would need to learn to work through the pain in my feet. Some days are better than others, and some are really great! But, this whole process is 90% mental!

Picture 1In September, I saw that a new gym was opening near my son’s school.. So, I waited, though September, then October. In October, before the gym was even open, I joined. I waited a while longer and just before Thanksgiving it finally opened! :-)

So begins my journey. I weighed for the first time on 9 December, and found that I was the heaviest I had ever been. That alone help to strengthen my resolve. I had already started going to the gym 5 – 6 days per week. I also began to watch the portions during meals. I have never been a big junk food eater, that wasn’t my problem… I just went for 2nds and 3rds too often! Bread was also a major pitfall for me! I allow for only 1,200 calories per day, and aim for a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio at least 6 days per week. With the help of a great Personal Trainer, I began to incorporate strength training into my workout, and I started seeing results.

By mid December I had started losing weight. On New Years day I was down 11 lbs. In early March it was 20 lbs. Now, here we are in June, and I have lost 40 lbs. I don’t plan to stop here. I now am running a bit, not fast mind you, but running none-the-less!

Today, I have been to the gym and done 2.25 miles on the treadmill and burned 420 calorie in the process, I have also walked 1.15 miles with my children and burned 191 calories. We are going to get in another 2 mile walk before the afternoon is over!

More later!

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Monte Sano Flowers

Marian June 12th, 2008

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Homemade Laundry Detergent, and me!

Marian June 12th, 2008

Related Links
Home Made Laundry Soap
by: Crystal Miller
Homemade Laundry Soap
Instructables.com

Homemade Laudry Detergent ingredientsA few months ago, I saw a story on the CNN.com web site about people making Green changes to their daily lives. One of those changes was making your own Homemade Laudry Detergent. I began to think about this, and looked at the prices of Laundry Detergent on the shelves at the grocery store. Have you noticed that the prices of laundry related items have gone up, while the package sizes have gone down? I have!

The price of a 75 fl. oz. (2.21L) bottle of a name brand detergent is approaching $14. The items to make multiple 2 gallon batches is less than $10.00.

I just made my second batch…. This is after almost finishing the first batch… By the way, the recipe I use is the first one in the list of links to the left, it makes about 2 gallons of detergent! I love it… have no plans to go back to the store bought variety.

$3.29 => Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
$2.29 => 20 Mule Team Borax

    $0.99

=> 1 Bar Fels Naptha
$6.57 + sales tax

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Birthdays… “23!”

Marian June 11th, 2008


I have never been a real fan of Wal Mart. But, my opinion is softening of late.

Did you know that they are designing their stores to use less energy. All of the newer stores have skylights that illuminate the shopping space. When it goes cloudy ( for a period of time, not the passing stray cloud), the lights will become a bit brighter to make up for the light deficit.

And, did you know that Wal Mart has become the larges retailer for CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Bulbs)!

At any rate, they have the ability in their Bakeries, to take any photograph that you may have, scan it, and convert it to an edible image that they lay on top of the icing! The cakes are not bad as store bought cakes go…

Just wanted to share! :)

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Back to the Traditional Post

Marian June 10th, 2008

For the past several months I have treated this area as a Photo Journal… But, recently decided to change back to a more traditional Journal page! I still continue to Photo Journal, you can get there by clicking here

Things have been a little chaotic since the 22nd, when school ended for the year. I spent a good bit of the time building a swing for Roy… It is more than just a yard toy. I designed it to allow him to grow into it, rather than outgrow the swing. It's constructed out of 5 4x4s, 2 2x6s, 2 2x4s, and several carriage bolts, and swing hardware. It will allow 2 adults to simultaneously swing… and the cross board doesn't bow….It has been in use for a few weeks, and it has already made a huge difference in Roy's sensory needs.

He is already packing for our trip to Colorado. What a time of year to go to the desert!

We have learned something in our preparations for the trip, actually, we were reminded of something we already knew. People with disabilities,   get into National Parks for life for free. You have to present National Park folks with a letter from a Doctor stating the disability.

More to come later…. 

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Christmas 2006 Visions

Marian January 3rd, 2008

CRW_0111 CRW_0139

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