This week in the garden

Florida State Fair- lots of pictures later...
Faith Formation Retreat- stories and pictures later...
This week's loot from Cheyenne's

 My herb garden

 Greenery

 My vegetable garden- three sisters in the middle- has an ear of corn!

Off to Busch Gardens to see Herman's Hermits and the new ice show!

A Day Without Walking

Weight loss: gained 2.2 pounds yesterday, down 2.0 from max weight.  Gained 0.2% body weight (net change 0), BMI went up 0.2% (net change 0) according to my fat loss monitor.

Something I might see on my walk at work

Yesterday, I did not do any walking. I had every intention of walking at work- even linked to this really great map of Walking trails at work. This map even has trails mapped out- with number of steps along familiar places pre-counted. It is easy to convert to miles- just divide by 2000 steps.  The equivalent walk to my long block is the combination of yellow and red trails.  The door out of my building is in the middle of the north side of the red loop.  Tarek's (where I can buy lunch) is on the south side of the pink loop.  My plan yesterday was to go over to Tareks, buy lunch and do the loops on the way back.  This is definitely NOT a good idea.  If you are going to walk at lunch- do not have hot food in your hand- you will go inside and eat it- and NEVER get outside to walk.  New plan is to walk in the morning- AND to walk at work BEFORE I buy my lunch.

This is my plan for the walk at work: Start out at the top of the red loop- walk clockwise around the red loop until getting to where the red and pink loops join.  Then walk over to the pink loop and walk clockwise all the way around until I get to Tarek's where I buy my lunch.  Walk back to the beginning of the pink loop over to the red loop and continue on the red loop back to my office.

In the meantime, need to get on my morning walk now- because there is no time like the present!

Super Bowl Sunday

Reblogged from http://www.thyhandhathprovided.com/2011/10/black-bean-butternut-squash-chili.html

Cilantro is front and center in this pic!

Weight loss: 1.2 pounds yesterday, down 4.2 from max weight.  Gained 0.2% body weight but BMI went down 0.3% according to my fat loss monitor.

Here was our pre-Super Bowl meal:
 First we started with freshly made warm from the oven Double Corn Bread (recipe from Thy Hand Hath Provided).  Then we topped this with leftover Black bean and butternut Squash Chili that had been left over from earlier in the week.  This is an easy recipe that can easily be started in the crock pot before work and be ready when you get home.

We had reheated the chili in the oven topped with Amish Colby Cheese from Cheyenne's.

On top of that we placed the salsa I made tonight (2 small tomatoes, 1/4 yellow bell pepper, 1 scallion, handful of cilantro from my garden, sea salt, juice of one lime, and freshly ground black pepper. The final topper was fresh whole sour cream. Yummy!

For Super Bowl snacks, I had a beer (Samuel Adams® Alpine Spring) and some tortilla chips with more of the same salsa (had to make two new batches for Rob and I).

The walking went quickly but may no longer be enough- did have pain and swelling during choir today. Like many others, woke up too late for walking before work today- will try getting some in during my lunch break.  Looks like lunch will be Tarek's special for today- tortillini marinara with a caesar salad. 

Teach Faith Formation tonight, so will get home after 8- hope Rob will have supper ready.  It is such a luxury to have a grown son who can cook have supper ready when you get home!

Love always,
Mary Rose

Progress

Yesterday walked around the long block, watched Pioneer Woman, thought about making her Strawberry jam(have the strawberries, went out to eat, went to the movies with Rob.  Lost 1 pound, 0.4% of my body weight and my BMI went down by a tenth of a point.  Need to get to walk now.  Talk to you later.

Love,
Mary Rose

The Miracle of Walking

I'm getting older.
Have a sedentary job.
Get lots of swelling in my legs and feet.
Have pain that probably is fibromyalgia (at least it fits the symptoms).
And for months- probably years- all that has gotten a lot worse to the point that I feel that it is mandatory to keep my feet raised at night when I get home- then fall asleep- then do not get anything done after work- etc. etc. etc.
I've been telling myself that exercise is exercise and that I can get enough by doing housework.
Not true.

Yesterday I decided that no matter what happened, I would get out for my morning walk- that I would walk as fast as I could- and that I would go only as far as I could without a lot of pain.  I made it all around what I call my big block- down Shadow Lane to Springdale Place to Riverhills Drive to Sunnyside Road.  It took all of twenty minutes- no big deal.

So what happened?
No swelling all day.
No pain unless you touched the muscles directly ALL DAY.
Worked the same hours as usual.
Just as sedentary.
Came home from work AWAKE- no pain- and not needing to lie down!
Hooray!!!!!

So today and everyday- I'm walking my big block first thing in the morning.
Then going for my short excursion going down St. Augustine to Glen Arven and back- and eventually get back to my 3 mile hike following Riverhills all the way around back to Brentwood then to Glen Arven and back.

So enough writing and starting my walk.  Enjoy your day- get some fresh air and a little exercise!

Love,
Mary Rose

Spice Jars Organized!

This is such a good solution, I'm surprised that I haven't seen it before!  I have tons of spices.  My son loves to experiment with flavors and seasonings, and I'm a sucker for recipes.  Spices need to be cool and dark- which is hard in the kitchen.  This is just a regular photo box- I bought it at Michael's for $2. It holds 24 regular size bottles of spices.  I have it on a folded wire shelf- just high enough so spills on the counter won't get it wet (I worry about stuff like that).  I guess if the box gets a little messy- I can look for another one on sale some other day (I have two filled with spices- one for jars, one for T-Z and the spices and herbs in bags- and a third just in case). It is also really easy to clean around- just lift one box and 24 spices go wherever you want.

This has been working really well for about a week- which is a pretty good record for me!

A Billion Positive Moments

One of the secrets of a life well-lived is this simple fact: Life is made up of millions of moments- every positive moment contributes to a life lived well. Just strive to make the moment you are living now, a positive moment- and forget about the rest.

I added it up:  If I live to be 100 years old and every moment that I lived was positive, I would have 3 billion, one hundred and fifty-five million, seven hundred and sixty thousand well-lived seconds.

Of course, not every second that I've lived so far has been well-lived, but if I try to make every second from now on well-lived and I lived another 32 years, then I would have lived well for at least another one billion seconds.  This is a goal we can all attempt to reach.

Maybe that's why things like 12 steps and even my own Addition Principle seem to work so well.  These approaches all focus on making this moment count.  We can blame ourselves for the past and we can wonder what the future holds- but all we can do is the best we can do with the moment that we are living right now.  So lets go out and experience some seconds well-lived today!

Love always,
Mary Rose

P.S. As soon as I had this revelation, I went to the flowers that I needed to arrange, set up the tableau, and then took this picture for you!  Hope it brightens your day!