Life happens

It's been an emotional week for our family. Larry's dad died last Saturday. We're thankful that he's no longer distressed and in pain, but we miss his smile and humorous ways.The memorial service was comforting and very nice.
Larry's mom had her hip operated on yesterday, for the third time in four years. We're hoping this will be the charm that allows her to walk without pain.

She is at the Cleveland Clinic's main campus, which is a most remarkable place. I had never been there before yesterday, and was astonished by the massive size of one building covering several city blocks. They actually refer to it as many buildings (A through at least P) but since they're all under one roof I think of it as one really really big building.

Larry and I were amused by the signs: "Free exercise equipment - use the stairs." We walked up numerous flights to get to the rooftop pavilion where a yoga class was offered. When we finally made it to the top, the door was locked, so we walked down the stairs, and took the elevator back up. LOL!

We sat with Betty from our arrival time at 8:00 A.M. until she was finally taken the the operating room at 5:00 P.M. Let me tell you, I was glad to have my knitting!

She is doing well, and will go to the same place where my mom lives for her rehabilitation. She hopes to be able to go back home in a few weeks, once the bone graft becomes a nice sturdy part of the joint.

Wishing the best to you.

Skirts or socks?

I love this yarn! I have purchased it in blue, pink, sunrise, and lavender. The photo of the hand knit baby skirt is adorable. . .but highly impractical. It makes wonderful socks, though! As much as I love living in our household of mostly men, I need something girly once in a while.

Kindle Review

Larry gave me a Kindle electronic reader for Christmas. Isn't it a cute little thing? It's only six and a half inches long.It's four and a half inches wide.
And look how thin it is! Only one quarter of an inch thick.
It boggles my mind that this tiny device can hold lots and lots of books. Whole books! This technology is wonderful for text books. I hated when our boys had to haul around forty pound back packs full of books. This little item weighs in at five and a half ounces.

You can choose from several font sizes for the most comfortable reading. Your bookmark never falls out and gets lost, and the most amazing part is: instant gratification! If you are looking for something good to read and your own book shelves don't entice you, a quick visit to the Kindle bookstore allows you to download a book in less than a minute. Can you imagine? A whole book goes from somewhere or other right into this little Kindle.

It came in a brown cardboard box, so I decided to make it a little jacket.
with an extra pocket for the cord.
Even though I like a lot of things about the Kindle, it does have a few drawbacks. When I'm reading a good book I like to have the title of the book and the name of the author right in front of me. I can push the right button to discover the title and author, but it's not like with a book where you get to admire the artwork on the cover.

My mom was always a great one for lending books she liked to anyone who wanted to borrow them, and her four children acquired the same habit. Having a book in a Kindle makes it harder to share. If you decide you don't like the book you bought for your Kindle you can't just resell it on ebay or donate it to the library's used book sale. You can keep it or delete it.

At some point in every book I read, I flip through to read further into the book or check out the last chapter. I know that is possible with the Kindle, but I feel lucky to have learned how to download a book, change the font size, and recharge the battery. I don't know how to flip through to the last chapter.

Overall, I like this cute little reading device. I like that I can read it in bed easily. Some books are just too big and heavy to read in bed. I don't like that I may fall asleep and have it crash to the floor. That has happened with books my whole life, but I don't think it would do the Kindle any good. I doubt if I'll ever read it at the beach; sand wouldn't do it any good either.

All in all I prefer real books, but it's fun to try new things.

Getting by

With practically anything to do with computers, I know just enough to get by. I learn something new when I have to, and hope I remember it for the next time I need to use it. When someone changes some small thing I get stuck. Do you remember the quilt I made for my mom when she first showed signs of memory loss? I wanted something to keep her warm when I wasn't there, and something to show her how much I loved her even when I couldn't be where she is. That quilt kept wandering off and getting lost. I would walk past rooms when the doors were open and eventually find it and ask the staff to return it to Mom if it wouldn't upset whoever was using it. I started to make her a new one several months ago, but somehow didn't have the heart to finish it. . . until now.
This time I put her name on the back.
And then I put her name on the back again, even bigger.
Just in case. But she can't see it and doesn't know about it, and doesn't mind what kind of blanket she has as long as she's warm enough. I guess I am really doing this for me. So I know she's wrapped in something I made for her.
All this time that I haven't been blogging I've still been sewing and knitting. Just very quietly.
Wishing you, my dear blog friends, the very best.

Remembering

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has invited readers to share things they remember about growing up in the Cleveland area, and some of these memories have been published over the holidays. I kept thinking it would be fun to write something, but realizing I'd left it a bit late, am delighted that my blog doesn't have deadlines.

You will be astonished to hear that I have very fond memories of going shopping (of all things!) for back to school clothes. It was the early sixties, and it was a novel experience for us when our mom drove to the Rapid Transit stop at Van Aiken. We got on the Rapid (somewhat between a train and a streetcar) and rode the swaying car into Terminal Tower in downtown Cleveland. Arriving, we entered the dark terminal and made our way onto the city streets. We walked to Higbees where Sara and I tried on dresses and skirts and blouses and shoes and coats.

Our brother, Peter, must have hated those outings. He, too, had to try on school clothes, but for boys it probably wasn't much fun. Wasting a beautiful summer day hanging around stores and trying things on is my attitude toward shopping now, but back then it was just plain fun. It may have something to do with the outstanding service. In that place and time if you inquired about raincoats you would either be escorted to the rainwear department, or someone would bring several for you to try on.

Higbees had a a delightful dining room where we ate chicken salad sandwiches for lunch. To this day I still feel special when I am eating a chicken salad sandwich!

After lunch we would venture over to Halle's, the other big department store in Cleveland. There we would get anything we hadn't been able to find at Higbee's. When we were finished in each department, my mom would ask the clerk to "have it sent". Such luxury! Going shopping without having to haul around your purchases. A few days later the big brown UPS truck would pull up in front of our house where the driver would deliver our school clothes.

By the mid sixties we no longer went on those outings. It was much cheaper and easier to shop locally, but I do have very fond memories of those trips into the city to shop at those wonderful stores, which have now been closed for decades.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Looking ahead to a good year in 2012. My resolution this year is to USE my vacation time from work. I was so busy this past year I only took a few days of vacation time, and though getting paid for the unused time is nice (hello, yarn store!), time off is nicer still.

Let's face it, I'm not irreplaceable - they can get along without me for a couple of weeks!

I always enjoy reading the newspaper recaps of the year, so I thought I'd share some of mine with you.

As you no doubt noticed, I have done far fewer blog posts than in past years, and less sewing as well. My life at work has been particularly busy. We are gradually switching to electronic medical records. Once the process is complete, life should get easier. For now it is anything but easy!

As we retire old paper records to be shredded, we find that though one piece of paper barely weighs anything, hauling armloads of paper up the stairs is a good workout. You can't believe how much paper I have handled this year! And that's not the hard part. All this change is mentally challenging.

Though I haven't had much sewing time, I can always find a few minutes here and there to knit, and have made quite a few pairs of socks. Only one pair has fallen victim to second sock syndrome, and remains unfinished. The yellow lace socks take a lot of concentration and my knitting time is pretty distracted. I feel good that I can turn a sock heel while participating in a conversation and having a cat on my lap. Knitting lace is another matter.

We are happy to have taken care of some major home improvements this year. Our part of the world has exceeded all records for rainfall since record keeping began, by over a foot of rain more than any other year. The water damage to our roof and porch were what prompted these tasks, and it's very nice to have a dry house during all the rain.

I finally found a raincoat - yay! It is pretty and purple, and makes me look remarkably like a 55 year old woman. I don't feel like a 55 year old woman, but the calendar doesn't lie.

Larry and I so enjoyed the three days we spent in Saugituck, Michigan again this year. We loved walking barefoot in the water along the lake shore for miles and miles. Forgetting to take the camera was kind of a blessing - it was nice not to worry about it getting wet or damaged. Climbing to the top of Mount Baldhead (the largest sand dune in the area) by way of 300 stairs was very cool, and skittering down the other side was a blast! We give thanks that our aging bodies allow us to enjoy these activities which make life such fun for us.

Wishing all the best to you and yours for a happy and healthy 2012.

Keeping it off - what works for me.

Have you ever said to yourself, "My pants are getting tight. They must have shrunk in the wash." Or walked by a mirror in a department store and thought, "That mirror makes me look fat, it must be at an odd angle." Or caught a glimpse of a fat person walking toward you, and it turned out to be your own reflection in a shop window?

Or - and this was perhaps the worst - given your spouse a hug and he said, "We're quite an armful." Realizing how it sounded, he continued, "I said we, that means both of us.

That was what did it. I wanted no part of being "quite an armful". The pants didn't shrink. After being washed once a week for a year, did I really think they were going to shrink now? The department store mirror wasn't lying. It was my own friendly mirror at home that lied. It never caught me by surprise - I knew just how to stand in front of it to look less fat.

So what to do now? I had dieted lots of times, successfully, if a temporary weight loss can be considered successful. I had done Weight Watchers, gleefully reaching my goal weight. I had kept a food journal, also successfully reaching my goal. What happened next was the problem.

"Oh good! I've finished my diet." were the worst words I could have uttered. The old habits came back gradually until I had gained all the weight I had lost, and more. My healthy weight at 5' 7" is 130 pounds. My "armful" weight was 178 pounds. 48 pounds from a couple of years of bad habits. 48 pounds! One stick of butter is a quarter of a pound. Doing the math, it comes to the amount of fat in 192 sticks of butter spread out over my body! I could see three of them dangling from my upper arm, and I don't like to think of the 12 or 15 around each thigh. That unattractive double chin contained several tablespoons of fat.

I knew how to lose weight; I'd done it before. I needed to find a way to keep it off.

I know myself pretty well, having had 55 years to get acquainted. I know I'm not good at groups. I can always think of a reason to stay home. I'm also on a tight budget, and groups nearly always come with a price.

I did need a few tools, starting with a food journal. Not a 98 cent steno notebook where it's too easy to rip out a page when I've had a piggy day. I use a bound journal, and my first one (this time around) was a lovely dark green suede book with lined pages. I couldn't waste that beautiful book even if I did eat six cookies in one day.

I write down every meal, every snack, every sip of anything that isn't water. These days it is easier than ever to keep an accurate food journal. Every packaged food you buy comes with the nutrition information right on the bag, box, can, jar, or bottle.

I started out interested only in calories. You read those labels often enough, and you start noticing other things: sugar, sodium, carbs, protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and US RDA.

When you see the lovely display in the produce section of your favorite food store it all looks and smells so good. Beautiful mounds of oranges, apples, bananas, grapefruit, pineapples, grapes, carrots, lettuce, spinach, and more. These are really food! They don't come in packages with labels saying one orange has 89 calories, 2.2 grams of protein, 100 mg of vitamin C, 69 mg of calcium (really? in an orange? who knew?) and 330 mg of potassium. That information is all available online, but I use my very favorite cookbook of all time, LAUREL'S KITCHEN by Laurel Robertson, Carol Flinders, and Bronwen Godfrey.

My copy was a gift from Larry (you know, the "armful" guy) for our very first Christmas as a married couple, in 1980. It is a vegetarian cookbook, and though we are not vegetarians, I use it all the time, mainly for the nutrition tables in the back of the book.

It tells me that a peach (if God made something better than a peach, he kept it for Himself!) is 38 calories. A peach! Juicy and delicious and only 38 calories. It contains 1300 iu of vitamin A, 200 mg of potassium, and even has 9 mg of calcium. You can really get caught up in those nutrition tables.

Of course we all know that part of God's grace is variety, and not every peach is 38 calories, any more than every sweet potato is 160 calories. To get an accurate count you need a food scale that measures in both grams and ounces. I bought mine online for about $20.

When we have sweet potatoes, spinach, and cottage cheese for dinner, I love to share with my family that these colorful and tasty vegetables we are eating are powerful foods, not to mention a very easy dinner to prepare.

I'll share more another time. This is how I lost 48 pounds, and have been able to keep it off for a few years. The bad news? It didn't happen overnight. The good news? It works! The reason I'm sharing? It's 3:00 in the morning and I woke up hungry. I could hear a corn muffin calling from the kitchen. I diligently wrote it down, bringing to mind the question - which day do you write middle of the night eating in? If it's after midnight I go with the next day.