Health and Fitness for Real Housewives - Part 1 Introduction

My alternate titles were  "Health and Fitness for Dummies" or "Health and Fitness Made Simple". There seem to be so many bloggers lately mentioning their struggle to lose weight.  It's the time of year when people start thinking about this when they dig out their shorts, sleeveless tops and EEEEK!! - bathing suits.  And for those of us over 50, that reflection in the mirror just isn't always the young and slim image that we still may see in our mind's reflection. 
I thought I would start a little series of posts that I'll put up now and then with my own two cents worth of ideas, tips, and recipes that I try to follow. 
Now here is where I want to make a very strong DISCLAIMER.  I AM NOT an expert.  I AM NOT a nutrionist.  Nor am I a professional fitness coach, personal trainer or doctor.  So anything I write on this subject is solely my own educated and practiced opinion.  I am just an ordinary stay at home wife, mother and grandma that doesn't want to spend hours a day working out, or going to a gym, or starving myself to lose weight.  I just want to look the best I can for being 52 years old and not deprive myself of foods that I like. 

I married a man 31 years ago that was very much into fitness and diet and to this day I don't think he has ever missed a week of his regular workout routine.  He's studied a lot about nutrition and fitness and strength training and he just loves to live this way.  This isn't his job, it's just his way of living.  So for 31 years I've tried to live this same healthy life style.  I certainly didn't want to get old and fat all by myself standing along side my healthy and fit husband.  I'm not as intense as he is about it and over the years I have found my own way of doing what works best for me. 

This is me 1-1/2 years ago at my son's wedding. 

 Again, this is just what works for me.  Maybe some of you may find that some of these things may work for you too.  I know this is what you hear said over and over on this subject, it has to be part of your lifestyle.  Strict diets that you go on and off again will not work.  You can't starve yourself to lose the weight and then expect to keep it off when you go back to eating your old way again.  And you have to be active.  You can't expect to burn calories by doing nothing.  These are two basic rules.  It's simple and we all know it, but doing it isn't always that easy.  That's why it has to be habit.  You don't have to "find" the time.  You don't have to buy new equipment.  You don't have to learn a whole new way to shop for groceries or how to cook.  If it is just your lifestyle, your every day way of living, then it's easy.  DISCLAIMER:  if you have health issues or a lot of weight to take off initially, consulting a doctor would be the thing to do. 

So what next?  Keep it simple.  I don't have extra time, so I incorporate my exercise into my every day routines.  I get very bored by just plain exercising for a half hour to an hour.  Here are a few simple tips:
Clean and take care of your own house.  That uses up a lot of calories.  Don't hire a cleaning person and then pay for a gym memership that you'll maybe use for 6 months and probably not burn near as many calories as the cleaning person you are paying.  I know lots of people that do this and it just doesn't make sense to me.  I carry my own vacuum up and down two flights of stairs.  I get on my hands and knees to scrub floors.  I reach and bend to clean windows.  Bend and squat and stretch and lift while you clean.  This really can be a workout.  I do enjoy yoga and pilates and every once in a while I'll get into a 1/2 hour morning routine of doing that.  I get bored, though.  So I switch it up.  Just do something. 
I'm sure a professional trainer would disagree with me.  Even my husband would disagree with me.  They would say you need to isolate your musclels and work them to exhaustion, yadayadayada!.  I know.  But remember, this is my "Health and Fitness for Real Housewives".  I know I'm not looking to be a professional body builder, model, actress, etc.  If someone wants to pay me to look good and very buff and fit, then OK, I can step it up.  That's not happening.  And who do I need to impress at the grocery store or WalMart?  This is real life, people.  I just want to look good for me.  So I can get dressed, look in the mirror and feel OK.
Another tip for working exercise into your daily life is to multi task while you're at the computer.  I keep two 5 lb. weights next to my desk.  I'll take a few minutes and lift both weights with one hand and curl them for 15 to 20 times with one arm and then the other.  I've been doing this for many years.  My arms aren't big and bulky with muscle, but they are slim and fairly toned for 52.  Yes, I could do more or heavier, but I don't feel like it and I don't want to take the time.  This works for me.
I have many more tips and recipes and menu and food ideas that work for me, too.  I hesitated to start this series of posts because I know there will be many people that will criticize and say that what I do maybe isn't enough or correct and to be honest, I'm not open to criticism.  This is just what works for me over the last 31 years.  If someone can get a good idea or thought that there might be something in what I do that would work for them - good. 

Flea Market Finds

Yesterday was the first day of the first weekend of the month, and for me that means Hazen Flea Market Day.  There is a huge flea market about 1/2 hour beautiful drive away from us.  It's only held the first weekend of every month from May through October.  And around here you can't always depend on the weather for May and October (or the other months for that matter).  But last month the weather was very nice and warm and Bob went with me.  He's just not real patient with me and then tries to talk me out of anything I want.  He finds the beef jerky and fudge stand and then he's ready to go home.  Yesterday Mom was able to go, which is always the preferred company as we both love the same junk. 

It ended up being a very nice day.  It started out cloudy and we thought we may get stuck in rain, but it held off.  Parking is always the first decision to make.  It's a very rural area so there are fields and farms and large lots near by that many of the owners set up on these weekends as parking lots for the flea market and they must make out pretty well.  The $2.00 parking lots are sometimes quite a stroll away and as you get closer the lot prices go up to $5.00.  We pulled into a $3.00 lot and we were actually very close. 

We arrived around 11:15 and it was crowded.  By the time we left about 2:00 this is what the parking lot looked like.  By 2:00 the booths and stands are starting to shut down for the day and then open back up bright and early on Sunday morning.  By Sunday at noon you can get better deals but the good stuff is picked over.

We came prepared with our cash, comfortable shoes, kleenex in case the stinky out house toilet had no toilet paper, and a bottle of water.  A lot of people come with wheeled carts to haul their newly purchsed goodies.  We don't go quite that far, but I did have a Market Bag that I had knit last year and I slung it on my shoulder to see how that would work out. 

It worked out great.  I have a little fabric pocket sewn inside for money, keys and cell phone and then I could carry my other little finds without the bother of a purse and my hands were free.  This was the first time I  found a use for this bag and it was perfect.  Now we did have to take a short little break about halfway into our shopping spree to take a load of larger, heavier items back to the car.  Then we sat for a small lunch break.

We were tempted by the funnel cakes and fried dough but tried to be slightly healthier than that so we settled for a hot dog with sauerkraut and lemonade.  That was the best we could do at a flea market.

After almost 3 hours of up and down the dirty, muddy aisles,

here's what I came away with.

Five pretty, old fashioned hankies at $1 each.  I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with them but I'll make something out of them or incorporate them into one of my crafts.

This Rada pareing knife on top for $4.50.   These knives are great.  I already had the bigger knife on the bottom with the silver handle, but Bob doesn't like the sandpaper feel of the handle.  I guess they had other complaints on this, so they started making them with the smooth black handle.  I used it last night to cut up chicken and walnuts for a salad.  Perfect.  We also already have the Rada ice cream scoop.  I highly recommend this product. (Un-paid advertisement).

Here's my exciting find for the day.  This 13 piece hot cocoa set including candle stick holders for $12.00 (I already had the candles) It's Royal Court fine china from Japan and the design is "carnation".  The only flaw is the sugar bowl is missing a lid.  But I figure since it's a cocoa set, I would put marshmallows in the sugar bowl and I don't need a lid.  And being pink, I couldn't pass it up.  I have no idea where I'm going to set it yet, but I'll find a place.  We actually do drink cocoa in the winter so I'll really use it.  Won't guests be impressed?

One booth I never miss is the garden booth.  I find something there every visit. This month I found a new flag for beside my driveway going into my under deck sitting area.

All my furniture is white and all the flowers are pink, except for my purple cat mint and some lavender.  So this little flag with the big pink flower that says "Smile" was just what I was looking for.

I still need two more pink flower baskets and the pink flox are just starting to come up in the garden in front.

Last month I got this garden stake with a little blue gazing ball and a metal butterfly on top.

This is in my garden beside my shed.  Mom got one very similar yesterday.

I'll show better pictures of my gardens in a few weeks once the flowers are more in bloom.  We have a very late and short growing season here.  By the 4th of July everything should be looking pretty good.  By the end of August it will start to fade again and the mums go in.

We won't be going to the July flea market.  It falls on the 3rd of July and we'll either be welcoming a brand new granddaughter then or having our annual Fourth of July party here.  Or both.  Either way, we won't have time to fit in a flea market jaunt.  It's too soon to plan on August yet.  Summers go way to fast, don't they?

Creating Enough Time

As those of you that follow me know, I try to stay on a self designed schedule so that I can do everything I need to do in a day.  I get very frustrated and a little stressed when I fall off my own wagon.  One piece of the organized schedule that I'm still playing with is the computer time.  I need to find myself a better time and limit for this.  I get on this computer to do one thing and as I'm sure you all know, before you know it you're carried off into cyber la-la land and you become sucked into a virtual place that you really didn't intend on visiting at that particular time and when you negotiate your way back out of it several hours have passed. 
Anyway, I've gotten a little bit off of what I intended for today.  I'll get back to this computer scheduling thought another time. 

One area that I do stay on schedule with is my evening time for knitting, sewing, and creating.  I wish I could get a lot more done in that regard, too, but there just aren't enough hours in the day.  I'm also finding that I can't stay awake as late as I used to.  My Etsy shop isn't filling up as much as I would like it to, either, because my creations have consisted of personal items for family, new babies and myself. 

Since Baby Granddaughter, Leanna (due around July 6), has a nursery color theme of pink and chocolate, DIL Melissa has asked if I would make lined curtains for her.  We started off looking to buy curtains and we just couldn't find the right colors in the right size.  Here's the fabric we found at Wal-Mart and it is the perfect color and pattern.

The pink with brown polka dots is the main fabric and the fabric on the right is a pink flannel for the lining.  She wants them lined because their house can get cold in the winter and she wants to be able to keep the cold from coming in too much from the windows.  We need four panels that are 50" long x 42" wide.  So far I have two panels complete.  I was cutting the flannel on the third panel and measured wrong.  I was so mad at myself.  Now I need more pink flannel.  I'm considering writing a tutorial for lined curtains.  If I have time! Leanna should be here in about five weeks, so I need to stay focused on getting these finished and hung.

The other project I'm working on is a summer cardigan for myself.  I'm using a pattern from the book "Flowers" by Noro yarn.

Every pattern in here is so nice.  This is a picture of the one I'm making.

I'm using a hand dyed silk/cotton yarn.

I also am making it a little longer than the pattern calls for.  At my age I don't want my midriff showing.  So far I have the back and fronts finished and I'm almost done with one sleeve. 

This is the back.

With a little bit of luck I'll have it finished before the snow starts falling again!

 

I never could understand people that say they are bored.  I just can't imagine that feeling.  I need more time to do everything I want and need to do.  Or maybe I need to give up an activity or two. (Thought about what this would be - for a nano second) and--- Nope, not an option.  I'll just keep tweeking my schedule.

Happy Memorial Weekend

Well, forget free time.  But the trade off is a busy, active and happy family.  I'll take that.  I had several topics to write about all week - no time.  Now here it is, Memorial Day Weekend and besides a small thunderstorm this afternoon, the weather has been hot and sunny; just the way I like it. 
Thursday morning my mother and I did our annual Decoration Day tradition of buying flowers, planting them at the cemetery on my maternal grandparent's and aunt's graves, then going to lunch.  It's really kind of a nice tradition that I enjoy with my mother each year.  This was a hot one, though, and I thought Mom was going to pass out.
Austin has a four day weekend off from work, so he and his gang came up Thursday afternoon and are staying until tomorrow.  Our long weekend has been action packed so far.  Starting with the boys being able to swim in the lake for the first time this season.  Of course, I don't allow them near the lake alone and without life jackets.  And for Landen, his idea of swimming is walking into the water only up to his knees. 

Grandpa Bobby gave Kayak rides.

Logan loves to be thrown off the dock.

I sit and watch, with a glass of Riesling, and take pictures from my reclining lounge chair.  My lake and fire pit seating area has a pink and blue theme this year with only pink and blue flowers.  I worked on that some more yesterday afternoon.

In the meantime, Austin and Melissa met with a real estate agent to list their old house.  We've had this house sold once already, then turned down by the City zoning board, then back and forth with lawyers, and it's a long story.  Suffice it to say, they are now listing it with an agent because we're all sick of dealing with it on our own.  Then they went to look at new cars because they need a bigger vehicle that can handle 5 people and 2 baby seats and a toddler booster seat comfortably.  Baby #3 will be here end of June/first of July and this is now a necessity. 

This morning we awoke to a beautiful morning.  I made french toast and fruit salad and we had breakfast outside on the deck.  Ohhh, it was so nice!

Then to top off the afternoon, Big G.G.'s (Great Grandpa, my dad) boat was delivered to our dock today.  The boys get so excited every year when the boat comes back from winter storage. 

Austin and Melissa purchased the Chevy Tahoe they looked at last night and went to pick it up and bring home Chinese carry out for dinner.  I've been cooking almost non-stop and refuse to cook on a Friday night.

Tomorrow's plans include a bar-b-que and boat rides.  I just finished making the potato salad and it tastes really good, if I do say so myself.  Delish!!  It's called Steakhouse Potato Salad.  I'll post it shortly.  We're hoping my Grandpa will want to leave the nursing home for the afternoon to join us.  We think he'll feel comfortable being here at my house.  He just doesn't like having to get dressed up and going to a restaurant.  He gets very confused and disoriented.

I wish a Happy Memorial Weekend to all as we remember our loved ones that have passed on ( I think of them often) and enjoy the weekend with our loved ones still here. 

Soap Box Derby and a Wedding

No time for lazy weekends around here.  Although I wouldn't mind one once in a while!  It just seems for quite a while now, life has been busy.  Not just the weekends, either.  There seems to be something going on or something that needs done all the time.  I know that's a good thing, and it's all good stuff.  I just like to be lazy or have more "free" time.  But that's OK.  I need to slap myself if I sound like I'm complaining.  I'm very fortunate to have a good life and a great family.

Friday night we were able to have our fire and smores down by the lake.  The rain held off until late that night.  Logan and Landen also had fun watching the bats fly out of their "bat cave" located in the cap of our chimney.  They leave every night at dusk.  If you happen to get up early enough in the morning by dawn you can watch them all fly back in.  They've lived in our chimney at least as long as we've lived in this house, which is 5-1/2 years now.  We don't mind them at all.  They keep the bug population down!

On Saturday, Austin was up early to meet my dad in town.  My dad started the local Soap Box Derby back up in our little hometown last year.  He had participated in this event when he was a little boy and then it died out for about the past 60 years.  Saturday was the soap box car inspection and picture day.  My son is the appointed Soap Box Derby photographer.  He was a photographer for the Air Force for four years before becoming a recruiter and he is very good.  He won several national all military photo awards.  He really misses it and is considering going back into this field for the Air Force when his recruiting tour is finished. 

This is last year's picture.  It has grown this year.  The big race day is June 19, I think.

Saturday also was the wedding day for my cousin, Lindsay.  We got dressed and out the door by noon to pick up my mother. (I just really don't like getting dressed up any more, but I did, of course).  Dad was busy with Soap Box Derby, so he came later to the reception.  Since it was an adult only wedding, Austin and Melissa didn't bother looking for a babysitter.  Austin was busy with pictures and Melissa is so pregnant that it just felt like too much trouble.   The bride and the wedding was beautiful.  It was a large wedding and it's always fun when all the relatives get to see each other and visit.Aren't they adorable?!

After the wedding, my Harrisburg cousins spent the night at our house, which I always enjoy.  They left by noon on Sunday.  I was so tired the rest of the day.  I don't know why, really.  Nothing was stressful or a lot of work over the weekend and all we did was sit all day at the wedding.  As my cousin, Jane, said - sometimes just sitting all day and doing nothing makes you tired.  And I think I was still getting over the little sinus bug that I seemed to be fighting for the last couple of weeks. 

Anyway, it was a good weekend, I'm feeling good, and the new week has begun.  It also looks to be packed full of activities.  My favorite activity still remains being at home, taking care of house and yard, knitting, writing, sewing and reading.  I just don't have enough free hours to do as much of that as I would like.