Walking in Money

In April, my wife and I decided to join the Virgin Healthmiles program offered through our health insurance company, Humana. It is a pretty good deal. We pay them $4.50 a month and they send us an electronic pedometer. We wear it each day and it records our steps. At night, we hook it up to the computer and it sends the data to the company. (The company....doesn't that sound ominous?)

You have to walk at least 7,000 steps a day to get points. After so many points, they pay you. Yes...you heard me right. They actually GIVE YOU MONEY TO EXERCISE! So far, I have earned $100. I can earn up to $300 in a year just for walking.

Sounds great...doesn't it? They give me money for doing something I should be doing anyway. In return, they save money because if I am exercising then I am living a healthier lifestyle and will probably not use my health insurance for major problems. A win-win....right?

Well...I just discovered that you can shake the pedometer and get "steps." Not saying that I'm doing that or anything...cough, cough. But what if I'm feeling lazy one day...or even one whole week. It sort of defeats the purpose if I'm just shaking this little gizmo all day long. But then again....that could be counted as some sort of exercise. Couldn't it?

Time will tell.

In other news, with the combination of walking to get Virgin Healthmiles points and my HMR diet, I have lost over 30 pounds since May! Hooray!

Green Beans and Blogs!

Hey everyone. Sorry that I haven't updated my blog in a couple of months. As you know, I was writing this blog in conjunction with the regional newspaper, The Kentucky Mountain News. When that went under, I thought "Well, I just won't write for a while." At first, it was just for a week or two...and then I got lazy. Lazy is as lazy does...or doesn't do.

Well, now I'm back baby! I decided to write for my blog once again. Writing is just a part of me...I love to do it and it just comes to me like breathing. I love to write and would probably do it even if the only ones reading this were my dogs. So, since I'm writing this....I guess that I should post it on my blog. I'm also going to be submiting this to The Truth which is the online newspaper which evolved out of The Kentucky Mountain News. I'll also post it to The Breathitt Advocate...a locally owned paper.

So where to start? I thought that I would start again with green beans....yes, I said green beans. Yesterday, I decided to help my mom and dad pick some green beans. I'm not a farmer. But my mom and dad are...and they love to grow everything from potatoes, cabbage, okra, and green beans. They were getting ready to can some beans...so I decided to get in touch with Mother Earth and pick some beans.

I slowly and methodically made my way through the bean patch. While I was doing this, my parents were obviously running a race through the garden because they picked a whole bucket of beans...while I picked these:

At first, I was quite proud of myself...and then I saw how many beans my parents had picked....and then my little handful just looked pitiful.

But, like I said, I'm not a farmer...and don't pretend to be. I'll just be happy with my few beans...and just let it go from there. At least I'm writing again....

Until next time....class dismissed.

Our Summer Trip to Vegas, 2009!