Manly Mani-Pedi Rewards

      Learning to reward ourselves with something other than food takes some thought and planning. For Father’s Day I took Jim for a surprise manicure and pedicure. I dropped him off at the salon, told him to be good and tip well.

      I returned an hour later with my grandson JJ to pick him up. JJ was wide eyed at seeing great big grandpa reclined in the vibrating pedicure throne, with a tiny little technician punching him, topping off his mani-pedi with a deep tissue massage and brisk pounding of his arms, shoulders and calves.

       I asked the ladies having their nails done if he had behaved himself, and they replied, “we hardly knew he was here except for his occasional groans of pleasure”. Jim said he felt thoroughly pampered and that it was the best dad’s day gift he’d ever gotten. “Now I know why women love having these done” he said while shuffling around in a mellow daze for the rest of the day.

      In the past I have rewarded myself and celebrated with food, typically ice cream or sweets. Now I’m looking for new ways to treat myself well.

      It’s easier for me to recognize and reward someone else, than to reward myself, but I’m working at changing that way of thinking. Maybe one of these days, perhaps when I’ve lost 50 pounds it will be my turn for a mani-pedi.

Reducing is the name of the game & we're keeping score

My hubby Jim isn't just chipping and slicing on the golf course these days.  He's actually working the TOPS program along with me and has lost 13 pounds in the first 3 weeks. I beat him out with a 20 pound loss in the same time frame, but who's keeping score. We are of course! This is the first time in our marriage that we're actually working at reducing and improving our fitness together as a team. Back in the day, he was a dashing and slim Jim in his military uniform. Now, as is par for the course in many of us baby boomers, we don't look a bit like the person hidden somewhere under our layers of bulky body-fat insulation. It is so much easier to change my eating habits when Jim is also working on changing his. I'm very thankful we're playing the losing game together this time and proud of his great success on the first fairway of the TOPS course. We've got a long way to go before we reach the 19th hole, but we both have a dream, desire, TOPS team and plan to be winners. I'll keep you posted on our progress.