Turning into Good Health

After the dr's appt several weeks ago, when the prognosis was that I was old... I've made several changes. First I've lost 11 lbs. Not stopping there, of course. I've been to the gym every day with the exception of last Wednesday, Monday the week prior. (but I did walk the neighborhood.) I've eaten with moderation and discretion at each meal. I'm on a sample the salad kick. I make different salads at night, with chicken, or steak.... and whatever else sounds good. I also visit resturants to purchase speciality salads, that are within my set guidlines. You see I was blood tested 2 weeks ago, I know my numbers. I'm going back in 4 more weeks to see if the numbers have changed. I'm doing what I know is right, and that is limited carbs. Yes, I have them -salads are carbs.... but no cake, ice cream, or pizza.

My Cubicle friend and I at work, have this mindset. IF you go workout... then you have an added bonus to your life - you can go home, veg, and suffer no guilt !! You can do anything you want after you get home -cause you've already put in a full days work, and done something good for yourself ! It does make the evenings more pleasant. Not to mention the energy lift that working out brings around, You don't veg, even tho' it would be guiltless!

I discovered another well touted piece of information to be 100% accurate this past week. When I went to the gym Thurs, I could make it only 10 mins on the Elliptical. I didn't think I would be able to accomplish that. A few hours earlier, I had said to the Cubicle friend, "I forgot to drink my water." Since the dr's appt, I have filled my 64 oz jug with water, ice, lemon -sometimes a splenda packet and drink it down!! I have no problem working out. The day without water however, was really different. I feel sorry for ya, if you continue to work out, but have yet to discover how beneficial it is, to be fully hydrated. People say "I drink water," sure you do, but do you drink enough?

Cisco what a beautiful cat, and what an interesting look on his face! Not unusal tho', he is often deep in thought.  

This picture may not have the greatest clarity, but it sure caught the personality and charm of Cisco. DO NOT TOUCH ME ! See where he grabbed my hand with that huge claw! What a dirty look.  

This is my nephew Taylor in Mississippi. What a handsome young man! He is 12 years old, and I've just discovered his presence. This was one of the most pleasant surprises I've experienced in years. My sister, his grandmother -went to meet him this weekend. She was pleased to say, he is extremely well mannered, inquisitive and genuine boy. He plays baseball, and the drums for the school band. He rocks!!  

Different picture of the same tree. It has a nice Hosta around the base. That's the only thing attractive about this tree.  

This is the most pitiful thing about my yard. This tree was the one provided on my lot when I moved in. It is the most Charlie Brown type tree. I can't do anything with it, but hope for the best.  

This is my Magnolia tree. I bought this last year while visiting the Nashville friend. It is actually growing new leaves all over it. I guess it is a tree that doesn't come around as of this time of year. This tree is my most important tree. The Magnolia blooms soothe my soul. Something about being from Memphis. I'll get a picture of this one later in the year.  

The tiger-lillies across the front of the house. These were planted my first year. I have Day Lillies planted in btwn each - after the yellow blooms, the orange blooms will come into. I wish I had planted the tiger lillies all around the house. The make for a very nice border.  

A very nice Hosta. The most common of the Hostas I believe. This one is in a perfect spot. My others were planted last year, this was one about 3 years ago. It was very small.  

Another picture of the bush, then the porcupine grass that I love sooo much. I'll get a picture of that later in the year. Before I split it -that is my favorite.  

This is hilarious. My favorite plant, closest to us. The Sum & Substance Hosta. I LOVE that one. Then the bush, I'm not sure what that is. This will be it's second year, so it should turn out a little better. You can tell I almost lost it as well. I had to transplant this at the wrong time of year.  

I planted these Hosta last year -& the dogwood tree. Are you able to see it? It may look slim, but it LIVED. I was so very afraid. I've lost several dogwoods, and this was my last shot. As you can see, give the Hostas a few years, and the dogwood... that should be a really nice area.  

The gym, the food, the lifestyle

My first day at the gym - first day on a regimented schedule.... Oprah was on Tv. We watched the whole show while on the elliptical. That was a major workout for me! Which was the basis of her show. I've been back every day, but today -and today -I walked the neighborhood for about an hour, then 2 hours of yard work. I've stuck to keeping the bad stuff out of my diet. This means chosen snacks, and planned meals. Guess what? 8 lbs. Yes, I've lost EIGHT lbs. Oprah said you could do it... just do it right. Quite motivational that day, and on the day I needed it so much. I loved walking today -at first wished I had someone to walk with, but there is something to be said for walking alone. Another thing that is very good for you is to walk in the elements. Maybe even do it on purpose! Builds character. When I worked outside all of those years, I realized the elements were my friends. The hot made me appreciate the cold and vice versa. (liked the cold better) There was so much to experience by going outside every day, no matter what the weather. On that note; Maybe that could be a good plan for those that need to experience a change in life. Let's say your in a rut, but don't really have a plan to get out of it, or are facing restrictions. Start there -go outside and walk every day -NO MATTER what the weather. That's a thought. If nothing else, it gets you off the couch and out of the house without spending money. I'd offer to walk someone's dog, but I'm not much about picked up poop!

Lemme' Help -Cisco ALWAYS participates in projects.... He loves housework, or any other project you may undertake. He helps, and hinders...  

Cisco & Rico

An unusual moment, Rico and Cisco together. They usually maintain the rules of their restraining orders and keep their distance. This picture does a good job of showing their gloss/glittered pelts. However, the eyes didn't come off well. Those are my boys. The reason they are together.... The past 4 days Rico (right) has been following me around talking to me. He also wakes me in the night and is quite persistent in doing so. Wasn't sure if there was something wrong, or if he was just being friendly. Sometimes he does become rather attached to me. Instinctively, I felt something was wrong. Tonight he came out of the room with his ear bleeding inside. He had scratched it to destruction. Must've been bothering him for days. (chronic wax buildup) So, I grabbed the ear medication and he stayed away -til I cornered him. (That's hard on me.) This picture is about 30 mins later. His ear is no longer red, and Cisco is checking him out to see if he's okay -cause well, medicine smells, and he had to know what the problem was. Wasn't like Rico was going to tell him, those two have zero communication skills.  

Officially Spring

Nice weather, Nice yard, Hello Spring. It is finally not winter! Our yard seems to be even colored and very green. Wish it would stay that way all year. It is always nice this time of year -so I thought it'd be a good time for a picture. Long way from the picture below in December!  

Shadow box my sister created for my Aunt June.  

Sedentary Lifestyle

Well, here it is. 40 years old. The Sedentary lifestyle. The time of life when everything you do, you think to yourself, "wow I haven't done this in years."
Let's take swimming for example. Went to the gym, decided to swim enough laps to reach a milestone of some sort. I realized within a few days. First the chlorine zapped my 40 yr old skin! But, more importantly that it takes 33 full laps to swim a full mile!! At first I could do one lap. I can do 5 now. There was a time and not nearly a decade ago, that I could swim as many laps as I wanted.

Bought a hula-hoop yesterday not for exercise benefit, it simply looked like fun. Again something I haven't done, except this example; 20 years ago. Found that it has some exercise benefit, as well.

Recently I started feeling really bad. This is unfortunate as I had a very physical job. In technical terms an Industrial Athlete. A series of events that have taken place, do not allow me to be athletic enough to do the job. My mistake, I chose to do desk duty. (I won't do it long.) I decided to take the knowledge path in life, where I became paid for my knowledge. Now I'm rethinking it. Getting paid to stay in the best athletic shape possible might've been the good life key.

I'm laying around, just can't get up. Sleepier than I've ever been, not really seeing an end in sight. I make periodic trips to the gym. I do 3 days this week-then 2 weeks later I might go twice more. Nothing consistent. I also don't work very hard when I'm there.

So, said to a friend -going to the dr. Something is wrong. As I thought about what was wrong, I was starting to clue in. I go to the dr and he suggested a full physical. The results were exactly as I expected. You don't eat right, and you don't exercise enough-and if you don't do something about it, your heading down an inevetible medical path.

I know beter. I love Yoga, I love swimming, I love walking in the woods, and I even like going to the gym, but what I really like is sitting on the couch !! Napping on the couch...

My insulin is too high, my cholesterol was just under 300, my heart wasn't at it's best, and my weight is out of hand. Came home from that appt, motivated, not disappointed. She gave me 6 weeks to make changes. This is my chance to put the diet I know works for me, under the test. I will follow it to the letter. I will exercise. In 6 weeks we'll recheck my numbers. Here's to something good !

Cleaning Day/Mother's Day

Sunday, Mothers'Day. Cleaning Day, for me. I have 4 days off of work. I had a week of vacation, just over a week ago-but I didn't clean like I should. It was raining. As you can see from my decided name, rain appeals to me. Which means I withdraw into self absorption. Don't really take phone calls, don't really make phone calls -I do email however. I sit around online, listening to Fox News -oh, for 12 hours at a time. Yep, that's what I do on grey days. If it's actually raining, likely I have a blanket and a pillow placing the laptop on the table near the couch. Living where I live with approximately 240 grey days per year, you can imagine the need for Spring Cleaning, and the 'suddenly unexplained weight gain.'

That brings me to cleaning day. I chose the living room. Not sure that I consciously did that, as much as it's the ONLY room in the house that is not lived in! I likely thought, altho, not out loud, -this'll be easy. (reference lazy side above.) Well it's turned into quite a job. This is the living room that represents myself living alone, or with a roommate, and all of the things I acquired and cherished dearly during that time. I am sure of that emotion, because these are the things I will not part with.

I was cleaning the Entertainment Center, as they were called then. Hence this day forward; the Media Center. I was marveling at HOW DIRTY it was. It has not been cleaned; the everything removed and replaced cleaned, since last year. My Nashville friend refers to me often as someone that likes to clean. Whoa! She should see this. Oh there ya go, see how perception works. I was under the impression, that if she said I liked it, that meant she thought I was good at it. No, that's not it necessarily -she may have just meant when you FINALLY get around to doing it, you seem to enjoy it.

Well now I must refrain from typing any random thoughts I would put down. As it is time to remove ALL of the books from the bookshelf, dust the shelf and all of the books and put them back in. This means that I must also go into decision making mode, as to what books I may donate or put in the box designated for books to sell, yes...the entrepreneurial word of Amazon Used Book Sales... ?? Talk soon, my brain needs me.

Cisco discussing blog options with me. He's not sure the whole cleaning day blog was of much interest. Aniko is just bored at this point. Actually I thought this picutre captured their colors well.  

Rico doing his yang stretches before bed. We've all had a full day. With only two rooms left to clean, I've kept us all busy today. This is why I do not need a 4 bedr house. What's the point? I will downsize for the next move.  

Trying the new collage option from Picasa.com. This is my 40th b'day -this is actually grid. Collage makes the pictures look like poloroids and I'm not quite sure what to do with them.  

Reelfoot Lake (front)

While we're here I'll show you the other side of the house at the lake.  

Reelfoot Lake (back)

My Grandmomma's house at Reelfoot Lake. She sold this in 1974-75. I sure miss it. Sunkist beach was across the lake, Life was good. 

Close up.  

As I said earlier, I could catch the polishing of the chrome later today. It was a given on any day. However, here is the new bike -it's pretty. Bronze pearl 

Tattered & Torn

Cisco enjoys a day at home hanging out as well. This bag, he enjoys better than any other brown paper bag. It is made of a different type of material. As you can see it's been destroyed in combat... he still finds purpose with the battered toy. Such a pretty guy. Not sure if I'll get Rico today, he's a bit skittish when things are being moved around, packed, unpacked -he isn't fond of moving.  

Aniko, the picture I could not resist. When I'm busy they are busy.  

So, the bookshelf I'm proud of. We're going to buy another today. I have books yet to shelve. And, I did create the books I'd like to sell box. Each shelf has it's own category; auto-biographical, cooking/diet, educational/techinal, self help & books on brain injury. Quite productive today. Next, I'm changing around the family room... Except the back -I am officially old. I REQUIRE a break- this is not a break, I'd prefer to take. I'd much rather get what I have to do done.