I went to the doctor a couple of days ago. He measured me (5 feet, 1 inch) and weighed me (his brand new, just-bought-that-day scale weighs six pounds heavier than my home scale does), calculated my Body Mass Index as 31 (not a good number) and decided that I need to lose
TWENTY POUNDS.
I should be able to do that. I've done it before. And therein lies the rub. For a human, I make a very good yoyo. This time, I need to take off the weight and keep it off.
I have an incentive picture on my fridge. I have a weight loss buddy keeping me accountable. (She just talked me out of eating cheesesticks for lunch. Thank you, J!)
Not surprisingly, the doctor emphasized that I need to exercise as well as controlling my eating habits. In England and LA, walking seemed easier. I was walking for a purpose and so didn't notice the distances. Here, when I just go out for a walk, I start thinking about how I'm feeling, and discourage myself. (My original wish, to spend 4 months in LA this winter, would have helped with that. Since I can't do that, I will have to make exercise work here.)
Here's a relatively recent picture. I'm the taller one ("tall" being a relative thing. Keep in mind that my version of "tall" means 5'1".) I could also have said, I'm the lumpier one.
I will keep you posted.
Wish me luck!
The time has come, the walrus said...
To makeover my health, my complexion, my apartment, you name it.
Two months ago, my doctor gave me until after Christmas to bring my cholesterol down through dietary changes and weight loss. For four or five weeks, I managed to cut all cheese, bacon, egg yolks and french fries out of my diet. (If you knew how I rely on cheese as a protein source, you'd realize what an incredible accomplishment this is!) Then I had to spend nearly a month out of my apartment, eating out and finding it very difficult to deal with my allergies, dietary restrictions, and cheese-lessness while doing so. I backslid. (Still no fries or bacon, but the eggs and cheese thing went by the boards.)
I am home now, with renewed resolve. After watching my mother react adversely to every cholesterol medication out there, I want to avoid medication if at all possible.
The health makeover goal, therefore, is to lower my cholesterol, lose weight (ideally about 12 or 15 pounds in the next three months), and increase my activity level. While I was in England and LA I did a lot of walking. I proved to myself I can do that. I need to resume that level of activity.
The "beauty" makeover is to work on my skin, to get it clearer and more healthy-looking. I have had teenage skin for the past forty-plus years, and I am getting fed up with that.
The apartment makeover should contribute nicely to the activity level goal. I did a fair bit while following Alana's Hybrid Cure some months ago. I left the work in the storage room for the winter when it would be cool enough in said room to actually do things in there. The time has come (the Walrus said). Since then, things have become less tidy in the rest of the apartment as well. The goal is Mrs. Beeton's timeless "a place for everything, and everything in its place." (That phrase is also attributed to Samuel Smiles and Benjamin Franklin. Let's go with Samuel Smiles, shall we? He was an ancestor of mine, or married an ancestor of mine, or something.)
I announced a Closet Cure quite some time ago, then was not able to follow through at the time. That will begin now.
I am going to Los Angeles in early February. (Just for a vacation.) My goal, therefore, is to have these things accomplished before I leave.
Let the makeovers begin!
What do you like to bring home from a trip to remind you of the good times you had?
When I was a child, my souvenir-collecting was rather eclectic, to say the least. I remember that before our first long car-trip vacation, to Yellowstone National Park, my grandfather asked me to bring back a bear for him, so my souvenir shopping was concentrated on finding a small bear — I think I still have that small grizzly-bear figurine bought by my eight-year-old self. (After Grandpa died, I “repatriated” it, so to speak.)
Other souvenirs have included the typical t-shirts, pens, etc. A pair of Betsy Ross socks purchased in Minot, North Dakota, marked the Bicentennial of the United States in 1976 when we took my English friend Sheila there.
Now, my taste in souvenirs has changed. A beautiful top (one that could be called a t-shirt, but is much nicer than the typical t-shirt) was my major souvenir of Walton-on-Thames, and I think of beautiful Walton every time I wear it. A one-of-a-kind porcelain vase is my souvenir of Brentwood in Los Angeles, and it not only reminds me of my time strolling along San Vicente Boulevard, but also of the two women in the shop where I bought it, who were very interested in learning about my writing, and who wrapped my vase so well it could have traveled from there to the Yukon without damage (and after wrapping the lovely thing so carefully, the one woman asked as she handed it to me, “You’re doing carry-on with this, right?” I assured her that I would.)
My main souvenirs this summer, though, have been books (!) and re-usable shopping bags.
In England, I purchased several children’s books and a couple of books about the history of Walton-on-Thames. I also brought home a Tesco bag, bright blue with delightful ladybugs depicted across it, plasticized so that it has been the perfect bag for my weekly jaunts to the farmers’ market since my return. At Waterstone’s Books in Walton’s shopping centre known as “The Heart“, I bought a small bag with delightful picture-book illustrations on either side, the purchase of which benefits The Book Bus, a mobile library in Zambia. It is perfect for trips to the bookstore here. (And once, when I took it to the Main Library children’s department, the staff person behind the desk recognized the illustrations on it!) At another shop in The Heart, I found a pretty bag that reminds people that “bags don’t grow on trees!” It will be my clothes-shopping bag.
In Los Angeles, since I was at a Writers’ Conference, it is no surprise that I brought back many, many, MANY books, as well as a bright red SCBWI book bag emblazoned with the words “Reading is Power”, and another that was a gift to each person at the closing luncheon, celebrating the 40th anniversary of SCBWI. Both of those bags regularly visit the library/libraries with me. At Brentwood Whole Foods, I bought a shopping bag that says Los Angeles on one side (in small letters) and California on the other. It carries my groceries.
My short visit to St. Paul was no different. I came back with books (no surprise there…) Micawber’s Books led me to The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton, On Rereading by Patricia Meyer Spacks, The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma, and a picture book entitled Scrawny Cat by Phyllis Root. I restrained myself on kids’ books, anticipating a trip to The Red Balloon. Since that didn’t pan out, I had fewer books to declare when I came back across the border than I’d anticipated. (Next time…) I *did* buy Richard Peck’s Secrets at Sea at the airport branch of The Red Balloon. And I came home with two more re-usable shopping bags. One is a grocery shopping bag from the upscale supermarket Byerly’s, where I satisfied my longing for Old Home Yogurt among other things, and the other is a book-shopping bag from The Red Balloon at the airport.
Useful things that bring back wonderful memories. Are there any better souvenirs than such?
What do you bring home with you?
J and I drove out to my old home today. It was a beautiful day for driving — clear blue bowl of sky above us, still a few golden leaves on the trees, “crisp” temperature when we were outside, but not too cold.
We went to the cemetery where my parents are buried — it was the first time I’d been able to go out there to visit their graves since the interment service on July 9, so I shed a few tears as I stood by their grave. The headstone is not yet in place, there is only a temporary marker, so it’s not easy to see the grave unless one is right up beside it, but it’s there:
The next picture was supposed to show the flock of hundreds of bird (possibly swans?) that were circling overhead, but I needed a different camera. As J said, “Your Dad needs to have his camera here.” If I’d had his camera with the large telephoto lens which he used for his wildlife photography, I could have taken a photo he’d have been proud of. As it is, the photo shows how beautifully cared for the cemetery is (out in the middle of farm fields, several miles from any town, but less than half a mile from the farm where I grew up.)
As most of you know, from time to time, when painting or carpeting or whatever is being done in an apartment near mine, I have to go elsewhere for a while because of my allergies. I'm in one of those times at the moment, a rather drawn out time due to the unpredictability of when each phase of the work could be done.
A long time spent in a hotel in one's home city could get rather tedious... or not. When I realized that there were two lovely big beds in my hotel room (and, as it turns out, I had to switch hotels, and now have a two-room suite!) I contacted my friend J in Minnesota, with whom I traveled to England in the summer, and she's come up to spend a week with me. We are having a wonderful time together, and it's made the staid staycation into a delightful vacation.
We haven't been indulging in too much wild or riotous living, I promise! Due to J's MS, she is limited in the amount she can do in a day, and due to my rather low energy-level, that works well for me. We have been having a good time anyway.
Her plane was late getting in last Wednesday, due to very foggy conditions here, and she was in definite need of food when she finally arrived after 2 p.m. -- so we went straight to a delightful little restaurant that serves British food, and in particular, serves a wonderful cream tea. While she had a cranberry-cream cheese and cucumber sandwich and a pot of PG Tips tea, I enjoyed scones with clotted cream. Mmmmm...
We've done a bit of shopping (naturally) and a bit of sightseeing (naturally). Friday we went to an historic hotel for afternoon tea with another of my friends, and had a wonderful time (and wonderful tiny sandwiches, scones, and delectable goodies). Saturday we drove to the next city (about an hour's drive) to a lovely restaurant for prime rib and Yorkshire pudding. It was well worth the trip. Oh my, that dinner was good! J had Saskatoon berry crumble with vanilla ice cream to top off the meal (and I admit I had a spoonful of the crumble, despite my hypoglycemia. It was so very good!) It was a nice drive out of town, as well. It certainly showed J just how flat the prairie can be!
Today was a very different day, as we spent much of the day preparing J's costume for the Singalong Sound of Music we'll be attending in St. Paul, Minnesota on Saturday the 22nd. (Yes, at the end of this week, I'll be in Minnesota again!) My costume has been ready for a couple of weeks, since mine just involved finding the right thing and buying it... J's involved us finding the right fabric, and putting it together.
Remember the scene in The Sound of Music, after the children's fears of the storm have been calmed by Maria singing "My Favorite Things" and the Captain has sent them scurrying back to their bedrooms? Maria ponders the children's lack of playclothes and the fact that there will be new drapes for her bedroom, and has the brainwave that the drapes would make perfect playclothes. Well, we are going to illustrate that scene.
I have found just the right nightgown and robe to allow me to portray Maria as she ponders the problem (and last time I had my hair cut, I got it cut the way Julie had hers in the 1970s -- I just couldn't bring myself to get the full Sound of Music cut. The 1970s style is close enough.) So... that's half the scene. What about J? J decided on her costume first, actually. She is going as the drapes. Yes, the drapes. We found just the right fabric on Thursday, and today we cut the fabric and hemmed it (we will not discuss our method of hemming, thank you very much) and I will fashion rod pockets of some sort so that she can wear the drapes over her shoulders. (If you've ever seen the episode of the Carol Burnett Show in which she did a parody of Gone With the Wind, with Scarlett's famous drapery dress being actual drapes on a rod across her shoulders, J's will be a smaller version of that.) I will post pictures on Saturday of the two of us in our finery.
Tomorrow we hope to go out to my hometown so that I can show J around my home area. I'll tell you about that tomorrow.
Having J join me for part of my staycation has to be one of the best ideas I've had in a long time! Thank you, J!!!
This weekend is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. All over the country, people will be gathering together for turkey dinners, family traditions, football games (both of the pick-up and the professional variety), and yes, for giving thanks.
I'm beginning to carve out my own traditions as I face the various family holidays on my own for the first time. I decided this morning that one of those traditions will be a blog post about the things I'm grateful for in the past year. And despite this year having been a difficult one for a variety of reasons, there is so much that I am grateful for.
First of all, my parents. At this time last year, I knew my time with them was drawing to a close, although thankfully I didn't know how short a time we had left. This morning I was looking back with some regrets that I didn't do more for and with them, but I know in my heart that I did as much as I could at the time, and that our relationship was unique and precious. I will cherish them both in my heart for as long as I live.
Next, my friends. Without my wonderful friends and extended family, I don't know how I would have coped in the last three years as I dealt with the deterioration of Mum's and Dad's health, and with their eventual death. Friends that sat with me late at night, either on person or on the phone or through email, listening to my grief and anxiety; friends that gave me a shoulder (literal and cyber) to lean on through the process of saying goodbye to Mum and Dad; friends that helped me deal with all that it took to make my parents' home my own; friends that encouraged me to spread my wings and be all that I can be. All are treasured.
This past year has given me some wondrous gifts. Gradually becoming my own person again was one of them. Discovering that I could enjoy traveling again was another. Spending time in Walton-on-Thames and in Los Angeles were the best things that could have happened to me. The incredible opportunity to spend a bit of time with Julie Andrews was something I will treasure forever. Meeting new people, making new friends, learning new things... Working with Emma Walton Hamilton on my writing has helped me grow both as a writer and as a person.
Oh my -- I could go on and on!
Am I lucky, or what? Am I blessed, or what?
I am certainly grateful.
