Rainy Day Decadence

I remember when I bought this umbrella.  Our youngest was in preschool and I thought an umbrella as crazy as this would surely make it easier for him to spot me in a crowd of overenthusiastic parents waiting at the bus stop on a rainy day.  By first grade, it quickly became an embarrassment.  Its still my favorite umbrella.
I have always loved rainy days.  I have always believed if you could dance in the rain, nothing could ever get you down.  Rain had the power to wash away the bad and let you begin again fresh.  And well, it didn't hurt that my car needed a bath.
When my husband and I were first married, we spent a lot more time hanging out with friends.  I can remember weekends long ago when we would sit around a fireplace, laugh about our week, and sip warm mugs of cocoa and peppermint schnapps.  I miss those days.
After I worked out this morning, I had to go out and pick up a new shower head to replace a broken one.  For some reason, things just keep breaking around here.  Its a bit difficult to get used to.  After all, we've never really lived anywhere long enough for stuff to break from overuse.  We've been here a little over seven years.  That's more than twice as long as anywhere else we've lived.  I never thought I'd miss moving around, but I guess I'm nomadic at heart.  I'm ready to load my duffle bag, pack up my tent and go....so to speak.
Anyway, while I was at the store (yes, it was Target) looking for the replacement shower head, I saw these Swiss Miss "Sensible Sweets" hot cocoa mixes and I thought...Mmmm, peppermint patties...something to make me feel all warm and snugly...something to remind me of a time when we were all younger, when life was less complicated, when we didn't worry about how food affected our bodies.  We ate what we wanted and could care less.  The future was too far off to worry about it.  
Well, now we can have our "hot chocolate" and drink it too.  Swiss Miss Sensible Sweets No Sugar Added has only 60 calories.  It has only 7grams of sugar.  Swiss Miss Sensible Sweets Diet  is even better.  It has only 25 calories.  It has only 2 grams of sugar. It has as much calcium as an 8oz glass of milk and only 160mg of sodium.  http://www.swissmiss.com/index.jsp
While I was there, I thought I'd see what else I could discover today.  In the cookie section, I started checking out labels, looking for lower sugar treats, and I found these...Nonni's Biscotti.  http://www.nonnis.com/products/products.html   The original has only 90calories per serving, only 7 grams of sugar, and only 65mg of sodium.  Now that's a cookie I can handle.  And think how wonderful its going to taste with that Hot Cocoa and Peppermint Schnapps AKA the Peppermint Patty.
No, I'm not at all bothered by this rainy day.  Maybe, if I feel a hankering later in the day, I might even go out there, dance around the yard, and feel the rain on my skin.  Don't laugh.  Natasha Bedingfield did it.  : )

..."Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten"...

A Smile In Place Of A Grimace

Its Winter at the creek already

When I woke this morning, my shoulder's were sore and my back was aching.  I can't be overdoing it.  I think I might have the sleep number bed set wrong or something.  I dressed in my work out clothes and came downstairs to feed the cat and have a cup of coffee.  When our youngest left for school, I went outside to straighten the flag.  It sometimes gets all twisty in the wind.  It was a beautiful morning, sixty plus degrees, cool and just a little bit damp.  On the news, the weatherman had said it would rain over the next couple of days.  I thought about walking outside, but initially was afraid to get caught in a downpour coming home.  Instead, I hit the treadmill.
You know, its strange to me but, the walking is less of a challenge now.  I need more.  I need further and faster than before.  I wish I could run.  I walked my five miles, then stepped off.  My shoulders were still aching.  Still, I couldn't just stop.  I didn't feel like I had done enough, pushed myself as far as I could go. I decided to skip the weights today, and try to beat the rain.  I didn't bother with the iPod.  I just grabbed my phone and my keys and headed out.  The air felt good and my body felt strong as I began my walk.  And I remembered to bring my pedometer today so I would know just how far I had gone.  With no music to occupy my mind, I was able to take in the beauty of this time of year.  The fallen leaves covered the sidewalk.  In some places, the trees were completely void of leaves while, in others, they held on desperately.  The colors were magnificent purples, greens, reds, oranges, and yellows...a patchwork jacket of brilliant Autumn life surrounded by the inevitable cloak of Winter.  I wanted the Autumn to last.  I wanted to hold to the warm colors.  I knew, when the colorful leaves were completely gone, the Winter's cold would bring only pain.

My neighbor's confused tree (purple, red, orange, yellow or green?)

I was two miles into my walk, when my good knee began to give a bit.  First one goes bad, then the other...I've had problems with my right knee for years but, the left one began to go all wacky back when we were in Arizona this last time.  Back then, it locked up on me so bad, the doctor wanted me to get scheduled for surgery the very next day.  We had tickets for Disneyland and I didn't have the heart to let the kids down.  I chose Disneyland.  I just walked slow and took lots of breaks.  Pretty soon, the knee loosened up and I was miraculously healed.  I don't know...guess it could have been the power of Mickey Mouse that cured me.  All I know is, I never did have that surgery.
Sure, it acts up now and then but, when I'm out there walking and someone passes me going the other way, I just smile.  Its takes the place of my grimace of pain.  Today, I smiled at several folks.  When I found myself alone, I started humming a familiar tune from an old animated Christmas movie I watched every year growing up (and still do).  Do you remember it?

"Santa Claus is coming to town" ~ 1970

Put one foot in front of the other

And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

You never will get where you’re going
If you never get up on your feet
Come on, there’s a good tail wind blowing
A fast walking man is hard to beat

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

If you want to change your direction
If your time of life is at hand
Well don’t be the rule be the exception
A good way to start is to stand

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

If I want to change the reflection
I see in the mirror each morn
You mean that it's just my election
To vote for a chance to be reborn

Well, with that obvious motivation, I finally made it home...even with my sore knee.  When I got there, my Stepdaughter was working out.  After showers, we headed out to do a bit of Christmas shopping.  The heat from the shower always makes my knee feel better.  Today, I have logged 11.4 miles so far all because I replaced my grimace...with a smile.  : )  

He Doesn't Even Offer It Anymore

This morning, I got up early to get our youngest off to school.  My husband had slept in.  He'd stayed up late watching the game (which BTW we won!).  By the time he got up, our boy was out the door headed to the bus stop.  He waved, then came in and poured himself a cup of coffee.  I gave him a quick kiss and headed down to the gym for my workout.  I worked hard today.  I upped the incline to around ten and sped up the speed walk pace to 4.3.  I even did my weight repetitions while on the treadmill.  Now that was a challenge.  Not sure if I'll attempt that one again.  Once I'd done my normal routine of walk, weights, push ups, sit ups, and butt lifts, I grabbed a towel and came back up to the kitchen.  There was no mistaking it.  I was a very tired, sweaty lady.
As I ascended the stairs, the smell was inescapable.  The smell of bacon permeated the kitchen and surrounding rooms.  I mean, it was so strong, I could feel my pores gettin' oily.  My Stepdaughter met me as I came up.  "Dad wants to know if you want a cream cheese omelet."  I watched as he made theirs.  It did look good and cream cheese isn't really that bad for you.  Its got protein, the carbs, sodium and sugar are low, and there are no trans fats.  Still, I always follow my work outs with water and my whey protein fruit smoothie.  I had to consider...did I really want an omelet?  "No thanks", I said, I'll just have my protein smoothie."  I went over to the fridge and downed two full glasses of water (filling up on water lessens hunger levels).  Then I just smiled.  Its funny but, the bacon sitting next to the griddle?  He doesn't even offer it anymore.  He knows me, knows what I'll say.  I'm not quite a vegetarian, but I've eaten no pork and no beef since January and my body thanks me for it everyday.
There are always going to be little insignificant temptations in life.  Remember, temptation is nothing unless you give it power.  And it has no power if you practice self control.  The smell of bacon?  The lure of getting off track?  No worries.  I am stronger than my temptations.  After all, I'm not on a diet.  I'm on a life change.          
Fill up on the healthy stuff like fruit and veggies and you'll find temptation slowly loosing its grip.

Smarter Football Night Snacking In America

This morning, my husband and I got up and walked the neighborhood.  It funny but have you noticed that those Sunday recovery days have slowly transitioned to yet another day to get up and exercise?  I guess our paradigms have shifted a bit since I began this journey.  While we walked, my husband was discussing how he looked forward to his next work trip as he would have the opportunity to work out every day.  Its not about finding time to be healthy anymore.  Healthy thinking is now our baseline rather than some extracurricular activity we do our best to fit in to our otherwise busy schedule.  Like an athlete, its priority one.  It guides us in our everyday thinking, how we eat, how we plan our days, how we live our lives.  

Last night, my husband celebrated his birthday.  Our closest friends (family, really) made dinner at their house.  It was wonderful.  All sorts of yummy and healthy foods.  They have also made that paradigm shift, and when they shop now, they think outside the box.  Our conversations now lean towards "what is low sodium?" and "Where can I get the natural, healthier foods?"  I absolutely love this change in all of us.  I can still remember when we lived without thinking about what we put in our bodies, when carbs and fat and sodium were no big deal.  Did we think we would live forever?  Did we think we were impervious to damage?  Or did we just live life to the fullest not considering what we were doing to our bodies?  

Heck, I'm not without sin.  I made a pineapple upside down cake for my husband's birthday (at his request) complete with butter and brown sugar.  One of our friends said, "Did you know they now make a brown sugar Splenda?"  My first reaction was, "Now that, I have to have."  In sharing, we become less ignorant.

Well, tonight is football night.  Instead of eating heavy tonight as many do on football night, we decided to just snack.  

After we got back from our walk, I decided I was going to have to head back to the grocery store.  Not only was I going to have to try the brown sugar Splenda but, I had to have some of those green bean chips our friends had last night from Creative Snacks (a company in Greensboro, North Carolina  http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-creative-snacks-green-bean-chips-i261692  I looked but I can't seem to locate a website for them).  

But then, I realized we weren't going to get far on game night with only that and what I had in the fridge.  All I saw was grapes, celery, string cheese, and yogurt in there.  I figured I needed to pick up a few items.  I asked the family to make a list, then I added a bit more.  On Football night in America, we won't be tempted to do something naughty like order Pizza delivery or Chinese take out.  When we sit down to watch the big game, we'll have lots of handy healthier snacks to choose from.  Believe it not, I got all this stuff and still forgot the Brown Sugar Splenda.  

What I did get was this...

Shrimp with lemon and cocktail sauce, a Vegetable Tray (carrots, broccoli, tomato, and cauliflower), Fresh Fruit (strawberries, grapes, pineapple, honeydew, and mango), Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Jalapeno Hummus (new), Garlic Hummus (everyone likes something different),  Baby Bell Light Cheeses, Philadelphia cream cheese with Salsa, Creative Snacks Green Beans, Vegetable Chips, and Onion Chips, Roasted Garlic and Black Bean Chips (90mg sodium), Sea Salt Sweet Potato Chips (4 gm iron, 90mg sodium), Rice Cakes (140cal per 18 mini cake serving size), BBQ Pop chips (120cal per 20 chip serving size), and Sea Salt Pita Chips (3gm protein, 4 gm iron, 270mg sodium).  Between all that and what we had already, I doubt if anyone will go hungry.  But, if they do want more, there's always the super thin crust veggie pizza in the freezer (260cal per serving - 1/3 pizza).  By the way, if you haven't tried them yet, try the new "chili pepper" Triscuit Thin Crisp baked whole wheat crackers (3gm protein, 170mg sodium).  The only thing you might regret is the fact that they disappear so quickly.    

Blood, Sweat, And Tears

This morning, being a Saturday, it would normally be a recovery day.  But, everyone was out on their own individual missions and I just felt like pushing myself.  I didn’t attempt the treadmill.  We have company and I wanted to be as quiet as possible, be a good hostess and let her sleep in.  I didn’t walk outside.  It’s pretty chilly out there.  Instead, I opted to do a fast and furious workout.  I went down in our gym, closed the doors and did 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, 100 butt lifts, 300 miscellaneous weight repetitions with the 5lb weights, 100 repetitions with the 6lb “empower” medicine ball, 100 repetitions with the 10lb kettle bell, 100 repetitions with the 15lb kettle bell, 100 jumping jacks (AKA side straddle hops).  Then I added walking up and down our stairs 10 ten times (that’s more than two hundred steps).  I feel pretty good right now. 

We set out bagged food for the scouts.  They are “Scouting for Food” today, collecting for the local ACTS food pantry.  Tomorrow, our scout troop will go to the pantry and sort what has been collected.       

Today, my husband and our youngest son are handing out buddy poppies as part of their scout community service project.  The scouts hand out poppies for a small donation which goes to fund local Veteran’s charities.  Have you ever wondered why they hand out poppies on Veteran’s Day Weekend?  I’ve contributed for years now but, believe it or not, even with my somewhat lengthy military background, I never knew the whole story behind the poppies.  My husband, an avid history buff, told us the story last night.  Our November 11^th Veteran’s Day, also known as Remembrance Day or Armistice Day is a memorial day observed since the end of World War I to remember the members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty.  It is observed by many countries to include Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and well, us in the United States on (or near in some cases) 11 November to recall the official end of World War I on that date in 1918; hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice ("at the 11th hour" refers to the passing of the 11th hour, or 11:00 a.m.)  The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of this day due to the poem "In Flanders Fields". These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red color an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war.

In Flanders Fields ~ by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Walking With The Veterans

When my husband rolled over this morning, the first thing he said was, " I wish our flag was up."  Over and over again, I've watched him as he anchored our flag in its bracket into the brick front of our home.  And over and over again, the wind inevitably tears it down.  As a matter of fact, just now, when I reminded him of what he had said this morning, he jumped up from watching "Tora, Tora, Tora" with the intent of trying once more to get that flag flying.  Never stand in the way of a man with a mission, especially a military man.
There he is, back in out of the cold.  I guess its flying outside the house again.  All is well, at least until that wind picks up.  One thing is for sure, he'll keep our flag flying if he has to stand out there and hold it.  I suggested we just give up and buy a ground flag pole.  They aren't cheap, but I think it would be worth it, don't you?
This morning, we let the kids sleep in.  After our coffee together, we went walking.  He mentioned walking outside but, it was too chilly for this old vet's arthritis, so we headed over to the mall to walk.  My husband had never walked the mall with me.  He grumbled a bit, but I think he enjoyed it.  Three laps (six miles) later, we must have said howdy to dozens of veterans.  How did I know they were veterans?  Well, it may have been what they were wearing, baseball caps or shirts with distinctive military units, ranks, or battles each had participated in.  And some of the guys still held on to their routine of getting those hard to miss military haircuts.  But, you know what, I think this old Colonel and his old Major Sweetie just knew...the way one recognizes an old friend they haven't seen since high school.  There's a look that you just know, a solemn expression of pride in service.  You see it in the way a veteran carries himself or herself.  When we had completed our walk, I turned around and watched them sitting there at the mall's food court...old veterans remembering friends they had lost long ago and over the years since, reminiscing about their glory days.  I was with this unit...I was with that.  I wondered if we should go back, sit down, and share our experiences as well.  Was our time Haiti, Kuwait, Iraq and Somalia something they would even want to hear about?  My husband looks like a soldier, but they look at me and they see someone too tiny, too fragile, to truly know about war.   Maybe, when we are older, we will join the old veterans who sit and chat following their walk of the mall.  For now, we consider it an honor just to walk among them.
Later in the day, we found ourselves back at the mall.  Hey, it is Veterans Day.  Got to get those bargains when you can, right?  So, on eleven, eleven, eleven, I walked a total of eight miles.  I'd thought about attempting eleven miles on eleven eleven eleven, but I just don't see it happening.  No worries.  I'm happy with eight.  That officially brings me up to 1250 and you know I like round numbers.  : )

Long ago at Fort Bragg

Well, I'd better go.  I've just been informed that "We Were Soldiers" is on.  I said, "Today isn't supposed to be about sitting around watching TV."  He replied, "We honor in our own way."  "That we do, my love...that we do."      

When The Lord Closes A Door

"When the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window."  ~ The Sound of Music (1965)
This morning, I got up and walked five miles on my treadmill.  Yes...same stuff, just a different day.  This week, my shoulder muscles have been sore and tight.  In the past, I might have put a microwave heated wrap around them or asked my youngest to give me a deep muscle neck massage (Its one of his skills).  I didn't really need either.  All I really needed was take it easy, stretch a bit more before my workouts.  This week, my arms have cramped up, awakening me frequently from a sound sleep.  Its my change of season carpal tunnel flair up.  In the past, it would leave me in tears.  Nowadays, I just make sure I have extra blankets handy to keep my arms warm when I settle in for the night.  This week, my knees have been giving and twisting when I move the wrong way.  Its pretty painful, but it always feels better once I'm walking.  If I keep moving, it helps with the pain.  I can't believe I have walked over thirty miles this week and its not even over.  What can I say?  I'm dealing with a lot of pain.  I do what helps.  To me, exercise is simple and inexpensive pain management.
This morning, after I got off the treadmill, I ran out to take care of an errand.  Okay, I walked.  I walked over to the nearby Bloom grocery store.  Still in my sweaty workout clothes, I couldn't help but smile.  The fashion police would have had a field day with me.  When I got there, I noticed a sign on the door.  The store was closed for floor waxing.  According to the sign, it wouldn't open for another half hour.  I started to walk away.  It was too cold to wait.  Standing for long periods aggravates my back injury.  Well, when the manager came over and saw me standing there, he opened the doors.  "Open early...just for you."  I thought that was very nice.  Too bad the store didn't carry the one thing I had walked all the way over there to get.  Oh well, it was good exercise.  I walked back home and jumped in the shower.  Its one thing popping into the local grocery store for one thing.  Its another traipsing around town dressed like you just came from the gym.  So, I put on something somewhat presentable and, still wearing my pedometer, I headed out.  I ran quite a few errands today and I got quite a bit accomplished.  Between the treadmill and my errands, I've walked nine miles.  Its only a little after one and I still have more to do.  Who knows how far I can go today?  You are probably thinking I need to take it easy but, really, its okay.  Its better than okay.  Those nasty annoying aches and pains?  I am doing my best to stay one step ahead of them.  The Lord may have closed a door in my life by giving me all these challenges to face, but with diet and exercise, I believe he showed me a window I could open to help me live a full and healthy life.  And its out that window, I see a world more beautiful than I could ever imagine, a world I can't wait to explore...even if it is just here in my own backyard.  You know what?  I am so glad he didn't give me a window that was painted shut.  I might have had to do a bit more weight repetitions to get one of those open.  : )