Hello Friday! I’m so glad you are here!

Well we are now one month away from Mother’s Day! So today we will be looking at all sorts of ideas for celebrating moms! And for help, I started by going to a wonderful group of women for inspiration, the women in my Facebook Group, The Sizzler’s Challenge. Oh my stars do we have fun in that group! And you are invited!

This is the nicest group of women who cheer each other on to getting healthy! No matter where you are at on your fitness journey you are welcome and perfect for our group! And it is absolutely free, and no one will try and sell you anything. It’s all about community, encouragement and a healthy lifestyle. Which is exactly what I need!

This week, for those interested we have added in a “Plank Challenge” and a “Water Drinking Challenge”. I really need to drink more water so that is perfect for me!

Come check us out! We sure would love to have you join us! Click Here: Sizzlers Challenge

Next lets talk Mother’s Day Gift Ideas! It’s a month away, so there is plenty of time to find that perfect something!

So I asked my friends in the Sizzlers group for some fun ideas for Mother’s Day gifts and I am happy to share these fun ideas with you!

1. Flowers – for the garden, a hanging basket or a large potted flower for the front porch.
2. Fitbit – This is such a great gift! It gives you stats on your personal activity level each day, and depending on the model you purchase, it can give your heart rate and so much more info! Fitbit: Here is one at Kohl’s that is sooo cute! I like the white one!
3. A pretty water bottle- Here is a pretty one in a white marble look! Love!
4. A great coffee travel bottle – This one is sooo pretty! Flowers! Yesss!
5. Cute summer handbag – here is an adorable one
6. Treat her to a Manicure/Pedicure
7. Athletic or Workout Attire- Kohls has a huge selection, here is a cute one.
8. Take Mom’s Car and have it cleaned and detailed
9. Make a gift basket with a few nice types of tea, honey, a fragrant candle, and a nice cup
10. Essential Oils and a diffuser
11. Pouf– can be used as a small footstool or small seat- decorative
12. Get a decorative box and a stack of small squares of paper. On each paper write a memory of her you love.
13. Cute journal, and maybe some gourmet coffee and nice chocolates
14. Large clear glass vase and some pretty floral stems
15. A pretty fruit bowl (this one is sooo pretty!)
16. A gift certificate for a family portrait
17. A gift certificate to her favorite hair salon
18. A bonsai tree or 3-4 little potted succulents to put on a window sill
19. New Running Shoes (or maybe a gift card to where she likes to get her running shoes)
20. Bath salts or Bath bombs, facial mask, lotions
21. Himalayan Salt Lamp
22. Bird feeder, bird food, and help her put it in place
23. Instant Pot
24. Himalayan Salt Plate (I like this one as it has a holder and cookbook)
25. Woven Storage Basket these are so pretty for a family room

I hope these suggestions all help, maybe you can share some of your ideas! I would love to hear them!

For those of you new here, back in February I took a pretty nasty fall and broke my ankle in several areas.

I had surgery, and now have enough metal in my leg, I think they wiped out the hardware section at Home Depot! Hah! Well, its been six weeks since the surgery.

So this week, I had a follow up with the surgeon. They did X-rays and everything is healing as it should.

I know… that looks a little scary! But it is holding my ankle together! And healing!

He said I could start having the Physical Therapy people help me begin to put partial weight on it. So we began this week!

It is really amazing what medicine can do. I thanked my doctor over and over. I thanked my PT people too. Tonight my PT person said I have a long way to go, as she looked at the scars and the tightness and swelling. But she said, “we will get there”. I have a long list of exercises I do everyday, and the list is growing! And I am glad, because I look forward to being able to walk and do the things I use to be able to do!

But I also think about what I have learned personally as I have gone through this little “bypass” on my life journey.

When I first went in to the hospital the day of the accident, after the docs had a chance to look at the x-rays, they told me it was a pretty bad break, and they were going to have to do a “reset” of the bones to get them back in line of where they should be. My mind raced “reset- what does that mean?” And I found out. But even in the hardest moments as they held my leg under an x-ray machine and “reset” the bones, I looked in their eyes… every last one of them, and I saw caring, compassion, and that they knew exactly what needed to be done to get those bones “reset”. So I hung on and trusted them knowing this was for my good and I would be ok.

A week later they did a surgery to put a solid structure in place to keep those bones “reset” and to make it something I could count on to help me walk.

My first PT person who came to the house told me to embrace the hardware now as part of me. It is there “holding my ankle in alignment, and together”.

I was given the “air cast boot” to wear to help protect the newly repaired ankle. The boot is cumbersome and awkward, but it did the job. And still is playing a role in my recovery. The walker too became my support. It is what I lean on in my weakness as I have been healing.

I have been thinking how just as my ankle and leg needed to be “reset”, so have my priorities and perspective.  I have had to lean on people I love and my faith like I lean on my walker. And oh how grateful I am for that!

The boot has been there protecting me, too, like the mighty fortress my family, friends and my God have put around me.

And I have had to let go of somethings so I could hang on to the very ones holding me up. In essence a “reset of the heart”.

That is a beautiful learning for me. I think when all this is done, I may plant some flowering ivy around the beautiful legs of that walker, and bright flowers in the boot as a reminder of how this challenge helped me grow to see what really matters, and what is most important. Love, family, friends, faith, a place to rest your head and a hope for a bright future.

It’s a “back to the basics” retreat for me. And it’s taught me so much about life, and love, and its been a season of healing more than just broken bones! A reminder of the thing that is holding me together like the hardware in my ankle… I am being held by love. And so are you, my friend! So we don’t need to be afraid, come what may. Sometimes a “reset” is just what the doctor ordered.

Have a great weekend!

I’ll be back Tuesday with another Tasty Tuesday

Love Always,

Amy