Letters From New England

It was only a matter of time...

Sunday

January 27, 2008

Hi,

Well, first of all, my "resolution" to write here more has certainly gone down the drain.  I think this is my 4th post for the entire month.  Bah.  I am also not doing 2 or 3 other things I'd written down for 2008 either.  Must be the end of January. :(

When I first started being recruited by the AARP, back when I was still in my 40's, I thought..."What the hell? That's for RETIRED people, right?  I'm FORTY SOMETHING, hello?"  And I tossed it in the trash.  Some time after the big 5-ohmygodde birthday, I decided to mail out the $12.95 or whatever it was and see if it was worth the membership.

I get the AARP Bulletin and their bi-monthly magazine...both filled with interesting, sometimes useful (to me) information.  I enjoy reading both. But, at 56 and no where near retirement, I didn't expect to find myself registering for any of their programs. 

Last week, Carol called and told me that she was interested in attending their weekend long, 50th anniversary program in Washington, DC.  I went home, found the magazine with the information, checked it out on the website and thought...hmmm, Maya Angelou and Gene Simmons?  (Seriously?) Shirley MacLaine and Cal Ripkin, Jr?  Judy Collins and Chicago?  Quincy Jones and Clinton Kelly?  Well, that actually might be a good time.

I've never been to DC and, there's no time like the present, right?  I told Carol that I was interested in going and that if she handled the hotel arrangements, I'd handle the travel since I seem to be semi-professional at looking for airline tickets these days.  It's not until September so we have plenty of time.  And, the cost to AARP is only $20 (to register and receive whatever discounts that will get us...everything else has to be paid for by us).  Carol wants to go a day or 2 before the weekend and see Arlington Cemetary and some other sites (Dupont Circle).  I told her that I will use Dubya's attempt at keeping us our of a recession to pay for some of the trip, since we are supposedly getting the checks in July.  Unexpected money should be used on something fun, doncha think?

I have only one thing I need to check out before I say yes definitely, and I'll do that today.  Don't want to be in DC when an important family event may be taking place at home.  I am a little concerned about the crime rate in DC, but we'll just have to be more cautious and not put ourselves in an unsafe situation.   

Anyway, I seem to have found myself in cahoots with the retired folk, and that's fine with me. :)

I spent yesterday inside again.  It was freezing out.  This morning I opened the blinds to find it had snowed during the night.  Not much, by the looks of it...an inch maybe.  Dawn left her car on the street though.  I didn't see a ticket on it, which means, of course, that Gardner's finest didn't make their way down our street to make sure all was good in our neighborhood overnight. 

I have to take apart a pretty good sized section of the cross-stitch project I'm working on because I am off one row. Arghhh.... Ended up putting it down and watching a movie instead.

"Proof" with Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhall, Anthony Hopkins. Was pretty good, actually.  Paltrow did a great job.  I have another to watch this afternoon, "The Painted Veil".

Speaking of movies and AARP, their most recent magazine had it's own movie awards.  2008 Movies For Grownups Awards.  Some very good stuff on there.  I'm anxious to see Atonement and The Kite Runner, neither of which has come to town yet. 

Okay, I need to get in the shower.  It's nearly 9:30 and I have a couple of errands to run.

Peace,

Kay

Surprise meetings and greetings...

Thursday

January 17, 2008

Hi,

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETE (who reads my blog) and DONNA (who doesn't read my blog)!  So, if you talk to her (or if YOU do, Pat) say Happy b-day for me. 

My lower back is sore tonight.  It hurts when Dr. C stretches it out, but usually once I get home, I'm fine.  Not tonight.  He also (gently) told me to stop sleeping on my stomach or all of the work he is doing is for naught.  I know, I know... what a terrible position we put our necks and lower backs in when we sleep that way.  So, henceforth I'll have a new sleeping buddy... the body pillow I bought years ago and stuffed in a closet.  Helps lower back by putting it between the knees, and also keeps you from rolling onto your stomach.  Clever... :)

We have more bad weather on the way.  A "wintery mix" they are calling it.  Snow, sleet, freezing rain (isn't sleet and freezing rain the same thing?).  It begins tonight and continues through the weekend, which makes me doubly (is that a word?) glad that I have no plans for the entire weekend.  Now, only if we had Monday off like the rest of the country. :(

I have some house stuff to do, but mostly I'm going to read, relax, work on some cross-stitch, relax, watch a movie or two, relax and then...go to sleep.  I can't wait.

I'm tired today for some reason.  I slept all night (until Thunder Feet woke up this morning).  I don't know...

We are reading Wuthering Heights for book club.  Normally, I like that kind of stuff.  Well, I like Jane Austen.  Maybe it's because it's Bronte, but I'm struggling with the language.  Although, I really liked Jane Eyre, but that was the other Bronte.  Anyway, I'd rather be reading something else.

I watched Dreamland last night.  Odd movie...but I liked it okay.  John Corbett was in it... Not the John of Northern Exposure days, but still yummy enough after all these years.  Did you know he lives with Bo Derek? 

I ran into an old friend at work yesterday.  She used to work in my dept, but left many years ago.  Anyway, I rarely see her anymore even though she lives spitting distance from me since I moved.  She stopped down to see me after she'd taken care of her business and we chatted for a bit.  She has a new granddaughter (born on 12/30) and had some photos to show me.  We exchanged email addresses and phone numbers and promised to get together soon.

Today, I had an email from a cousin I haven't seen in YEARS!  I think the last time I saw her was at my uncle's funeral in January of 2000.  Then she moved to Florida and we lost touch.  The email address I had for her no longer worked and I didn't have her snail mail addy.  She contacted me because her son wants some family history information and she thought he could get it from me.  I have some and will gladly share it, but I wish I had more.  It may be time to re-work the old family tree and see what I have and what's missing.  We've added quite a few new branches over the years.  Look out, Family... I'll be coming at you to fill in the blanks!

I'm trying to find airline tickets to AZ without breaking the bank.  The couple of times I saw some that I could afford, I couldn't find Tammy (she's coming with me and wants to use her flyer miles for her ticket).  I'll keep trying everyday.  I'm excited to see the changes to The Zenyard and Tammy hasn't seen it at all yet, so I hope we can go.  Otherwise, look out FLORIDA family 'cuz we're going to try out my new GPS system! :)

Gotta scoot.... Jeopardy's coming on soon.

Peace,

Kay

If you don't like the weather...

Saturday

January 12, 2008

Hi,

We have run the gamut of weather patterns this week.  First it was HUMID...balmy really, then it dropped to below zero, then we had freezing rain, and today it was 60 and sunny.  You just don't know, from day to day, how to dress before you leave the house. :)

Tammy is visiting for the weekend, but is off with friends to a local pub to watch the Patriots (!!!!!) play tonight.  BIG game, which is about to start in 3 minutes.  Will they go undefeated all the way through the Super Bowl?  Speaking of, I thought I read somewhere that the Super Bowl is in PHOENIX this year???  Was I imagining that?  I'll have to check it out later.

I downloaded 5 songs from iTunes today for my iPod.  It took over 2 hours.  Damned dial up.  Anyway, one was Elliot Yamin's new song...."Wait For You".  I love Elliot...he's so sweet and unassuming.  I hope he's wildly successful.  I also grabbed Santana's new song, which features Chad Kroeger, who I also LOVE (front guy for Nickleback).  And, "Lips of an Angel" by Hinder.  And, thanks to my son's gift card for Christmas, I haven't had to pay for anything and I still have $20 (or 20 songs) left. 

My cousin, Cindi, called me today.  We haven't talked in FOREVER...well, a few months, I guess.  Anyway, she asked me what I was doing and I said "nothing" and she said, "I'm coming over and we're going for a walk" and I said "ok". :)  We tramped around the neighborhood (she lives a couple of streets over from my) and caught each other up on what's been happening.  She lost 20 lbs (rather quickly, it seems to me) by cutting back on portions, drinking more water and less soda/coffee, etc, and hitting her treadmill or the streets almost daily.  She's had some stressful things going on too, but mostly it's been by exercising more and eating less.  She could practically pull off the jeans she had on w/o unbuttoning them...and they are a size smaller than she was wearing when she started. 

We didn't go far, but my sciatica issue presented itself about 15 minutes or less into our journey.  I didn't say anything because I didn't want to stop yet, so I continued until it began to get painful.  Then I told her the whole story about my back and the trip to the ER and the chiropractor, and we headed for home.  It's very discouraging for me.

So, after my last whiny post, my cousin, Pat, left a comment here about watching The Secret again.  I followed her advice and I'm glad I did.  That, and a great brainstorming session with my book club ladies started the thought process of branching out with my jewelry in a couple of directions.  I've been journaling about it and think I'm going to make a few changes to my product line and focus more attention in one or two areas.  Seriously, I'm all over the place.  I'm going to spend the winter getting some stuff made, then approach 3 area hospitals that also do vendor/lobby sales for staff.  I also want to put some of my chainmaille bracelets in local gift shops that take items on consignment.  I'm working the details out in my head (and my journal).

The other thing that came about from watching The Secret again was (DUH!) how my negative attitude toward my weight issues and aging is just making me fatter and older looking. :)  No really... When you tell yourself you're fat and ugly, you become fat and ugly.  So, no more of that.  (And, to those of you who see me all of the time...when I start that negative self talk, I want you to kick me in the ass.  Thx ;) 

My "renewed" mantra... "I look great and feel fantastic now that I weigh ___lbs". 

Okay, I'm missing the game....

Peace,
Kay

The back cracker...

Thursday

January 3, 2008

Hi,

I had my 6th chiropractic appointment after work today.  Sean (Dr. C) first stretches my lower back on this "breakaway" table.  After that bit of torture is over (it kills my lower back while he's doing it and for about an hour after, but I need to open the vertebra in my lumbar region to get the disks off of my sciatic nerve).  Then he cracks my mid-back (thoracic region), then flips me over and cracks my neck and more of my back while I'm lying on my side.  The neck thing always freaks me out, but I have nerve damage there too.  I wake up in the morning with numb fingers on one or both hands and sometimes it happens if I'm writing or working on jewelry or cross-stitch.  It's a pain in the neck both literally and figuratively.

Dr. C is a great guy.  He went to school with my kids, I went to school with his mom.  Nice family.  I have another 6 appointments left that my insurance will cover (I have a $25 co-pay fee), then I will try monthly maintenance ...OR... buy a True Back, which Dr. C has looked at and approves. 

He also wants me to try getting back on the treadmill for 10 minutes a day to see how the sciatica thing goes when I'm walking.  Right now, 20 minutes or less of walking or standing up and I'm in pain.  I don't want to unfreeze my membership for 10 minutes a day at the gym, so I'm going to ask Nora if I can use her treadmill after work.  I have a key to her condo and can be in and out of there before she even gets on the highway to come home from work.

Besides the fact that these issues are painful at times and have disrupted my sleep, as well as my waking life, I am particularly upset that I can't exercise for any length of time that might actually promote weight loss.  I am of an age that weight loss isn't going to happen with calorie restriction alone.  All that does is keep me where I am...if I wanted to lose weight with food choices only, I'd have to starve myself, because (except for a few meals here and there and the holiday treats I allowed), I don't eat much. 

Sean asked if I drank soda, thinking that cutting that out would be a boost, but I don't.  I suppose I could give up coffee, as I drink 2 or 3 cups a day and have cream and sugar in them.  That would drop 100 cals or more from my daily intake.  Other than that, it has to come from food.

So, here's what I ate today.  Breakfast was a Weight Watcher yogurt with a tbs of ground flaxseed.  Around 10, I ate a small fruit cup.  For lunch, I had a Lean Cuisine, for dinner, a bowl of homemade chili (lots of beans = lots of protein).  2 cups of coffee and a cup of tea, lots of water. Well, there you have it...not that many calories, I don't think.  This is a pretty typical day.  Sometimes it's a single serving of SpecialK with skim milk, a cup of soup and salad or half a turkey sandwich (no mayo) and salad with some protein (chicken breast or cheese) for dinner.  Sometimes it's one of those Progresso Zero Points soups... sometimes it's a Lean Cuisine (if I didn't have one for lunch).  Once in awhile, breakfast is a Slim Fast high protein shake or 1 scrambled egg.  I don't know what the hell to do anymore.  It's friggin' annoying.  Aging sucks...really.

My biggest downfall is eating out.  I don't make good choices and one meal outside the house can wipe out 2 or 3 days of low calorie meals.  One of my "intentions" for 2008 is to bring my own food to work everyday because I'm spending $100 a month in the cafeteria.  I also make better choices when I bring my own food.

Another "intention" is to stop spending so much money at hospital vendor sales.  I added up all of what I've spent this year and it's about $650.  Duh...  Add another $1200+ in cafeteria meals and you're looking at close to $2000 a year. 

How'd I go from weight loss (or not, as the case may be) to spending too much money frivolously?  I dunno... :)

Okay, I'm going to go and call Nora, then watch Jeopardy. 

Peace,

Kay