Tag Archives: exercise

Moving the Lard

I am currently doing three things to move the lard in an effort to keep all my parts moving in as pain-free a manner as possible for as long as possible.

THING ONE– Senior Online Exercise Videos by Mike from More Life Health Seniors – There are a whole series of these. If you’re interested, click on the link above to scroll through the offerings. I’m trying to do at least two different ones daily.

THING TWO – a 30 – 40 minute session of old lady stretching yoga daily. I have made my own series of stretches and positions now, but I started with a “Gentle Yoga ” DVD I purchased through Sixty and Me by Kat Kabira. She got me over my intimidation of the whole yoga idea, stressing that stretching toward, and breathing into, stretches and poses was as good for beginners as ACTUALLY being able to bend over and touch your toes, for example. I do a lot of “stretching toward” and “breathing into”, and I can tell you that I really feel the difference if I don’t take the time to do my practice.

thumbpress.com-boredpanda.com

THING THREE – And finally, I try to get outside daily (if Mother Nature is feeling cooperative) to get some fresh air, walk around, and do something good in the yard. It may be half an hour harvesting veggies, weeding flower beds, weed whacking, spraying bug spray or weed control spray, etc.

The combination of these three things plus watching my carbs and sodium is all working together in my efforts to lose the lard. MyFitnessPal.com is a free website where I can list my exercise, my weight and measurements, and the foods I eat daily to make sure I’m staying on track. I believe I have finally found a good, healthy combination to accomplish my goal of staying as healthy as possible as the years pile on. :0)

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Getting My Act Together

My new electric meat slicer was delivered yesterday. I reorganized part of my kitchen counter so the slicer is now on an easily moveable place mat so I can slide the slicer out a bit for use, with a NON-slide place mat on top of THAT so the slicer won’t slide when I’m using it. :0) I just ordered a cover that’s made for this particular slicer, rather than the towel I’m using now. I’ll read the manual for this later today.

Here’s the cover.

I’m set up now so I can cook and slice most any meat to eat for my lunches, taking the place of the deli turkey I THOUGHT was healthy, but turned out to be sky high in sodium. (Same with salami. )

I did find some lunch meat that’s half the sodium or less than what I’m finishing up now while I’m gearing up to do all my own.

I also found some low carb, much-lower-sodium frozen dinners at Stu’s Clean Cookin’ in Greenwood. I will try all of these, but some are higher sodium than I would like for the long run. It will depend on how the food changes come together (shown clearly on MyFitnessPal.com) before I make long term decisions.

Meanwhile, my doc has increased my thyroid hormone dosage, so that should help, as well, though it will probably take several 6-week trials before we zero in on my new good dosage.

I’m finally getting my act together on eating healthier, plus I’m working in the yard most every day and doing a session of yoga stretching in the afternoons at least 3 times a week if not every day. Hopefully, the lard will start coming off in a more steady manner and my next routine blood tests in October will show significant improvement. :0)

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Monday 4-15-2024

Karin de Haas – Funda Altincekic Aysel

I hope that you, also, cannot be down after looking at another of Karin de Haas’ pieces. I love the absolute surrender to laughter and love of life shown in her work. I would love to BE the lady here.

Ta Focando – Unsplash.com

I’m leaving soon to meet my miracle-worker-hair-dresser, Michael Remillard, Tangles, Greenwood AR, who will hopefully, once again, be able to bring order out of chaos. :0) I’m taking him a gallon bag of lettuce from our garden, since he’s a salad lover, like me.

Women’s Health

I was a good girl yesterday, doing half an hour or so of yoga stretching plus a 10-minute video on general movement, plus another 10-minute video on exercises with weights. That’s pretty good for an old broad like me. I’ll try to do that again today.

When I get home from my haircut, I’ll stop and get the mail and then go up and gather trash to take back down to the bottom of the driveway to put in the trash can I’ll drag down. I’m trying to be proactive about this because I don’t want to even THINK about my husband skidding and falling on the gravel in the driveway.

Better Homes & Gardens

Not sure what the rest of the day will hold. We’re forecast to get rain late tonight into tomorrow morning. I’m hoping my veggie plants will get a nice soaking rain from it. There is always the possibility of hail, but they are not emphasizing it now, so I’m not planning to cover my planters.

I’m still angry at myself. My husband and I had finished eating dinner in front of the TV and we were still watching a program with Amber on her bed in front of the TV. All of a sudden I heard noise in the kitchen. Amber had oozed her way off her bed and sneaked into the kitchen while I was distracted. She ate half of the roast beef and sauce from the skillet on the stove. She has done this a couple of times before. I KNOW better than to leave the gate to the kitchen open. It’s really hard to take when your dog is smarter and more sneaky than you.

Have a wonderful day.

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Sunday 4-14-2024

@Urbandartist2 on X

I hope this day is starting well for you.

I’ll go out in a bit and harvest some lettuce for my good friend and miracle-worker-hair-stylist, Michael Remillard, Tangles Hair Salon, Greenwood AR (479) 996-6366 to take to him tomorrow when he once again transforms me from looking like a ‘dandelion-gone-to-seed-in-a-storm’ to ‘someone-has-a-plan’ – a difficult feat to be sure.

We’re supposed to have highs in the 80’s here through Thursday and several chances for rain in the coming week, starting today, so that’s good news and bad news for my veggies. The good news is that I should see some good growth in my tomato plants, and I won’t have to water. I’ll need to make sure the tomato supports are adequate or add more, plus prune the plants for the best tomato production I can. The bad news is that these unseasonably warm temperatures in the early spring may cause my lettuce and spinach some grief. I sure don’t want to be faced with them ‘bolting’ at this point!

We’ve enjoyed the first harvest of leaf lettuce in a big chef salad for dinner one night, several other salads, plus some roast beef sandwiches last night. Such a nice luxury. I’m glad to be able to share some with Michael tomorrow.

Amazon

I’ve done my 10-minute video with weights from Mike, my Australian senior exercise expert, MoreLifeHealth.com, for 2 days now. I can tell you that my arms are ‘feeling’ the exercise, but not so much I can’t do the next day easily. I’m only using 3-pound weights and will do this for the foreseeable future. Then I’ll switch to 5-pound weights. It feels good to be trying to gain strength in my arms. This should help me in getting up off the floor after my yoga stretches, too! :0)

Have some fun today.

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Saturday 4-13-2024

Karin de Haas – Funda Altincekic Aysel

Karin’s work makes a smile start down at my toes and work all the way up until it simply spews out the top of my head. I can’t look at these without smiling and feeling happy. She truly has a gift.

Yesterday I made “Broccoli, Bacon, and Cheese Egg Muffins” from my Simply Keto recipe book by Suzanne Ryan. I ate one this morning. It was really good and is only 2.6 net carbs. :0)

Tonight I’ll fix a roast beef sandwich for my husband and I’ll eat what I call ‘roll-ups’ – with roast beef and cheese rolled up inside Mission Zero Net Carbs Tortillas for me. I’ll finish my ‘splurge’ at lunch with the remaining chicken tender from the deli in town.

We’re due for a really nice weekend weather-wise. I’ll try to spend some time in the yard to celebrate.

Yoga, two 10-minute exercise videos (one with weights and the other stretching) and combo work-in-the-yard and walking around outside will complete my exercise plans for the day.

I’m not sure what else is in store. My husband is trying to write a complicated program on his computer. He finally asked for help from our son via the chat program and then the video conference program. I don’t know whether it helped or not, but he’s busily frowning at his screen. I told him that it was good he reached out because our son really likes to visit with him regardless of the the subject. I was proven right when I read the last line of our son’s reply on chat this morning. “I was happy to see you earlier!”

Make this a wonderful day.

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Moving the Bulk

Melsanie.tumblr.com – boredpanda.com

I won’t say I have built a ‘habit’ of doing my approximately half-hour of old lady yoga stretching daily, but it HAS become a grudging ‘responsibility to myself.’ I highly resent that I don’t get a flood of endorphins, or whatever you’re supposed to get that makes you happy to be alive, raring to go, climbing Mt. Everest in the morning, and what not. I just do my stretches the best way I can, usually feeling a bit ‘looser’ than I did when I first got down on my mat, and put my sparkly star on my calendar.

Women’s Health

Yesterday I started a new thing – a few exercises to strengthen my arms with 5-pound weights. I only did 5 reps of each movement, but it’s a start and I’ll build up from here. I’ll do this M-W-F. (I put TWO stars on my calendar yesterday.)

vgajic – Getty Images – Fit and Well

Today I’ll do 10 minutes or so on my Elliptical Trainer in the garage – after cleaning off quite-a while’s-worth of dust off and finding my MP3 player. (I just FOUND it – plugged into its charger behind my computer screen, along with the earplugs that go with it. :0) ) I’ll plan to do this right after lunch, and the plan is to do this T-TH-S and increase the time as I can.

Since I’ve already been out weeding and harvesting my veggie planters this morning, the yoga and the elliptical will round out my day nicely on moving the bulk.

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Welcoming Spring 2024

leahbelle-thePixMix

Somehow I forgot to send Happy Spring Wishes yesterday. My apologies. I DO send them to you. :0)

I finished planting my spring garden yesterday afternoon. We got the rest of the plants yesterday morning and I waited until it warmed up to actually plant. Yesterday I planted 6 more spinach plants and 8 tomato plants.

This is the 8-foot planter. I planted Butter Crunch leaf lettuce, iceberg head lettuce, and spinach. Due to space, I just spread the plants out as best I could, changing from one type of plant to the other, rather than planting the spinach 4-to-a-square, and the leaf lettuce the same way. I’m hoping the plants will do okay like this.

This is a closer view. The plants have a bit more room to spread out than in traditional square foot planting.

This square planter has 4 tomato plants around the center pole with supports tied to the pole for sturdiness. Then I planted some of the lettuces and the spinach around the perimeter.

The ‘niche’ planter (because it is sheltered by the back of the house and our screened porch) has the other 4 tomato plants. I’m going to TRY not to allow the plants to spill over the side onto the ground this time. I really hate cutting healthy vines, but I’m telling myself that all the energy goes to the vines, rather than producing tomatoes…

Today I’m planning to get there this afternoon when it’s warmer (it’s 47 now) do some weed whacking, fertilizing, and soil-enhancing.

This yard work PLUS my yoga practice PLUS my normal other activities is really making me welcome the bed at night. Probably good for building my character, as well. :0)

Are you growing a garden this year?

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“Yesterday…”

Ben Hood – Getty Images

Yesterday I did a bunch (for me). I –

  • gathered trash and drove it down when we left for errands. I dragged the can down to the bottom of the driveway and put the trash IN it.
  • We got our mail
  • We drove to Ft. Smith to sign our tax returns and get our copies of everything
  • We stopped at the Co-op on the way home and I bought leaf lettuce, head lettuce, and spinach plants

Best of all, we went in the TRUCK instead of the Vette. I don’t enjoy riding in the Vette anymore. My husband drives like he is 20, zipping in and around everyone on the road, stepping on the gas when I would step on the brakes. The fact that he is 80 and is still recovering from a broken collarbone from falling on the ice just wouldn’t make a difference. SO – I was very grateful that we took the truck. :0)

When we got home I gathered the planting stuff and took it out to the east end of the house where we have the three brick planters we converted to square foot planters a year or so ago. I got all the plants in (16 of each), fertilized and watered them. I rested a bit, then, since I would be fixing dinner soon, I took king-sized sheets and clothespins out and covered the plants. It was due to – and DID – freeze last night. (I have an alarm set now for an hour to go out and UNcover the plants before we need to leave for some errands this morning.) I think I’ll give the garden a day to see if these plants look like they’re going to make it before buying more.

I did my yoga like a good girl, although I had quite a talk with myself. At first I thought, okay – I spent about 45 minutes out in the yard, bending, digging, planting, watering, then covering things with sheets. I have had my exercise for the day and don’t need to do my yoga today. On the other hand, I have committed to trying to do it EVERY day, building a habit, hopefully giving my body the gift of better balance, more strength and flexibility. My responsible side won.

The end result was that I was pooped. I made our dinner, then cleaned up the kitchen. I took my shower early and went to bed early. My husband woke me up this morning or I would have overslept!

So, I hope the plants are looking happy later today and tomorrow. If they are, I’ll get the second load of plants and see if I can finish. I want to plant tomatoes, and I’m not sure what other veggies I’ll get. :0)

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Checking In

sent to me by my friend, Marsha

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Well, Shut My Mouth!

Asier_Relampago – Freepik.com

I’m down 21.6 pounds since my heaviest. One day at a time.

I’m going to get a spaghetti squash today to bake so that I can make the third in my trifecta of substitutes for the ‘white stuff’ I love to serve under sauces – “cauli-rice,” “zoodles,” and “spaghetti squash.” When I finish the prep today, I’ll have a supply of each frozen in individual portions so that I can follow my low carb eating plan while my husband eats whatever pasta and white rice. He has looked quite appalled at my idea that he join me in the change, so this way we can both eat “spaghetti,” for example, with smiles on our faces.

I’ve also discovered Mission Zero Carb Tortillas. They actually have 7 carbs per tortilla, but 7 grams of fiber, so “0” net carbs. I can enjoy one each evening in place of the dinner roll I’ve been eating. Tonight I’m making a large tuna fish salad for our dinner.

I’m happy with progress with my yoga practice. Today is Day 21 of every-afternoon practice. I’m up to 20 reps on my abdominal exercise (started at 5), and 7 reps on each side of my leg lifts (bird dog pose) (started with 3). I’m feeling looser. I won’t say I look forward to my exercise session, but I’m getting ‘used-to-it.’ :0)

I’m hoping I can keep my head on straight with my mouth shut regarding eating or drinking what I shouldn’t so I can continue losing the lard and getting stronger, more flexible, with better balance.

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Sunday 2-25-2024

Daniel J Greenwood-@DigitalDanielG on X

Isn’t this glorious?

I really wanted to sleep later this morning, but my bladder insisted I get up. I’m still feeling a bit bleery-eyed, drinking coffee to try to wake up my system.

I’m feeling hopeful this morning, bleery-eyed or not, that the emphasis on lowering my carbs is getting the attention of my scales. I’ve lost 3-1/2 pounds since I started my new regimen. (No handsprings or anything, since I have a gazillion more to go, but it’s NICE to have the scales laughing a bit less several mornings now. )

I’m going through my Simply Keto recipe book, finding new recipes I plan to try, adding to my grocery list. I really like the fact that Suzanne Ryan doesn’t glory in spending time in the kitchen. Her recipes are simple, using ingredients you can readily find in regular grocery stores, and they don’t take a lot of prep or time. Just perfect for me.

Recently I used my spiralizer to make ‘zoodles,’ or pasta noodle type stuff from zucchini. The one zucchini yielded enough for three 1-cup servings. I ate one with my spaghetti sauce and froze the other two.

Love and Lemons

Today I’m going to make ‘cauli-rice,’ a rice substitute from cauliflower. I’m hoping that my efforts will yield enough for several meals. I’m going to cook some stew meat in my slow cooker, starting at lunch time, then combine that with Paul Newman’s Alfredo Sauce (3 carbs per serving.) I’ll serve that over regular rice for my husband and over the cauli-rice for me.

I have also discovered a way to work with the MyFitnessPal program better for ME – when I’m eating the number of calories I CAN eat, it tells me that, if I keep eating the same way, I’ll weigh “X” in 5 weeks. (The actual results of this is that I don’t lose weight.) If I eat fewer calories, it tells me, “You’re not eating enough.” I used to go find some foods to add to get the calories up. Now I list what I’m comfortable eating for the day, plus my exercises. If it says I’m not eating enough, it means that there is a chance the scales will show a bit less the next morning. :0)

I will earn my 7th star on my calendar this afternoon for daily yoga stretches. That feels good. My calendar is sparkly with the stars, feeding my spirits emotionally, and the yoga practice is making my body stronger and more flexible. Win/win.

So, feeling positive – even though still a bit bleery-eyed – on a beautiful Sunday. Hope YOUR Sunday is a good one, too.

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Saturday Thoughts 2-24-2024

Unsplash

I’m seeing a bit of progress in my efforts to get my act together. In my yoga yesterday, I was able to do 10 reps of my abdominal exercise (started with 5), and will earn star #6 on my week’s calendar on daily practice. (It felt really good just now to replace the words, “try for” with “EARN”.)

Second, I’m getting a good start on limiting my carbs. I’ve lost 2 lbs since I got serious, using MyFitnessPal.com to work out what I’ll eat for the day. I really like this website. I can type in the name of a frozen dinner, for example, such as Lean Cuisine Herb Roasted Chicken, and it has an extensive data base of foods, added to by their membership, so it’s easy to list and find out where it fits in my plan for the day. They have a place where you can list your own recipes and store them. I can ‘play’ with options for each meal, plus snacks, and see before I screw up how it will work, or if I need to choose something else. Really helpful website if you’re trying to lose weight or just make sure that you’re eating the right foods for a health condition, etc.

I made ‘zoodles’ yesterday. This is a staple for low carb foodies, zucchini taking the place of spaghetti and other pastas.

This is my spiralizer. You cut off one end of the zucchini, put it in the “thick” or “thin” end of the spiralizer, then twist the zucchini. Long ‘ribbons’ of zucchini are formed. The end you see to the right is used when the zucchini is too short to hold, but still has some good ribbons left to make.

I can make my own low carb spaghetti sauce, for example, make some spaghetti for my husband, and heat up a serving of zoodles for me, making both of us happy. One zucchini made three 1-cup servings for me. I froze two of them, eating one last night. Today I’ll make some cauli-rice, a substitute for regular rice. These two things are wonderful for me. They taste fine (although I do miss the real things), allowing my husband and me to eat basically the same dinner, making him happy and taking any guilt away from me, allowing me to stay on my low-carb regimen.

SO – feeling as if I’m making a bit of progress, I will continue ‘onward and downward’ hopefully, with more flexibility and a stronger, flatter abdomen. :0)

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Relaaaaxxxxxing Jaw…

beelzeboobs-boredpanda.com

“Relaxing jaw. Relaxing face….” I’m making some progress, finally, getting back into my yoga. My husband is doing well enough now that I can take half an hour to stretch and try to relax.

I still sound like Rice Krispies, crackling and popping my way into stretches, but I’m able to stretch a bit farther, or hold the pose a bit longer now. I still find myself listening for unfamiliar sounds, or being aware if my husband is in his recliner and shifts position, but it’s getting better.

I’ll also get even more help because my massage was rescheduled to Monday. I’m really looking forward to that. My therapist, Lynn, is a miracle-worker, finding and loosening whatever knots I’ve brought in, whether I knew about them or not.

Being a hard-head, having to learn things the hard way over and over, I’ve had to LEARN that practicing yoga for half an hour or more a day is a really good thing to do for myself. It makes me move easier, makes me hurt less, makes me looser, steadier on my feet, etc.

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Sugar Pops

imgur-Skirmante – boredpanda.com

When I do my yoga practice in the afternoons, I’m constantly reminded of one of the cereals I ate in childhood, Sugar Pops. The ad talked about the ‘snap, crackle, and pop’ the cereal made after you poured milk on it in the bowl – even adding the sound effect to the ad. I loved the cereal, put EXTRA sugar on it, devouring it with gusto. They had prizes in the bottom of the box ( as did several other cereals for kids back then) and my mom had a firm rule we had to eat our way down to the prize. Interesting memories with what we’ve learned about nutrition since then.

My body is the cereal. No milk needed for the snapping, crackling, and popping to begin. Even my husband remarks about it as HE sits in his chair watching me…

I CAN feel some improvement in my stretching, though. I remind myself that Cat Kabira – the wonderful lady who made the Old Lady Stretching Videos (actually called “Gentle Yoga for Seniors”) to which I refer – says that stretching TOWARD your goal – and breathing into it – is as good for your body as actually reaching the goal. The stretching and relaxation is what is important.

I may be noisy, but I’m doing something good for myself. :0)

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I Earned Half a Bear!

I’m not sure which of these pictures (or either of them) clearly shows you that I’m half way to an old Nutrisystem reward bear that says, “20”. I have officially lost 15 pounds this morning.

I know I told you a couple of days ago that I had lost 14.4, but 15 is much more satisfying as a number. :0)

I have a long way to go on my journey, but I’m starting to feel I may have a handle on what works for me, if I can just keep my act together.

The basics for an older-than-dirt lady like me are –

  • Intermittent fasting from after dinner at night until lunch the following day.
  • I eat mostly protein and share an apple with my husband for lunch
  • For dinner we eat either portion-controlled leftovers from my cooking or occasionally a commercial frozen dinner (Healthy Choice/Atkins), sometimes a side veggie, plus one dinner roll with butter.
  • I’m trying to drink lots more water during the day
  • I’m trying to move more – walking out to the shop, working out in the yard, plus doing a session of old lady yoga stretches each afternoon with some extra exercises thrown in.

This is what is finally working for me, and I have all appendages crossed that I will earn the 2nd side of the ’20’ bear soon.

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Very Small Celebration

4ArtWorks

My scales weren’t quite so snarky this morning, registering my loss of almost 15 pounds – finally. Even a turtle looks like a race car in comparison to my weight loss, but it IS happening, and I AM learning healthier habits. So, a very small celebration of moving in the right direction plus “keepin’-on-keepin’-on!”

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Feeling Old and Creaky

Rivercity Pilates

Yesterday I went out and did about 20 minutes of pulling up small “weed trees” beside the shop. I’m trying to get these pulled by hand because they are too much for the wire in the weed whacker. Even though I only did that one session, my back hurt so badly when I was cooking dinner I had to ask my husband to come stir the chicken I was browning.

I’m going to redouble my efforts today on my yoga. It’s taken a back seat to my yard work, and my body is apparently telling me that is a mistake. I need to make time for both. I have to learn this lesson over and over – being a bit slow-witted – learning that the stretching and relaxation is essential to my well-being. :0(

@Britton65Sam on X

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Sunday’s Accomplishment

8 foot tomato planter before

NOW

Square tomato planter before

NOW

And that’s it for my outside work (and exercise) for the day.

Tomorrow (weather permitting) I have 4 planters – two really small concrete planters on either side of the garage door – and then two regular-sized brick planters that are on either side of the garage pad.

Here they are –

Hopefully, I can get something significant accomplished each day until I have things under control once again.

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Knowing Myself

Sent to me by Carol.

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Wednesday 7-26-2023

Work + Money

HEAT ADVISORY –

We’re under an ‘intense heat advisory’ for the rest of the week. It’s typical for Arkansas to be hot in the summer, but as I age I handle it with less grace each year. My tolerable range of heat has narrowed to the point I have to laugh. Thank goodness for heat and air conditioning and the freedom to avoid being out in most of whatever weather we’re having.

Sololos-Getty Images-iStockphotos

TOMATOES –

I’ve decided to simply work on cleaning up my tomato plants, rather than pulling them out at this point to see if they produce any more reasonable-sized tomatoes. Mother Nature has been in a snit this year, providing some of the worst veggie-growing sun/water/temperature/storm combinations we’ve had in the over 36 years we’ve lived here. I thought maybe it was just me, but my friends’ Kay and Bud have been having successful veggie gardens for years and years and their efforts produced nothing this year. BAH. HUMBUG. :0(

EXERCISE –

I’ve decided to count the stress of dealing with the challenges my husband is presenting as my cardio for the day. If he DOESN’T cause my heart to stutter, stop and start again with one of his sneaky projects, I make it up with my yoga practice. Yard work in the heat rounds out my exercise routine these days, with short sessions, drinking water, and resting in-between.

Dental Economics

I’M DUMB! –

I am feeling SUPER embarrassed today after pulling a really DUMB stunt last night. I cooked dinner and was serving the hamburger patties from the skillet. My husband was being helpful and rinsing stuff and putting things in the dishwasher as I served. “Somehow” I got distracted.

We ate and then I went into the office. My husband came in and asked if I meant to leave the burner on on the stove. GULP. NO!!!!!!!! It had been left on for at least an hour, burning propane. At LEAST there wasn’t a pot or skillet on the burner, but that’s the best I can say. I’ve never done that before.

Every 20 years or so I lock my keys in the car. I’m HOPING that this is one of the things I can say that about – assuming I can say ANYTHING in another 20 years…..

LOOK WHAT I DID –

Earrings – Stud/Post – “Midnight” Layered Wooden Hand Painted, Light Weight, One of a Kind $13.95 with FREE SHIPPING to the contiguous U.S.

Contact me at lindawlewis1 with questions. Click this link to go to HandmadeHavenByLinda to purchase.

I wish you a wonderful Wednesday.

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Best Intentions

Sent by my good friend, Carol.

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Creeeeeeeak!

Minions

Animal Comedy – Cheezburger

You can almost HEAR all the cracks and pops as I move slowly and carefully through my yoga poses. I have to move carefully because AGAIN I’ve been lazy and using excuses, rather than practicing, so I’m stiff and sore.

I’ve been doing the practice daily again for about 4 days now. I’m feeling a bit better, but I still have to MINDFULLY get myself into the living room and get my mat each afternoon.

Yesterday my dog, Amber (yellow lab) and cat, Abby, BOTH joined me when I got down on the floor. My husband finally started to laugh and then encouraged the animals to give me a break, rather than keep trying to lie down beside or ON me.

I’ve lost a lot of ground with all the excuses, so I’m trying to be patient with myself and just keep breathing into the stretches, waiting for my body to finally ‘give’ a bit in the right direction.

taolife.com

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Cookies

Forwarded by my friend Marsha

She and I are trying to encourage each other in our efforts to lose the lard and exercise.

She has lost a pound or two already recently and purchased a peddler that she can use several times a day, rain or shine, to try to build muscle and stamina. Huge kudos!

I, on the other hand, am a dismal failure. I do pretty well, and then my husband, trying to be nice, brings me a dish of ice cream with chocolate syrup. Or, failing that excuse, I decide I’m starving to death mid afternoon and have some pretzels, even after drinking a bottle of water first and waiting to try to curb my hunger. I’ve also been using my meager yard work as a substitute for my yoga practice. Bah. Humbug.

I’m trying to do one day at a time – even one morning at a time. I’ll try to get my act together VERY SOON – if not TODAY…

taolife.com

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Therapeutic Yoga

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Running out of excuses for not doing my yoga sessions lately, I did a session of careful stretches yesterday, trying to straighten out, stretch, relax into old lady poses, and generally give myself a chance to heal.

Why I need to convince myself from time to time that it really HELPS me to do this practice remains a mystery. General laziness, I guess.

I had been feeling creaky, sore, stiff, etc. from yard work, helping my husband change the tires on our truck and more, and I was basically doing the minimum movement needed.

Being dumb is not something I cultivate, so now that I’ve proven it to myself once again, I’ll try to do at least half an hour daily, no matter what else I’m doing.

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Friends

Clarity Clinic

A shout-out this morning to my good friend Marsha.

She lives across the country from me, but in my heart all the time.

We are helping each other be the healthiest we can be by each motivating the other to exercise every day.

She is walking to the post office daily and also using a new pedaler in her home so she doesn’t have to depend on the weather being good.

I am doing yoga practice daily and then ‘something else,’ including, but not limited to, at least one of the following –

  • elliptical trainer in the garage
  • online walking and/or weights videos
  • yard work
  • walking around the yard

We KNOW that exercise is good for us, but each of us is a master at making excuses for NOT doing it. We care about each other, though, and are now comparing notes daily.

If we have done what we promised each other (and ourselves) we would do, we put a star on our calendar. If not, we tell them we love them and encourage them to do better the next day.

Yesterday we both got a star! We’ll try to do it again today. :0)

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Filed under Encouragement, exercise, Friendship

It’s Friday! 1-20-2023

Apyr

It’s freezing right now, but it’s sunny, and supposed to get to 51 this afternoon, so I have no complaints. It’s also “Lunch Bunch Day,” a chance to visit with my good friends. Kay called, and she’s feeling better, and thought last night that she would be there today. I haven’t heard from anyone else, so I’m hoping we’ll have a full contingent. It’s been 3 weeks since we enjoyed seeing each other.

I’m also planning to do my walking video and do my yoga this afternoon. I’ve stuttered on doing them every day since my arm was hurting, but now, since it’s getting better slowly, I’m going to try to do them daily. Lynn, my wonderful friend/massage therapist and I bonded even more yesterday when we told each other that we resented the fact we weren’t flooded with endorphins and balloons when we exercised, the way some people are. They say, “OOH, I feel so GOOD after I exercise!” Well, WE say, “Bah. Humbug” to that. We just pat ourselves on the head for doing what we know is good for us and go on. I was SO pleased to find someone else who felt the same. I really thought I was the only one. :0)

I hope you have an enjoyable day.

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“Diet” vs “Lifestyle”

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I KNOW this, and yet, seeing this in writing really caught my attention. Since I’m a ‘sparkly-stars-on-my-desk-calendar’ type of gal, I DO tend to feel like a failure and lose momentum when I ‘mess up.’ It takes me a bit to get going again.

I also have to admit that I have been TRYING to change my thinking for a long time. If I had a gravestone, I guess it would be the truth if it said, “All or nothing.” My house is either ready for House Beautiful to come photograph it for their magazine, or looks like an explosion (or six) has occurred. I’ve either cleared out my garden and covered it neatly or it’s completely overflowing with weeds. I’m either eating exactly what I ‘should’ or have gone off the rails and am enjoying a bacon cheeseburger. I’m still on my ‘first husband’ after almost 54 years. Do you see a pattern here? :0)

A resolution I’m trying to keep this year is giving myself a break. Not only realizing that I’m not perfect, but ALSO realizing that it’s what I do MOST of the time that will make the difference I want. If I mess up, or I’m not feeling well, no one else CARES whether I did my yoga for the day, or ate more comfort food than I should have. What MATTERS is that each meal is a chance to eat in a healthy manner. Each day is an opportunity to be good to my body, giving it what it NEEDS, rather than what my mind might be craving at the time. Each day is an opportunity to keep my body moving, making my future full of what I would like to do, rather than only what I CAN do, given my limitations.

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1st Star of the Day 12-31-2022

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I’m patting myself – and my husband – on our heads right now. THAT -while typing this – is quite a feat! :0)

Because my husband found a new MP3 player and loaded some of my favorite music on it for me last night, allowing me to charge it overnight and have it ready for my elliptical trainer session today, I just finished 30 minutes of good exercise.

It had been quite awhile since I had been on the elliptical regularly, and the last two sessions I had to do it in complete silence, except for a squeak on my machine, making it just awful time. It seemed as if I had been on there forever, and it had only been a few minutes when I gave up each time. Just too boring and tedious. This old broad doesn’t need many excuses not to exercise…

So today, listening to songs I hadn’t heard for quite awhile playing on my MP3 player I had clipped to my shirt, was truly a pleasure. Doing my elliptical practice with my eyes shut, keeping time to the music, felt good almost all the way to the end. (Remember, I’m NOT an exercise nut and it had been quite awhile since I had done any real time on the machine.) I started peaking at the timer between the last three songs and then breathed a sigh of relief when I finished.

I thanked my husband again and put a sparkly gold star on my desk calendar. I giving myself one for the ellliptical trainer session or the warm-up and weights videos I’m doing in the mornings on alternate days, and a second star, this one silver sparkly, for my yoga session in the afternoons. Any other exercise I manage will be gravy.

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Smirking Scales

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_______________________

Beachbody on Demand

MyFitnessPal.com is helping me get through the holidays and not cause the scales to simply give up on me, though they ARE definitely smirking.

I really like this site because they do a lot to make it easy to keep track of what you’re eating. I particularly like their extensive data base of what others have added so it’s usually quick to find and list it. If you’re making a home made thing that is not on the list, you can add the ingredients once and then save it so you can easily add it again by name and others can use it, too.

Exercise can also be added, plus how many glasses of water you’re drinking, plus note about eating or exercise. I keep the tab open on my computer so that I can add things during the day, or plan what I’m eating and then modify, if needed, BEFORE I make a mistake.

The scales and the app are both doing THEIR part – I just need to do mine…

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Movin’ It

Honda UK

I just came in from 1-1/2 hours in the front yard leaf blowing. And that, apparently, is just the first pass. (The lady is this picture is PLAYING compared to what I’ve been doing.) Since the wind was blowing and I’m not stupid, I blew in the same direction as the wind. I was still getting blow-back and swirling, so I just decided to try to get rid of the big PILES of leaves, particularly on the steps around our front porch.

By the time I got to a reasonable stopping point, I was thoroughly pooped. Unless my husband ASKS, I’m not going to bother telling him what I’ve been doing. To an untrained eye, he might not be able to TELL how many billions of leaves I blew off the civilized part of our front yard. The wind is such that it now looks like we have a “lot of leaves in the front yard,” and I would get angry if my slaving away couldn’t be noticed with at LEAST a WOW!”

This morning we got two days of mail from the mailbox at the bottom of our driveway. On the way down, I told my husband about my idea of lopping off some encroaching branches each time we came up. We found an area pretty close to the bottom of the driveway that needed work, so started there. It will also make it easier for us to see if traffic is coming down the road now. We attacked one more area on the way up and then called it a day. I think, if we do that each time we drive up, we’ll have the driveway under reasonable control by the time we’re facing ice and snow. (The evergreens are awful about grabbing every snowflake or ice pellet that falls, and then drooping down into the driveway and finally making it impassable unless we’re proactive.)

So, with the lopping and hauling of branches this morning and then the leaf blowing I just finished, this old lady has been ‘movin’ it’ today. AND, as soon as I rest a bit more, I’ll try to do a good session of yoga.

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Immaturity

Giphy

I’ve been a really ‘good girl’ lately. I gave up added salt. I’ve been eating healthy meals. I have not been eating between meals. I’ve been drinking water. I’ve been working in the yard and doing daily yoga sessions. I’ve started doing the plank pose. And are my scales impressed? THEY ARE NOT!

It’s been two weeks now, and one would THINK that the scales would at least wave a little in encouragement, but NOOOOO. Bah. Humbug.

I’m TRYING to be an adult about this, telling myself that it will take awhile for the scales to show anything. It will probably be a month or so before the measuring tape gives me any encouragement. I tell myself that changes take time, to give myself a break, to concentrate on other things. Do I listen? NOOOOO. :0(

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