It's my boys who distract me most from exercise. That's just the way it is. They're kids. They have needs and wishes and demands that keep me busy from sun-up to sun-down. It's hard to find time for fitness. I don't go to a gym. I prefer to use my own treadmill, walk the seven hills in my neighborhood, run outdoors, and conduct my scrunching, pushing, lunging, squatting, and resisting in the privacy of my own home. I don't have a gym membership with free childcare offerings or a list of babysitters who will come to my rescue when I need to huff and puff. I have me, my kids, and the hours in the day, though. And I am trying desperately at fitting fitness in.

Today, after enduring what seemed like endless little-boy fighting and tormenting, I determined my guys needed a workout just as much as I did. I threw them in the car. I threw their scooters, a big wheel, and a football in the car too. We drove to a nearby community college track, unloaded ourselves and our gear, and got to work. I ran two miles. And six-year-old Joey and four-year-old Danny scooted, pedaled, walked, ran, climbed a pile of dirt, and threw their football until their faces were splotchy from the heat, their little bodies zapped with fatigue.

Our whole fitness feat took no more than one hour and ended as we guzzled water and poured our sweaty selves back into the car. Back home, I felt so much better about my day. And I was better equipped for the fighting that continued as soon as we walked in the door.

From houseplants to raised beds, to plant a seed, tend the soil, and watch a plant grow is one of the most inspiringly hopeful of activities. In hopefulness is found a kind of healing. According to the American Horticultural Therapy Association, horticulture therapy is defined as "a process utilizing plants and horticultural activities to improve social, educational, psychological and physical adjustment of persons thus improving their body, mind, and spirit." The American Cancer Society offers a list of some of horticulture therapy benefits one can expect from gardening that include:

• Feelings of hope.
• Stress reduction.
• Social interaction.
• Pain relief.
• Improved muscle tone, flexibility, and cardiopulmonary capability.
• Creativity and self-expression.
• Enhanced self-esteem and improved mood.
• Motor skill development.
  

As the New Year arrives, so do the gardening catalogs in the mail. Interested in receiving gardening catalogs but not certain where to start? Cyndi's Catalog of Garden Catalogs lists over 2,000 mail-order gardening catalogs for the home gardener.

Two of my favorite gardening websites and online catalogs are found at Seeds of Change and Seed Savers Exchange.

At Seeds of Change, you can find garden seeds, seed collections, cover crops, seedlings, fruit trees, garden tools, kitchen items, and a bookstore. All organic. In addition, Seeds of Change publishes a newsletter.

Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit organization that saves and shares heirloom seeds. According to Seed Savers Exchange, "Our organization is saving the world's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity."

But, wherever you start, once you catch the gardening bug, you will understand why horticulture therapy is becoming an integrated part in healing programs adopted at some of the medical centers across the country.

Survivor Crop, hosted by Ever After Scrapbooks, is an annual 24 hour scrapbooking marathon to raise money for breast cancer.

Now in its fifth year, participants come together to scrapbook, attend classes, play games, hold a raffle, enjoy catered breakfast and dinner, receive a Survivor T-shirt and scrapbooking freebies.

Breast cancer survivors attending will be telling their stories and the organizers promise a few scrapbooking surprises during the event.

In the last four years this event has raised over $116,000 dollars for the San Diego Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National MS Foundation, and each year the event gets bigger. The first one was held in a tent in the parking lot of the Ever After Scrapbooks store. This year's event will be held indoors in a much larger area on October 21st and 22nd. Each year, an Ultimate Survivor is chosen. For more information, visit the Ever After Scrapbooks website and the Survivor Crop blog.

Chili's restaurant is the place to be on September 25 -- because 100 percent of profits earned on this day will go to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital -- the only hospital for sick children that does not require anyone to pay for treatment. So fundraising is key -- and Chili's has cooked up all sorts of creative ways to help conquer cancer in children.

Besides Donate All Our Profits Day, Chili's is sponsoring a program called Creativity for a Cause -- where customers make a donation and then color a rendering of a pepper. The coloring sheets are displayed at participating restaurants in a chain-like fashion, hanging from the ceilings. Create a Pepper gift cards are also available. For every $25 spent on gift cards, Chili's will donate $1 to St. Jude's. And t-shirts -- black with a white pepper gracing the front -- can be purchased for $12. Kids can even have fun on-line with Chili's crafty creations, including an interactive pepper coloring activity.

All this fundraising goes hand in hand with the development of the Chili's Care Center -- a St. Jude's state-of-the-art building dedicated to groundbreaking research on brain tumors. The center is scheduled to open in Fall 2007 -- thanks to Chili's professionals who over the course of 10 years have donated a historic $50 million to St. Jude's.

I found Sark long ago -- about 10 years ago when I was working with college students on a campus in Virginia. Part of my job was supervising Resident Assistants -- students who live and work on the residence hall floors and are responsible for building community among residents -- advising them and counseling them and mentoring them and stepping in when conflict and trouble arises. It's a tough job -- being a peer and being in charge at the same time -- and Resident Assistants receive intensive training on how to best manage a floor of students possibly living away from home for the first time. I got to train these student leaders at times -- and Sark's books helped me motivate, inspire, and get to know these individuals. And over the years, as I assumed other jobs and roles and purposes, I found that Sark was still a great companion for me. And now I realize that what Sark has to offer really applies to anyone looking for a little inspiration, a little direction, a little creativity, a little delight.

I'm not much of a cook -- I don't like to cook, I don't cook well, and I am never really enticed to spend any amount of time in the kitchen preparing food. So my husband picks up my slack much of the time. Tonight he made turkey meatballs with rice and green peppers -- and some other veggie side dishes too -- and he cooks pasta and grills chicken and can successfully feed our family of four without hesitation or frustration. For me, cooking, hesitation, and frustration all roll into one. And that's why I avoid anything of the culinary persuasion and thank my lucky stars for a husband who doesn't mind cooking endeavors. But sometimes, I am forced to enter the kitchen -- I have two growing boys who need to eat, after all, and I am the one mostly at home catering to their every need. So I do okay -- I try to maintain a healthily family menu and I can handle the basics and no one is really complaining so I guess I'm holding my own. But I'd like to find more pleasure in cooking -- and more variety and more creativity too. Perhaps free weekly recipes sent to my e-mail inbox would be a push in the right direction.

The American Institute for Cancer Research offers this service, and I am just moments away from subscribing to this offering that was started by a cancer group who sends out to anyone who signs up free recipes that are mostly lowfat, high-fiber, and plant-based. Launched just several months ago, this service already has more than 10,000 subscribers -- and many are cancer survivors who have learned to make everything from cherry spritzers to brown rice pudding to sweet potato and peanut chili. A name and e-mail address is all it takes to get the ball rolling -- just visit www.aicr.org and look for the health-e-recipes area.  Soon, simple and nutritious recipes will be at your fingertips. And at mine too. Unless I decide to pass them off to my husband.

The Paint Box Project, artWORKS for Cancer Cures features a selection of holiday cards and gifts for spring created by Roswell Park's pediatric patient-artists to benefit cancer research and patient care. They offer Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day and other occasion cards, as well as chocolates from Choco-Logo. To celebrate spring, you can say Thank You, Thinking of You, Congratulations and Happy Birthday with delightfully original artwork from the creativity of kids of the The Paint Box Project.

You can purchase chocolates like the Bunny’s Nest, the Chocolate Tower, Buffalo Bark chocolate covered pretzels or the Salty Bar. Gifts offered for sale include the Light of Hope soy wax candles, bright and cheerful wrapping paper, colorful spiral journals and an exclusive line of Buffalo-themed cards created by local artist Leslie Zemsky. While you are shopping, be sure to read the patient artists profiles of the children behind this spring's collection of cards. Oh! I love artwork by kids. Hurry, it's almost time for Mother's Day.