The last delivery of the pre-Christmas orders

 

Just in time to be an extra blankie for a cold night, too.  I ordered this back in... November.  They acknowledge receiving my shirts in early December, but I knew they wouldn't get to it until January, as I wasn't going to pay priority charges to get it earlier.

Tuesday morning workout with the trainer, trying a bump-up in weights.  For the first time since I had those right arm issues (I'm thinking it was over a year ago)... I was doing bicep curls with 8 pound dumbbells.  

Anybody remember "Hamburger Helper"?  It was one of the earlier things my older sis and I might trade off cooking for the family, when our mom took a second shift job.  One would cook, the other would feed our youngest sister, who was still at the infant/toddler stage.  We rotated dish washing duties until a dishwasher was introduced, and then it was "loading / unloading" the machine as opposed to hands and arms in a sink full of suds.

In any case I'd been thinking about this concoction, and made my own version, with fresh veggies, as opposed to the powdery stuff.  Pasta and ground beef, and powdery cheese made up the rest.  A good comfort food that should last me the week of main meals.

More childhood comfort food, we also made a couple of boxed meals:  Chef BoyArdee spaghetti, Kraft Mac & Cheese.  That, plus tuna and noodles, made with canned condensed soup.  Leftover chicken or beef from Sunday's dinner boiled with noodles made a dinner.  Lots of pasta with varying veggies and protein.  The goal was to get the baby fed, and have dinner ready when Dad got home from work at 5:30 p.m.

These dishes were designed for teenaged middle schoolers to make easily.  We graduated to "real" food later.  Hamburger Helper showed up sometime in those years.  Nowadays it is not so prevalent.  What were the first family meals you learned to cook?  Do you ever cook them now, from nostalgia?

That's about it for today's offering.  Hope things are well with all of you!  

Life is good.  Spark on!

💖👀🔥

New pan and old tradition

 

Anybody remember the old Spark blogs, "While the steel cut oats simmer"?  I used to simmer steel cut oats on the stovetop every morning before work.  While they simmered, I would write my blog.

Sunday when I got home from the movies, the Amazon app informed me that the pans I ordered were "10 stops away" from being delivered.  I misread it as "10 steps" and went hunting for the box, but it wasn't there.  Of course not!

Soon, though, I looked again, and saw the word was "stops", and the number was decreasing, and before long, it was here.  I opened it, and decided to put them to the test this morning.  These non-stick surface pans have me pulling out the wooden spoons to stir the oats Monday morning, and I'm giving the pan the big test for non-stickiness, with those steel cut bits of oat.

The pans came complete with see-through lids.  I got two of them, this being the smaller 1-quart version.  I also got a little 8 inch granite frying pan for my eggs.

Between the new knobs on the stove, and now three new pans replacing old ones, gee, it's kind of like Christmas all over again.

Back in the day, I did series blogs about the journey to good health and weight loss:  "alphabet blogs" about living in general.  Wonder if that would be a good idea to re-institute, writing on a theme, with a purpose of motivation and self-reflection.

Only one more delivery left to come.  My t-shirt quilt!  The package tracker says it is due today, and with that, everything I ordered will be here!

An updated weight history, with context

At the height of my "racing" career, I tipped the scale somewhere around 115 pounds.  I scared myself when it would drop below that.

After the great fall and concussion, late in 2016, I regained 20 pounds during 2017.

I shaved 10 of those off in 2018, which was the year of my last half marathon.  It was also the first year of my retirement.  It was the year I drove out to Corning, NY to surprise my brother who was running the full marathon to my half in September.  He ran his personal best marathon that day, and it was the last marathon he would run in his lifetime.  

I ran one more half marathon after that (or rather ran/walked it), in 2019.  Only a couple of months later, my brother died.  I proceeded to pile on about 30 pounds between then and the end of the year.  Scary.

In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, I pretty much stabilized about 5 pounds under that peak.

In 2021, the year that Spark went away?  I had a good couple of months of going into survival mode, and dropped about 15 pounds, but burnt out and it started coming back, ending up by year end about where I was at the end of 2020.

In 2022, I danced with the devil, and the weight crept up another five pounds, then started working on the next five... until on Halloween, I started the Intermittent Fasting experiment.  I told myself it was because of the tummy troubles (I even bought some antacids).  I managed my expectations about weight.  But seriously, here I was in October topping 160, peaking at 163.  This really was not acceptable!

I closed 2022 at 145, which I had stated as my goal weight when I started IF.  I continued with IF through January, as my body has adapted to this new "set point".  If I remained at this weight for the rest of my natural life, I think I'd be OK with it.  I think I'll be fine with whatever dress I fit into for my son's Wedding, this coming April.

But (and there's always a but), I don't intend to give up this way of eating.  It feels good.  And as the sign on my fridge says:  Feeling Good is Goal #1.

Let's get on with life, then.  Because Life is Good.

Spark on!

💖✨🔥

 

Weekending, again!

 

I had already gone up to bed Friday night when the box containing this collection of specialty flavored coffees arrived in the dark of the night.  I savored my first cup at mid-morning snack time, along with my walnuts, plain yogurt and banana.  Feels like a feast.

Saturday was a gray and cloudy day, with temperatures dropping.  No new snow when I got up in the morning.  I braved it enough to go to the grocery store for bananas and berries, plus using up the coupons of the week before they expire.  "Inflation" plus being retired and having the time has got me following my mom's habits of frugality.  Not that I didn't always to some degree, but during my busiest working days, I got a bit on the lax side.

I have moved on to another series of PBS origin detective shows, this one named Endeavor, with Constable Morse as the young quirky detective without a proper title.  It's quiet.  I like quiet mysteries.  Not a lot of gore.  Full of mental puzzles.  

The snow flurries started in the 3 p.m. hour on Saturday.  The cats have decided it is too cold to be outside.  It's a good day to curl up with a hot tea and a mystery show, don't you think?

I did not sleep well Saturday night.  Kept waking up.  A little tummy trouble early on, but after that just wakeful.  

I heard a couple of big thumps in the night and wondered what they might be.  When it gets light, I might have to take a look at the perimeter of the house.  I had visions of icicles falling, but we aren't at the "melting stage" at all.  The big freeze is on, 3℉ at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday.  I left the cupboard doors under the sink open overnight, "just in case".

Sunday was another cloudy / cold day.  The family movie matinee was on, and we saw "A Man Called Otto".  I enjoyed it a lot, the comic mixed with the edge of tragic... but one important highlight to me was the actor who played Otto's younger self, Truman Hanks.  Yes, he is the youngest son of the main star Tom Hanks.  But all in all, a heart-warming "older person reason to keep living" film.  I expect this is a market that we've needed, as we baby boomers age.

Show of hands, how many of you have been to a movie in a theater since 2020?  I can now say I have.  Mask?  Yep, when I walked in, but the rest of the party was not masked, so I kind of caved and took it off to make conversation easier in the lobby.  Once seated, when I saw a couple of folks walk in wearing masks, I put mine back on, to make them feel comfortable, and besides I wasn't needing to talk (and I don't do popcorn at the movies these days, I had already started my fast.)  My son donned his mask (probably to make me feel OK about wearing my own).  Partway through the movie I took it off again for a while, but then I heard someone cough in the distance... so back on it went!  

Oh, yes, and as is my habit when getting together with these folks, I did do an at-home Covid test before going.  Negative.

When I got home, I looked around the yard to see if I could spot the source of those bumps in the night Saturday night.  Nothing visible!

The evening brings the Chiefs and the Bengals on the TV in the background, but I'm not gripped watching.  Not THAT big a fan. 

I snipped the stems of the now two-week old "just because" flowers and discarded a few faded blooms.  Those that are left are pretty hardy.

The cats have decided not to have evening outdoor time (smart kitties).

Here's hoping my blog-reading buddies are having a fine wind-down to their weekend!  Stay safe and warm wherever you are, and if you are blessed with more snow that what I've seen here, be careful shoveling or driving, or have fun skiing or sledding!

Life is good.  Keep Sparking!

🔥✨💖

Daily Gratitude for the week of January 22 - 28, 2023 (complete)

 

Continuing the practice of "writing it down", this post will grow, day by day, with at least one little spark of gratitude.  Doesn't have to be big, repeats are allowed, the important thing is to keep the thought of our blessings in our lives uppermost in our minds.

Sunday, January 22, 2023

This morning I am grateful for a good night's sleep.  I am grateful for the beautiful lacy textured snow that fell Saturday afternoon, and that I'm feeling up to shoveling it off today.

Monday, January 23, 2023

Today I am thankful for a good night's sleep.  Nine hours!  I am thankful for a good breakfast to start the day, too.

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Today I am thankful for the cloud cover overnight that kept the temperatures higher than they were to start Monday.  I am thankful that the roads have been well cleared for my trip to the trainer this morning.

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Today I am thankful for good sleep.  Again.  Yes, I know it's a repeat, and in the same week even.  But having good sleep means I go for the decaf, or for tea, and that's another step to healthier habits in general.

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Today I am thankful for my kid sis not knowing how cold that wind was going to be yesterday afternoon, and consequently getting me out for a short walk.  Because it's only going to get colder!

Friday, January 27, 2023

This morning I am thankful that the new bag of coffee I just opened is black-drinkable quality.  It was a gift from my son, and he usually has good taste in coffees, and understands my taste, too.  So I'm thankful for that, too.

Saturday, January 28, 2023

Today I am thankful for "no new snow" at wake-up time, for temperatures warmer than I thought they would be (today is the stepping down to the really cold overnight and tomorrow), and for the arrival of a package I'd been expecting yesterday, that showed up overnight.  Yes!  Fancy flavored coffee to feed my treats for the next month or so.

And that's a wrap for this week!  Expect a new post tomorrow for the new week of Gratitude!

Miscellaneous stuff and nonsense!

 

For those of you who may have forgotten, The Prisoner sliced my index finger last week, and I bandaged it up.  It healed, of course, because at least my body still remembers how to do that.  Thankfully!

Thursday it was Rubia who leapt for the table, missed, and dug her claw into my pinky (on the same hand!)  I yelped and called her a bad kitty and opened the sliding glass door for her to flee to the great outdoors.  She knows what "bad kitty" means.

Cats!  I bandaged it up and hope the body will do its thing again.  

Goofy thing of the day?  Working out with the trainer, he said something about not being THAT much older than I am, and I did a double-take.  Gary, I'm older than you.  He'd forgotten that I'd turned 70, and he's just 66!  I said "thank you", and then he said I was in good shape (fitness, he's happily married, ladies, and I am no poacher!).  Two great compliments in one session!  Besides the "good work" comment at the end, too.

Reading report:  I'm back into the Black History reading in White Rage.  We are now into voter suppression as the backlash to the election of Barack Obama, so fairly current day stuff.  Unlike while I read the chapters on Brown Vs Board of Education and the Civil Rights movement, I did not feel that I was clueless during this period of history.  

I was an adult and watched it all happen with interest (his election).  I guess I had my rose-colored glasses on, as I saw this as a sign of progress and acceptance.  But I also watched the backlash, and the growing public hatefulness.  The backlash is still going on, in laws being instituted to ensure "ballot integrity" which tend to put certain groups at a disadvantage in trying to exercise their voting rights.  It's easy for those of us with driver's licenses to assume "everyone" has one.  It's easy for those of us living as a "nuclear family" to assume having a piece of mail like a utility bill in your name with your address is not a barrier to an adult obtaining Identification, etc.  A lot depends on how these laws are written, and they CAN be tailored.

On Wednesday slopping over into Thursday I did laundry, folded and put away.  And I went online shopping.  You know those things that you never replace even though they are gradually getting more and more "terrible"?  The kind you used to notice your parents using, and you'd buy them a new one for Christmas?  In my case, it's my egg pan, and my small oat simmering pan.  Both have seen far better days, but I have kept on using them.  I would hate for anyone to see them now.  On Thursday I went shopping on line.  The replacements will arrive next week.

I also got an e-mail from Project Repat... the quilt I ordered in November and deliberately did NOT put a rush on, will be arriving soon... they have shipped it.  And some raspberry chocolate coffee I ordered will be arriving today, according to another e-mail.  

Friday here is the best weather day we'll have for a while.  The sun is out there brightening things up.  We will be hit with snow overnight and deep cold for the next five or six days.  Winter... but somehow, even though it is Winter, next week also brings a calendar page turn, and February always seems like there's not much Winter left!

I think I may have mentioned family plans to go to the movies on the 22nd being canceled due to the ugly head of Covid being once again reared.  Lacey's dad got it a second time!  So they put that outing off, and his isolation time is up again for THIS weekend, so the plan is to brave the cold and go see "A Man called Otto" in the theater for the Sunday matinee.  I'm looking forward to it.

Enough for this week!  Here's hoping you all have a good weekend.  Take care of yourselves... be kind to yourselves... and to others, too.

Life is good.

Keep Sparking!

🔥✨💖

A little indoor sunshine!

The "just because" flowers are holding up well, a week later. Nice and cheery, providing sunlight even when the big sun is hidden behind a layer of clouds.

The softener salt delivery guy came today, after I was home from my trainer work-out.  I was about to close my eating window, sipping on my biocoffee, which cannot be consumed during my fasting hours, if I want to have a "clean" fast. 

I'm still stuck on "Married At First Sight" (sigh), a reality TV show based on experts matching strangers, they marry (legally) at the alter when they first meet, and then in 8 weeks (with various structured expectations) they have to decide to either stay married or legally divorce.  They have been doing this show for 16 seasons.  Each season they match 5 couples of strangers.  OK 16 times 5 makes 80 couples, so far.  Of those 80 couples, 11 are still married.  Pretty sketchy outcomes, if you ask me.  So it's the drama of relationship building / breaking.  This is the third time I have got sucked into this drama, out of the 16 seasons.  I think I saw season one.  Then years passed before I slipped down the slope again.  I think it's only a year and a half since I last did.

Meanwhile, I finished reading Dragon's Code.  I slowed down reading, when I only had a few pages to go.  Ever do this?  You don't want it to end, so you slow down the last chapter or two?  That's me!  Some of what went into the equation with this particular book is that every Pern novel that comes out now is a total gift, as the original author is no longer with us.  A couple were either co-written with her son, or in this case, written by her daughter.  It has followed the pattern of laying the story line within the timeline of the other novels, including some of the same characters, and introducing a few new ones.  Very satisfying.

That's about it from here today.  I shall sip a mug of Earl Grey tea, unsweetened, and black, which is allowed during fasting hours, simply because.  I have since taking up IF started drinking less caffeine bearing coffee, and more decaf and tea.  

Here's hoping that my friends out there in blog readership land have had a good start to this week, and are doing best they can to take care of their health and fitness, whatever the weather sends their way.

Life is good.  Keep Sparkin'!

💖🔥

Hope you enjoyed some Happy Weekending, all!

 

Thursday as the sun was dipping toward setting, I noticed the sparkling ice coats on the branches.  I was not alone.  Several locals posted similar photos on Facebook, including my kid sister and my son's fiancé.

Friday I kind of collapsed into a slump, sucked in to a reality TV show that I know is not good for me, and eating too much cheese and bread.  This in turn gave me trouble sleeping Friday night into Saturday, so trying to sip tea and all that sort of thing.  I did at least stop eating to maintain the fasting hours, but as mentioned before, fasting hours are not a cure all, if you don't eat quality foods in appropriate amounts during the eating windows.

Saturday, I decided to give myself a break with some recreational reading.  I've been making progress on the non-fiction works, but that feels more like "homework" to me, so now I'm into my Pern book (Dragon's Code by Gigi McCaffrey).  Set in the time era when Lessa and F'lar led Benden Wyer, this one features a cast of characters with which long-time fans of the series will be familiar.  It was like reading in a history that was full of known players.  Piemer plays a role, and Master Harper Robinton, Southern Holder Toric, and many others are in the plot.  We have fire lizards... so essentially, and "up to date" Pern time setting, not one of those set in the early years.  It's five "turns" (Pern's version of a year) after the events in The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey.

About 2 p.m. the snow began to fall, looking a bit magical, and so much preferable to the sleet and freezing rain from mid-week!  Looks like Sunday will be another clearing day!  I took the top layer off, but there is an icy layer underneath.

Sunday morning toward noon we have bright sunshine trying to fight through 27℉ temperatures to try to melt what's on the ground.

Remember the muddy pink shoes?  For session 2, I put them on while I shoveled, in the hopes of using the snow to help clean them off.

The walks and drive were cleared on Sunday in just two sessions, where on Thursday it took me five.  As the day progressed, the icy layer melted in the sunshine, and it was "just wet" by sunset. 

Monday morning dawned sunny and cold.  I need to get to the grocery store today, as I am out of bananas and berries (twice a week I run out of these staples), and in need of my weekly supply of veggies, too.  Yogurt is on sale this week for "members", so that's on my list, too.  Getting myself into the car and out of the house might be the hard sell, as I'm in a hibernation phase.

Here's wishing you all a fine week ahead, and hope you got what you needed from the weekend just finished!

Life is good.  Spark on! 

🔥💖🌞

Clearing off day, or the calm AFTER the storm

 

This is the "dark of the morning" photo from Thursday morning.  You can see the tops of plants poking through, showing clearly that we didn't get nearly the snow amounts predicted.  We did, however, get almost an inch of rain equivalent.  I waited until after sunrise to go "work on" the sidewalks and the driveway.

It was, mind you, very slick out there.  I didn't snap a picture of up close what it looked like as I shoveled a narrow strip down to the mailbox yesterday afternoon, but my kid sis describe what scraping this stuff off was like.  "It was like rolling snowball logs with the shovel."

Isn't that a great word-picture?  That's exactly what it was like at my house, too.

I went to bed on time and slept well.  Waiting for the other shoe to drop is exhausting!

Yesterday The Prisoner was so antsy that he went out the front door, and was prancing across the yard while it was still sleet-not-snow on the ground

He did the same this morning, in the dark.  When I stepped out on the front porch to snap the photo, he squirted out, and would not come back in.  Weather like this puts the kitties into "cabin fever" mode.

The Prisoner nailed my left index finger pretty well this morning.  He was demanding attention and I made the mistake of trying to pet his exposed belly, while Rubia was suddenly up on the table and batting at his tail.  No wonder he defended himself.  But it took two bandaids to cover the slice on my finger!  And that's my phone unlock fingerprint, too!

Someone brought to my attention an article that I'd seen featured on the news last night, too.  It reports that a 6 year study of Intermittent Fasting showed no association with weight loss. That was the headline.  When you dig into the actual nature of the study, it's not a study of Intermittent Fasting at all.  It's been warped to observe those who eat less than 3 meals a day, and calling that "intermittent fasting", mapping it and other eating patterns to weight loss.  The fasting times were 12 hours or less, on average.  The participants were average age 51, and average BMI was in the obese range.  

I posted a reference in the IF facebook group I belong to and got a really good discussion going.  Most of the group agreed that 12 hour fasts would hardly give the benefits of clean fasting autophagy.  It is true that losing weight is not about when you eat, it's about what and how much you eat.  Those of us who do fast intermittently are usually doing something else, too... we're trying to listen to our bodies, improve the quality of what we eat, not to overly restrict, but also not to binge.  

IF is not really a weight loss program.  It's a health care tool.  My own experience has been that the major benefit is about how I feel, how I sleep, how cravings have been reduced because after all, the body has its expectations of when it's going to be fed.  

I happen to have also seen some weight loss, slowly, and I've been fitting into some of my smaller clothing.  I don't care what program you choose, the healthy ones will NOT give you overnight success, and the ones that do will probably mess with your body in ways you don't like very much.  So be a good Spark refugee and be certain that what you choose to try in your "experiment of ONE" is not going to harm you. 

The clearing off work

Session one of clearing revealed that the sleet left a crunchy textured underpinning to the snow.  I'm estimating I only got about half an inch of the top layer of snow at my house.  The dog walkers who came by before the freeze overnight left icy footprints in the slushy underlayer. 

By the end of session 4, it was looking pretty good.  It's not terribly cold or windy, although it is below the freezing mark.  The sun has been in and out, so with ice melt applied, I am seeing some spots that are just wet, no white layer showing.  

The most dangerous spot is the landing leading up to my front door.  I spread ice melt and left it to do its work.

Feeling accomplished, I came in to work on the base for my next few days of eating.  I made runza soup.  

The soup work in progress.

For those of you who aren't from Nebraska, a runza is a sandwich made with ground beef and cabbage, baked inside the bread.  My runza soup is pretty much the beef, cabbage, onions, mushrooms simmered in veggie broth.  No bread, 'cause it is soup.  Today I added a little bit of green bell pepper because I had it on hand.  

After lunch, I looked out the window and decided a session 5 was in order, to try to reduce the puddles which no doubt will provide skating capable ice overnight tonight!

I'm going to call that good.  I am glad I canceled the trainer today so I wasn't worried about time to get to and from and didn't push myself to try to clear off last night.

Here's wishing all of you a safe and warm Thursday, leading into yet another good weekend.  

Life is good!  Spark on.

💖🔥✨

Let's be Grateful, week of January 15 - 20, 2023

 

Sunday, January 15, 2023

Just about every day that I'm awake for a sunrise is a reason for gratitude:  I lived to see another one!  But it's more than just waking up and taking a breath, it's the symbolism of light returning to my part of the world.  It just makes me happy to see the colors.  Which makes me grateful for sight, in general.

Monday, January 16, 2023

Today I am thankful for my microwave oven.  The convenience of "zapping" my corn bag, or a mug of water... is pretty incredible, when I think about it. 

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Today I am thankful that the dream I had before waking was just that... a dream!  I am thankful for decaf coffee for days when I have slept well.

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Today I'm thankful that I did not have to go anywhere on a "weather alert day".  I'm thankful to be an unashamed "weather wimp".

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Today I'm thankful that this particular storm is over, and there's only the cleanup ahead.  I'm thankful that I'm still able to deal with it, "at my age".  This is why we work out!

Friday, January 20, 2023

Today I am thankful for humor... be it the early humor of kids telling knock-knock jokes, the dry humor of articulate puns, even the slap-stick of I Love Lucy, and the dark humor of "old age".  Anything that makes us smile or giggle, or belly-laugh is a break from the sadness that co-inhabits the world!

Saturday, January 21, 2023

Today I am thankful for pain.  Pain is a signal to "take it easy" for a while, in whatever form it appears.  It might be a joint that says "rest me today", and upset tummy that says, "don't eat that", a headache that tells one to drink more water.  But without pain, or the avoidance of it, would we live as long?

Schools are closed

And the powers that be are encouraging people not to go out if we don't HAVE to!

The big predicted storm day is here.  I'm awake.  The precipitation has not yet started here, but is predicted within the next two hours.  The cats are out in the pre-sunrise darkness, but I'm sure they will ask to be readmitted to the house when it starts, if not sooner. 

Precipitation started a little before 9, and I was out trying to "beat" the start of it with a walk around the block.  I took a photo of the freezing raindrops sliding down the kitchen window.  It came down as sleet, then changed to freezing rain, which as of 11:20 a.m. is still the form that's falling.  The longer it does this, the more ice we'll have underneath once it converts over to all snow.

I saw someone online say the Weather Channel is calling this Winter Storm Iggy!  As a fan of New Amsterdam, the TV show, that's somewhat amusing, as one of my favorite characters on that show is named Iggy.

On a dreary day, one way to combat it is to bake.  Well, at least one of my own go-to ways.  I had just seen in the past couple of days a chart of egg substitutions, spurred on by the high price of eggs.  I happened to have one ripe banana ready for mashing, so I used one of those substitutions (1/4 cup of mashed banana = 1 egg) in making a batch of corn muffins.

This should keep me in "bread" choices for several days.  I had a couple with some cottage cheese for my mid-morning snack.

Dreary days are good for doing catch-up on the inside paper sorting, too, so it was time to clean out the "paid bill" drawer.

Now little icicles are starting to build along my deck rail... (noonish).  The TV weather guy is saying the freezing rain is likely to remain as freezing rain for a couple more hours.

By 1:30 p.m. I was hearing little "tick-tick-tick" sounds as sleet started bouncing off the window panes.  

Sure enough, grains of ice:

Rubia kept asking to go out, but as soon as I would open the door and she saw the sleet coming down, flee the other way.  By about 2:15 p.m. the falling water changed back to "freezing rain" instead of the icy chips.

It's 4 p.m. and I'm going to finish this off... I had been wanting to wait for it to start snowing, but so far, it hasn't done so!  Time to switch the TV over to the local news and weather.

Guess you'll have to wait for tomorrow to see if we ever got any.

Here's hoping all who read either a) have better weather than what I've seen here today, or b) are safe and warm and don't need to travel anywhere.

Take care, and appreciate that Life is Good, as Kevin would say.  Spark on!

🔥✨💖

P.S. The snow started falling lightly about 4:30 p.m.

Waiting for the storm to blow in

This is a state of mind we live in during the Winter.  We have been so fortunate so far this season, at least in terms of being able to get around and do things.  But the proverbial "other shoe" may be about to drop.  

Our forecast has "one last day" to scurry and prepare, then starting early tomorrow, we're on the borderline between a "2-4 inches" and a "4-8 inches" of snow.  A lot of which we get will depend on the dividing line between rain/sleet and pure snow.  Anyway, it's due to last all day long on Wednesday, so I doubt that sis and I will get our after her work walk in.  But there will be a workout provided by Mother Nature.

The photo is of my anticipated "gym" equipment for Wednesday.

After Tuesday's trainer workout, I savored the last of the turkey chili for luncheon.  I went outside for a walk, and found my body was just not up for it!  I cut it short at half a mile.

Shortly after my return home, I got the app notification that my new lower dose of thyroid medication was ready to pick up.  Anybody ever go to a store the day before a predicted snow storm?  😆😅😂😁😜

The drive-thru was closed and they only had two pharmacy clerks on duty.  When I walked in I was 7th in line.  Apparently there was some kind of glitch in their system and folks who had been called to pick up didn't always find them ready right away.  Add to this the usual confusion I encounter at this place when I pay online.  I tell them I paid online.  They scurry around and find the order, then ring it up and ask me for money.  I tell them again that I paid online.  They scurry around to cancel the transaction and hunt up the online payment.  And then, as has happened before they say "you should tell us up front, it will save time".  "I did."  Still I feel for the clerks, they were truly slammed.

Amid all of this I got a brief phone call from my son, but he was "between appointments" at work, so it pretty much consisted of "good to hear your voice" and "love you".  But that's enough to keep a mom going, don't you know?

The clouds rolling in.  Our Winter Weather warning at this point will run from 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday, but just now it's still 42℉ (5.5 ℃).  

They've been changing the forecast for the band of snow, and now it's showing us solidly in the predicted 4 to 8 inches.  The trainer had picked up that this is supposed to be wet heavy snow.  OK, folks, that's why we work out, to be strong enough to deal with it.  That's it from here:  braced for the weather.

How about in your neck of the woods?  Taking good care of yourself, one day at a time, I hope!

Life is good.  Spark on!

🔥✨💖

The construction zone progresses

 

This photo was taken Sunday on my short walk.  They have a base down... I'll have my eyes peeled for cement trucks this week.  Not yet today, but they are spreading rock/gravel base.

I decided I could not take the hair getting one day's worth longer, and showed up at my local Cost Cutters right at opening time.  They were able to take me right away, and I think they did a fine job (photo below).

I came home for the "in between" because the doctor's appointment wasn't until 1:30 p.m.  This gave me a chance to do my Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day reading.  I had assigned myself a chapter in my educational book, White Rage, by Carol Anderson.

This chapter was Rolling Back Civil Rights, and again, it was all things that happened during my own lifetime, while my sheltered little white girl was completely unaware.  Well, maybe not completely, but in my own pink cloud world.  In fact, I remember thinking that some of the political reasoning described as justification rang true to me, at that time in my past.  

I still have trouble with "equality of opportunity" versus "equality of outcomes", and so it's somewhat uncomfortable reading.  I am keeping an open mind, and recognizing the ignorance involved in "color-blind" reasoning.  I accept that I have been a beneficiary of many of these policies, wholly without effort or knowledge.

The doctor was running about half an hour late, so I finished up my reading assignment just before he came in.  As I mentioned to my kid sis, I'm not sure how to think about what I heard.  

The cholesterol numbers were very good, better than I've seen in years.  I am on a statin 3 days a week, but those numbers have improved progressively the past three visits.  

The vitamin D levels were very good for Winter.  I think I can chalk that up to the good weather getting me outside more in January!

The one that has me completely gobsmacked is the thyroid (TSH) reading, which has also been improving, visit after visit, the past three visits.  

The doctor is reducing my dosage. I have been taking the thyroid medication for probably 15 years, and the dosage has never changed in that time.  Now he's dropping the dose by 1/3.  

The question in my mind of course is whether any of these improvements are in any way attributable to the intermittent fasting?  I don't know, but it motivates me to keep at it.  Or at least it didn't drop a wet blanket on the project!  The doctor wants me to come back for labs after taking the lower dose thyroid pill for two months, so that implies I need to keep what I'm doing to make the experiment fair.

That about wraps up my Monday!  Here's hoping all of you have been having as good a day as you can make it!

Life is good.  Spark on!

Why the flowers had to be moved

Sunday started off with a well-rested me and a spectacular sunrise.  I believe that day of sloth did me good!  The joints are not complaining today.

My little phone app told me I had prescriptions ready to pick up, so I made up my grocery list and headed over to HyVee to pick up the things that I particularly needed.  Before I went I had to check and see what they were giving away or having specials for "members".  I became a member to pay for deliveries for the year in December when they had a particularly attractive sale, but there are a few other perks each month, too.

In January one of the perks is a "just because" bouquet.  I chose one in mainly yellow hues.  Yellow is such a cheery color.  I thought it would perk up my dining room.  

Rubia believes she owns that table, and as you can see, I had good cause to be concerned that she might knock over the flowers and drench both herself and my laptop!  Consequently, the flowers were shifted over to the buffet.  

The son's fiancé and I messaged back and forth a bit over various FB story posts.  She had posted some cute videos of Carl on the agility course at the dog park.  I had posted the cat and flowers, and the other cat sleeping on my lap and pinning me to the couch.

Lacey invited me to meet the usual "Covid Bubble" group to see the movie "A Man Called Otto" next Sunday... theater and time to be named.  However, this may well not happen, as a couple of hours after she posted the invitation her dad (part of the bubble) posted that he has once again tested positive.  Medical advice to be sought, as to whether this is in fact a NEW infection, or a "rebound" from the one in December.  So we have gone into a "wait and see" mode about the movie.

The day continued with various TV / movies playing in the background as I put the super glue I bought at the grocery store to good use.    

I "fixed" the last knob on the stovetop!  It's a little taller than the others, due to how the fix needed to be applied.  See?  Victory!

Dishwasher is now running, and "War Games" is on BBC America on the TV.  This movie came out in 1983, with a young Matthew Broderick as the geeky teenaged hero.  I remember seeing it in the theater.

That's about it from my peaceful Sunday.  It's gray and cool outside, and I got out for about a mile of walking.  My eating window has closed for the day and Life is Good.  Spark on, my friends!

🔥💖✨

  

Come Saturday mo-orning!

Now that I have you singing inside your head... here's the sunrise sky around my neck of the woods today!

It was chilly in the morning air, but the weatherman said it woutd get up to the mid-40's by afternoon.  It was still undetermined whether I will go out walking.  Why would that be?  Well, because of the body parts that complained this morning... left side ankle, right side knee (funny how they balance that way).  It may be time for a "full rest" day.

But never FULL rest, as there are things that need to be done.  I have a load of laundry started... the underwear.  But there's this little tingle of a non-scale victory for the intermittent fasting... I dropped a size in undies this week!  Probably TMI, but I still have a supply in that one step down size, so they are now being put into service.

By day's end I had done three loads of laundry, and resisted any urge to go buy Powerball tickets.  

Alicia notified me yesterday that the jackpot for today's Powerball drawing was $404 Million dollars.  And you all know that 404 is our "sign from Kevin".  But Kevin would never approve of buying lottery tickets!

Today the replacement knobs came for the stove, and wouldn't you know, they are not the same size.  And one of the replacements didn't work at all, but I found that by replacing three knobs with the new ones, I could use one of the "good" old knobs and "fix" the one that was on backwards so that it is facing the proper control reading, even if it is a different size from the new ones.

After my work on the knobs.

I am enjoying the down time today.  No reading.  I streamed entertainment shows... a couple of movies (You've Got Mail, an old favorite of mine, and Downton Abbey, a New Era).  But mainly I was polishing off a game show I started streaming yesterday.  It had eight episodes, I believe, and I got drawn into the drama, as it had a couple of players I remembered from Big Brother seasons of the past.

In short, I pretty much wasted the time away, and recovered from my "people-y" week.  I have one more appointment coming up, the annual physical with the Doctor on Monday.  Then it will be just the trainer appointments, which are every week, anyway.  So it's almost back to "normal".

Here's hoping you're all having a good weekend, too, whether busy or lazy!

Life is good.  Spark on!  

🔥💖✨

Daily gratitude for the week of January 8 - 14th (complete)

 

Gratitude, day by day, is good for me.  I shall grow this week's list of little things I'm grateful for, Sunday through Saturday.

Sunday, January 8th:  Today I am thankful for YouTube videos.  I can get short videos on a variety of subjects, including humor, exercise, and local church services.  I can also avoid the "noise".  It is much more under my own control that just watching "over the air" television.

Of late, I've been stepping to the beat of Leslie Sansone's walking videos, and being amused by Lawrence Brown's "Lost in the Pond" videos about the differences between Britain and the USA.  But the gratitude is for the platform, as a whole!

Monday, January 9th:  Today I am thankful for the energy to do household chores, while working around appointment times.  The HVAC filter guy didn't get here until the end of his appointment window, and in between, I did cat laundry, changed the table cloth on the dining room table (it became part of the cat laundry), ran the dishwasher, and swept up the leftover artificial tree "needles" that somehow seem endless.

Tuesday, January 10th:  Today I'm taking a moment to be thankful for the life of my father, and the example he set of responsibility and quiet support of both his wife and all his five children.  He was at just about every childhood event, from concerts to sports matches.  In terms of discipline, he was a believer in appealing to a child's innate sense of reason and logic.  He expected excellence in academics.  And the worst thing we as children could do was disappoint him.  

He's been gone from this plane for over 20 years now, but his influence on the values of his children lives on.  His quiet smile, his dry sense of humor, his tendency to always be early... show up in the following generations.

Sunset January 10, 2023

Wednesday, January 11th:  This morning I am grateful for sunrises and sunsets.  In the great plains sometimes we get amazing ones.  If the old saying about "red sky at night, sailor's delight" holds any sway, today should be a good one.

Thursday, January 12th:  Today I am thankful for good sleep, the past week, especially.  Rest is so important to a good quality of life.

Friday, January 13th:  Today I am thankful for another good dental check up.  Nice to have those boxes ticked off!

Saturday, January 14th:  Today I am giddily thankful for a day with NO ITEMS on the schedule!  It's supposed to be mild (for January) with temperature reaching the middle 40's F, so there's that to be grateful for as well.

Tomorrow I'll start a fresh post for next week's gratitude!  There's always something to be thankful for (or glad, as Pollyanna would have it).  Get this, here we all are, playing Pollyanna's glad game!

🔥💖✨

Finally Friday!

 

They may look like bunnies in this photo, but these are the duckling statues in the Boston Public Gardens, in the rainy Saturday before the Boston Marathon in 2019.  Someone dressed them up for Easter. They come to mind because of my dental appointment this morning.

My dentist, whose husband qualified for the Boston Marathon for 2023, had asked me for recommendations of things appropriate for their family... "things to see" in Boston.  And since her kids are 5 and 8, I thought of the ducklings, the swan boats and the book Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey.  Those of us of a certain age remember it being featured on Captain Kangaroo.  It tells the tale of a mother duck trying to find a safe place for her clutch, and their adventures finding their way to what turns out to be the Boston Public Gardens, where the swan boats run.

While I was at the dental office, my old dentist came in, the one who is semi-retired.  Apparently he still practices for a few long-time patients, and he was there to do an extraction for someone.  But while he waited for the hygienist to go set up his room, he and I chatted for a while.  He's a couple years older than I am, and what do you supposed we talked about?  Why, staying safe and what we've seen and read recently about Covid-19 discoveries, of course.

Three years later we are still talking about it.  Why?  Because it's still here, mutating and infecting and yes, even killing.

I wore out early today, and am coming back at bedtime to finish off the blog and post it.

Life is still good.  Keep on Sparking!

🔥

Happy Thursday

 

He's at it again!  Now that he knows that little nest is there, The Prisoner hops into my recycle bin (the newsprint one) and starts to gnaw on the edges of the papers.  Silly Prisoner!  And Rubia of course has now discovered where he is hiding.

Speaking of The Prisoner, I got a little worried about him this morning, as he did not show up at the foot of the stairs when I came down!  Maybe it's because I filled the food dishes at bedtime and he didn't feel the need to remind me.

I looked in three or four usual places for him, but no gray striped tabby-cat!  So then I opened all the closed doors in the house to make sure he hadn't got trapped, even though I had not heard any "trapped cat" meows.  I knew he'd been in for the night.

So I went on about my business of the morning, including heading upstairs for something, taking a couple of trips up the stairs and back down.  And after the second such trip, suddenly, there he was, in the kitchen, milling about with Rubia as though to trip me.  Silly felines!  See, they do keep an older person entertained!  I accused him of being a "old man" and sleeping in.

I went to work out with the trainer, and let me say this gray and chilly day has been the "worst" weather of the week, so far.  Considering it's the middle of January, I'll take it.

I'm glad I made it this far into the week, but I'll be glad for the break of the weekend and some unscheduled time!  Friday morning is my dental appointment.  

On Monday I have my annual physical (a separate thing from the Medicare wellness thing, but at the same office).  This one the stethoscope comes out, and all that goes with it.  By then he'll have all the data from the bloodwork, and usually we have a nice conversation... I might ask him about the advisability of my training again for running a 5K later in the year.  I doubt he'd be against that.

Reading report:  I finished Fast. Feast. Repeat. by Gin Stephens.  I do recommend it to anyone who is interested in trying intermittent fasting.  It's less scientifically dense than The Leptin Diet.  I tried to read that one several years back and poohed out on it.  They cover some of the same ground.

That's about it from here today!  Remember to take the best care you can of that one and only body you've been issued in this life.  Hydrate.  Nourish.  Be active.  Remember to breathe.  And at the end of the day, recognize that whatever you did today, it was enough, and you deserve that good night's rest.

Life is good.  Spark on!

🔥✨💖

Medicare wellness visit

 

I'm just going to say up front that Medicare is a strange animal.  In fact, it's several animals.  I know some of my blog readers are in other countries, so you don't have these things to deal with.  But someone had mentioned going to her "Welcome to Medicare" appointment, which is the first year, and I thought I'd mention what happens AFTER that first year!  

Every year they put you through a "Medicare Wellness Visit".  It consists of an interview, essentially.  They hand you the checklist after the interview, that has various tests, procedures, and vaccine names, when you last had one, when you're due for the next one, etc.

They do a rudimentary eye test, hearing check, and mental (short-term memory) screening.  If you're paying attention you might even notice when they failed to change the screening questions.  Last year they had the same three words that they had used the year before.  This year they at least changed them!  They weigh you, take blood pressure, and of course draw blood.

I came away feeling positive, now we wait to see how the blood work comes out, and I see the doctor for review of those results on Monday.  I have orders for the mammogram and dexa bone density imaging to happen in February, and I will need to call to set up those appointments.  The season of Medicalizing is officially open.

The Ace (sister) is under the weather, so I went out for our normal Wednesday walk solo.  It's cloudy today, and while a "not bad for January" day in terms of temperature, it wasn't quite as nice as Monday and Tuesday were.  Since I wasn't waiting for her to get done with her workday, I went earlier than usual.  I'm hoping sis starts feeling better soon!

No reading report today.  When I got home from the appointment I had been fasting in excess of 20 hours, and so combined breakfast and my usual morning snack.  Spurred by a comment on yesterday's blog, I ordered a replacement set of knobs for my stovetop... the email receipt predicts a Friday delivery.  

I had my turkey chili for lunch/dinner, and sipped my bio-coffee before starting my fast.  Then I went out for my walk, messaged my sis... and suddenly it was time for Jeopardy.  Gee, that day flew by!

I hope everyone had a good Wednesday, and did your best to take care of yourself.  Did you remember to breathe?  To allow yourself the grace of knowing your efforts were enough for the day?  Now let it all go, and let's all have a good evening and night's rest.  Then tomorrow will be a fresh, new day.

Life is good.  Spark on!

🔥✨💖

Does your house have quirks?

 

Mine certainly does.  Take my stove: I have one burner control that is on backwards.  It came off last year, and that was the only way I could get it back on.  40 year old plastic, go figure!

Still, the end result is that it looks "on" when it's off, and it looks "off" when it is on medium.  I have to read the control setting by the back end, not the marked end.  

I have light switches in "odd" places in the lowest level of the house, particularly in the laundry room and the crawl space.  Every time a new HVAC or plumber has to work down there, I have to show them the ropes.  Amazingly, the firm I hire is pretty good at both staff retention and at sending the same techs to addresses, so yesterday, the gent who came out had been here before, and knew where those switches are.  Good memory, mate.

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Another very mild for January day.  I did not take an outdoor walk, though, having errands to run.  I worked out with the trainer in the morning.  Then took short trips away from home to acquire new brush heads for my Oral B toothbrush, batteries for the kittie's laser mouse pointer, fill the car with gas before the cents off expired (only about half a tank to top off).  Came home, recharged a bit, then went out for groceries.

While I was in the grocery store I missed the reminder call for Wednesday's blood draw, and called them back from the produce section to confirm that yes, I plan to be there.  It should be interesting, seeing what impact my two plus months of intermittent fasting has had.  But I won't have the results until Monday when I see the doctor.

Reading report:  White Rage

White Rage, by Carol Anderson, has entered the history lessons that cover years that I have been alive on the planet, in my reading journey.  Growing up as a little white girl, sheltered from a lot of knowledge, this part of history was not even something I thought about.  But the whole chapter on Burning Brown to the Ground, on how integration of the school systems was resisted was eye-opening.  Oh, I'd read around the edges with Hidden Figures both the book and the movie, but the implications for the vast majority of children of color just were not part of my "umwelt" to borrow the term from An Immense World, about the limitations of experience.

A snip of personal memory comes from my five year old self, who did not understand the meaning behind the float the local teenagers put me on for the Kids Day parade in 1957.  I expect more memory bells to be rung in the next chapter, on the Civil Rights movement.

I came to the conclusion early into this read that the difference between this book and the one I read earlier in 2022 is one of purpose.  White Fragility was written by a white woman (Robin DiAngelo), and is a consciousness-raising book, mainly for a white audience.  White Rage is a history lesson, of the parts that are NOT emphasized to white children.  Written by a woman of color, it contains raw facts (with the footnotes).  It also contains some assumption / interpretation of the motivation behind the facts, with quotations of decision makers included.  

In an earlier chapter, I did find one reference to the 1919 lynching of a black man in Omaha, which did not quite line up with what I remembered from a letter from my Grandfather home to his parents.  This sent me to looking up my sister's transcription of his letter from September 1919, and also the original newspaper reports.  My grandfather had "stayed well back" and was reassuring his parents that he was NOT part of the mob, but it was clear that he was a witness to the violence that was reported in the book!  

Of course everyone will draw their own conclusions from reading, but I would recommend both books.  The advantage of having family letters and personal experience to draw from makes history more alive.  And you know what they say about history:  if we fail to learn from it, we may be bound to repeat it.

Hope everyone is doing what you can to take care of YOU, best can do, one day at a time!  Because while none of us can solve every problem that's out there, we can do our best to be kind, not just to others, but to ourselves.  Take care of that one and only body you've been issued in life.  Be patient with yourself, and know at the end of the day that whatever effort you made today was worth it, and you deserve a good rest.

Life is good.  Spark on!

✨💖🔥