About

HI!  AND WELCOME TO MY ABOUT PAGE

My friends know me as Ilse. My family calls me “Little Grandma” a name lovingly given me by my great-grandchildren. Why?  Because I am short (5’2″)….but then good things come in small packages.

My heritage began in Ireland/Scotland with grandparents who crossed the ocean, settled in Pennsylvania, worked in the coal mines long enough to earn money to build covered wagons and hand carts, and then walked across the plains of America in the 1800’s to settle in Utah, home of the pioneers.

Talk about a NEW BEGINNING.  WOW!

My dad was born in the wild, wild west. My mother was born in Europe. Their union was my new beginning. Being the second of five girls, I am a remnant of their beliefs, strengths, knowledge and their love. My life, like many of you, was sprinkled with trials and tribulations good and bad.  I consider myself an inherent survivor, but then aren’t we all.

My purpose in writing my blog is to wake up the excitement in all of us to LIVE LIFE! May God, in whom I firmly believe, bless everyone, as we explore the many facets of HEALTH, remembering that (as I restructure a quote); “Your life is God’s gift to you, what you make of your life is your gift to Him!” –anonymous.

IN MY BLOG….you learned about Jimmy the Microbe and how circumstances influence our lives. I wanted to be a dentist and ended up being a dancer. How did that happen you ask. Well, at the ripe young age of five I starred in a kindergarten play. The lines I had to say were: “I am a little girl, I have a little curl right in the middle of my forehead. When I am good, I am very, very good, but when I am bad I am horrid.”  From that point on I wanted to be an actress. At six I had a role as a flower girl in the stage play, ” Abby’s Irish Rose” where I also had to dance. The next thing I knew, I wanted to be a dancer.

From that moment on I was hooked. Jimmy the Microbe and Abby’s Irish Rose led me into the world of Fitness and health. I am not trying to write a book here, but stay tuned for tidbits of the rest of my story.

October 4 – I’ve traveled many miles down life’s highway, and a lot of water has passed under my bridge. Tonight I went to my daughter’s new house for a birthday dinner. None of us wants to divulge our age, but how can I not. Ringing through the air were the voices of the great-grandchildren, “how old are you little grandma?”  They already knew because they chimed in together, “80 – that’s old.”  I don’t mind being 80 as long as I don’t feel 80. I thank my Lord and Savior that I am in excellent health, and will be able to continue blogging in order to share the knowledge I have gained over the years with my readers. I hope to live to be 100 years old. You will be able to live that long as well….if you commit to Waking Up The New You!

Thanks for a wonderful 80th birthday celebration. I just wished that, those of my family who live out-of-town, could have been there.

October 11 – My blogs are meant to educate….this page is supposed to be About me. It is an autobiography of sorts, narrated by me. It is different from a biography which is about you but written by someone else. So, if you are reading this page you know I am 80 years of age, at least chronologically.  I don’t feel old mentally or physically. Because of my age, I will probably use the phrase “back in my day” a lot. Seniors do that.  I will continue to add to this page for the benefit of my children, as they say they don’t really know me. That is possible as we are all many miles away from each other.

My interest in writing and what an Autobiography is started when I was a student in Mrs. Cook’s 5th grade class. We were asked to write story about ourselves. What could be so interesting to write about to a 10-year-old child?  I didn’t know, but fulfilled the assignment anyway. I still have the original (I put it in book form – with pictures and everything.)

I will try not to bore you, my readers, with details. I will touch on my life in bits and pieces. I hope in the future this might be remembered as a “good read.”

October 19

I was going to write about me being a firm believer in God the Father, Jesus Christ – His Son and the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit as many Christian faiths refer to him. Instead, I just want to mention how FAITH and the Detox Diet Plan go together and that the Plan can and will work for everyone who chooses to faithfully apply it in their lives.

Also, at this point I will tell you I am a member of a very Christian Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Our faith believes in Prophets of Old and in Living Prophets today. The Prophet today is Thomas S. Monson. We as Latter Day Saints believe him to be not only the Prophet for the LDS Church, but for the whole world, no matter what Christian Faith you belong to. So, may God Bless us one and all!

November 1

As I was writing my blog yesterday, it dawned on me that each day of my life is a day of continuing education. I do extensive research on everything I write about. As a licensed cosmetologist – it is required that I take a continuing education course every two years. It is most beneficial. I reap the same benefits from continually reading and studying material on health and wellness. While my friends are reading novels, I am reading scientific materials etc. But I enjoy what I am doing….and as the saying goes if you don’t like your job you should be doing something else.  After all life is too short to not be happy in your occupation or your recreational activities.  My children, as I observe them are happily engaged in their work as well as their off time entertainment.  I love golf, my son loves golf and skiing, my youngest daughter loves traveling, another daughter and her family love to hunt, another son and daughter have their special interests as well. In the end though, happiness within the family should be a high priority. I love you all – my children, my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren . I vaguely remember a song entitled “BE HAPPY”….and  enjoy being alive.

November 9th

Congratulation Donald Trump for winning the election.  May God guide you in all you do. I have served as a Poll Deputy for over 10 years during election time, and this was certainly a historical election. I was amazed at how the educational system jumped on the bandwagon and held mock elections – even in the elementary schools. However, the best story was one my daughter told me. OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES – she said that her granddaughter and my great-granddaughter, 3-year-old Berkley, was listening to the adults discuss the election, and out of the clear blue sky asked, “Did you vote for Dollar Trump?” A great description for Donald in the eyes of the adults – but Berkley just couldn’t pronounce his name.

November 11th

One might ask, Why do I need a consultant?

Most of us have health issues, and because of all the information we come in contact with on the TV talk shows and by what is published in magazines and newspapers, we have a tendency to Self Diagnose. This can be dangerous. You may end up ingesting things and taking supplements that do not pertain to your particular issues. A Specialist or Consultant studies your situation and educates you regarding YOUR BODY and what is needed to start your body’s healing process. As a Certified Level 2 Detox Specialist, I am available to help you….contact me for more information.

February 1, 2017

It has been a while. Christmas has come and gone and a new year has rung in. But today I want to wish a very special person a GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY!. My youngest son, Troy was born on this day in 1963. He came into the world a beautiful, tow-headed blonde. My dad, who I had a chance to visit with in January that year, told me I was going to have a boy. I asked how he knew and he told me, “I just know.” My dad died only a few days after that visit. But he was right. Then an almost tragedy struck again. Troy wasn’t a week old, when right after I got him home, I ended back in the hospital with what the doctor back then thought was spinal meningitis. I was hospitalized for a week, and luckily I had a wonderful baby sitter, whose parents said they would take care of the baby.  My mom had her hands full with Troy’s brother and two sisters. The doctor, after many tests decided I did not have meningitis, but I had contacted encephalitis. Since back then, you could only get that by being bitten by a mosquito, I asked how that happened in the middle of winter. I was told the germ was probably in the hospital from other people who were infected, while I was in the hospital having the baby. Any way the story had a happy ending Troy grew into an accomplished, most wonderful and gracious young man, and wonderful dad to his own two girls, in the world. So again, a GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TROY!   Love, Mom

November 27, 2017

Thanksgiving of 2017 was one of the nicest I have ever experienced. I spent it with Christi and her family and Amy and Lexee. We went to Bubba and Christi’s ranch ‘Antler Ridge’ up in Georgia. This 400 acre ranch had deer, wild turkey, fox, bobcat and etc. on it. I learned that in November the deer mated. The doe eats the leaves off of a tree and at the same time scratches the ground where she is standing – she then urinates in the scratch area. This is her way of letting the buck know she is in heat (so to speak). The buck then hunts her down.

Back at the ranch our time was spent enjoying the family, kids, grandkids, great-grandkids. We played hours and hours of ‘pool’, baseball in the vast backyard, and I even road on a go-cart with the Ggrandkids. What a fun time.  On Thanksgiving day, we sat around a huge table, blessed the vast amount of food that had been prepared and everyone (from the youngest to the eldest)) then (as we were enjoying the meal), gave a verbal thanks for why they thought they were blessed. Heartfelt stories were enjoyed by all through laughter and tears.

On a tour through the woods Bubba told us things about deer that I never knew. He took us to the 100 acres they lease to a farmer who raises cotton and peanuts. Did you know that peanuts are not a nut? They belong to the legume family. We picked cotton and ate some of the left over peanuts that were on the ground from the harvest.

It was truly a memorable thanksgiving. – Great food, Great fun, Beautiful/perfect weather and best of all FAMILY.

P.S. There is a story about our excursion to cut down a Christmas tree. That will be included in my Christmas Blog.