In Motion Fitness at 62

     O.K. I know what you are going to say.  Where have you been ?  Well I have very good news....Ta Da Ta DA !  I have joined a health club, fitness center, what ever you want to call it...I joined "In Motion Fitness" in Chico, CA.  I am so excited.  After some problems with pressure, that is pressure and too much pressure with my blood.  That is Blood Pressure WAY too high.  I am now on meds., which I am not happy about but hey, if the choice is a stroke, I choose meds.  Any who, we are signed up and ready to go.  Tomorrow is our first day, that is for our consultation.  We are meeting with Stephanie and I am so excited about it.  Then on Friday we meet with our one on one coach.  Of course, Jim is joining with me we have to keep him healthy also.  So I will keep you posted and hope I can encourage anyone out there who is deciding whether to go or not, by all means GO.  What have you got to lose, but weight and I know you will feel much better.  I was very surprised by the amount each month.  Please check it out for yourself.  They won't give you a quote over the phone (I don't think) but just go in take a tour of the place and find out for yourself.  I think you will be as surprised as I was.  Tootles

To Lose or Not to Lose, That is the Question.

Really there is no question.  I do want to lose weight.  I keep telling myself (just before I go to bed) tomorrow is the day.  I will get up walk the track.  I am so lucky as I have a track behind my house.  It's 400 steps all the way around and I usually try and walk around 3 times a day.  I know I should do more each day but to be honest some days I don't do any.  Well, as you know I have stated in other posts I love to cook.  I love being in the kitchen.  It's just a warm, secure, loving place for me to be so I'm forever thinking up a new dish I just have to make.  I find it on the internet and that's what we are having for dinner or dessert.  What's odd is I was the person who you would find doing exercises all the time.  I loved it and it was never a problem.  Then of course I have been into health food by that I mean good food.  Vegetables, fruit, whole grain bread etc.  You know, the food we all really should be eating along with moving through exercise.  I just need to get motivated and excited about it.  You know like spring is here (even though it's 50' out and a storm with rain and wind is coming this weekend and I live in Nor CA) and you want to look good in shorts.  Well, if not shorts, then at least a nice pair of cool slacks and summer shirt.  We have a thrift store down town in Gridley, CA (the building used to be JC.Penney's). It's a really nice store with second hand clothing, anyway they have an abundance of Hawaii type clothing.  Some of the labels are from Hawaii and I would like to get some of them for summer.  I would love to pick up an Hawaiian dress or cute shirt and skirt but I know I would not look good right now so I'm trying to get excited now so that by June I'll be ready.  It really is hard but I have to say not impossible.  You just have to have the right state of mind and that's what I'm looking for, My mind.  I think I lost My mind.  Just kidding, I didn't lose it, it's here and just waiting for me to use it to get excited and motivated to get busy, be active, exercise and eat healthy.  So who is with me on this.  God help me, I will keep you posted about what I am eating and what kind of exercise I am doing. Maybe if you see yourself in my struggles and I start doing it you'll realize you can too.  So here is to us,  looking for the losers. Ha!  Tootles

Free Books ? What !?

If you have not already, check out the free books at Amazon.  I love to look around at all the many books and have discovered many free books.  What is so unique about them is the year they were published.  I'm talking about Cook Books and Taking Care of your Household.  They are a scream.  Let me tell you if the Women of today had to do this stuff they would run screaming (and not in laughter).    One is titled, " Directions for Cookery, in it's Various Branches", by Miss Leslie.  Tenth Edition, with Improvements and Supplementary Receipts, 1840.  Did you notice the date ?  This is a book to read.  While it is unbelievable that the women actually did all of this the information in it is very interesting.  I am enjoying reading it and I know you will also.

Another one is, "Cassell's Vegetarian Cookery A Manual of Cheap and Wholesome Diet", by A.G. Payne.  On the inside is the date 1891.  From what I can gather so far there are 4 sections to this and they are all included here.  It's funny really, I thought our generation was the only one who discovered Vegetarian eating, aren't we full of ourselves.  It's not just about that, I believe it's also about taking care of your home as I have not read all of it yet.  Another thing you might find interesting is the beginning you will see advertising by different companies, that's funny.  Check them out I think you will find, as I did, aside from the hard labor and time consuming efforts, we are all somewhat doing the same thing now.

I have also been looking for crochet and knitting books.  Yes, they are free and I like that but it's not just for that, I'm finding patterns that maybe would have been lost and now we are able to discover them.  Just start looking around and you'll be surprised.  I have found a sweet book about Birds, the title is, "The Curious Book of Birds", by Abbie Farwell, Brown, 1903.  It has adorable stories about why birds have their own quirks and character.  I have not read it all but check out the story of the Woodpecker, very interesting and adorable.  I would think reading these stories to younger children would be an advantage for them.  How smart they would feel knowing some of this.  Of course I realize we are competing with video games, computers and iphones but we can't say too much as your reading on your Kindle. Ha!  Maybe we should look at it that we now have the best of both worlds.  Tootles

Happy Monday to You !

We are starting off this week with windy, windy weather.  It has not started to rain but it's on it's way.  This has certainly been an odd year for weather.  Jim and I love to be out doors and with this wind, no way.  I just keep hoping this will be the last storm and our spring weather will appear.  We do love to have our doors open and enjoy the fresh air coming through.
     I'm going to try my hand at making corn tortilla's from scratch.  I'm sure it's going to take a lot of practice on my part but from what I have read it's better for you health wise.  So will be trying my hand at it.  I'm enjoying making new dishes whether it's a meal, snacks or desserts.  I really am loving my kitchen.  I think it's very satisfying for me to make something by hand and know it's nutritious as well as delicious.  Besides with this weather it's the perfect time.  So far I have found a recipe for making french bread.  It's very easy and I love it.  I try to make sure I have it made when I have spaghetti.  Yum!  When I go to the store I have a recipe for whole grain bread.  That, I am really looking forward to.  I've tried some lemon cookie recipes from Giada  (I heard if you use her recipes you'll start looking like her).  They were delicious.  I do love lemon so any recipe with lemons in it I'm sure I will love.  I have a chocolate cake recipe which I got on my Kindle in "Amazon Daily".  It's called  "Nana's Hole cake". It's one layer, which is just right for Jim and I, and  fun to make, plus of course, it's delicious.  Tootles

Life, Living, Love, Sometimes it just stinks

Life, that is.  Sometimes when you can't explain, it makes it hard to understand and believe me I do not understand.  We go along happy as a clam doing our thing not bothering anyone, not causing any trouble but trouble your say, finds us and there you go, Wham!  Who knows why this happens ?  Well, I guess we do know who knows, don't we, but he is not giving out any information.  Anyway nothing that could help us and from what I have been told and heard he's not going to tell or explain anything until we are in front of him.  Now I ask you what good is that going to do us then.  We won't be able to do anything about it.  I know, I know, your saying that's the idea.  That is the way it's suppose to play out.  We are running around here with no clue of what we are actually doing and when we start to make plans there is always someone around who say.  You know that's the one joke he loves, is to hear you say, YOU are making plans.  So ok, now what ?  Let me recap here..... We are running around in life trying to live it with love, we don't have a clue why or what or how and no understanding of what is going on so we make a plan to figure it out or at least give us direction on which way to go and then, That is the Joke he loves to hear.  No wonder we look like we don't know what we are doing.  WE Don't.  There are times when everything seems to fall into place and like I said things are going smoothly and we are patting ourselves on the back at what great decisions we have made to get us where we are at, and then, Wham!  We didn't see it coming.  There were no clues, no memo's, no emails, no nothing.  We were blindsided and we were not paying attention.  For just a half of a second we looked the other way and missed it, we blinked.  We took a breath, let out a big sigh, turned our head and blinked never to go back, never to have do overs, never to find out what just happened and how was I involved.  Something to think about.  Something to ponder but never to be able to explain.  Tootles

Sunflower in Yuba City, CA

Hello to you on this cool and breeze morning in Cal.  We have enjoyed 70's (low 70's) but it seems every few days our weather turns cool.  Now for tomorrow we have rain in the forecast.  What!  We do not need more rain or should I say I do not want any more rain.  Well, nothing I can do about the weather but it seems some people are doing things with our weather and your weather.  Interesting, uh.

       I am very much in the mood to do some cooking and baking.  I really love to work in the kitchen, especially using my KitchenAid Mixer It's funny when I was first married I wanted nothing to do with it.  Mostly I wanted to go out to eat.  Restaurant, Fast Food it didn't matter, I just did not want to cook.  Once the children came along of course I was cooking.  I cooked just like my Mom cooked, fried everything, lots of potatoes and corn and green beans.  We didn't have a lot of salad not that I didn't like it, it was just not thought of.  I remember hating the clean up.  Especially the gravy pan.  Oh, it was awful and no dishwasher.  Of course it wouldn't have helped the gravy pan as it was a cast iron skillet and never, never put that in a dish washer.  I didn't really start to enjoy being in the kitchen, let alone cooking, until I became aware of nutrition and healthy eating.  How did that happen, you ask?  My husband and I had a business in a nearby town.  It just wasn't convenient to come home for lunch.  For awhile I brought our lunch, then we ate fast food, pizza, cafe's, restaurant take out.  Well, you get the picture, it became a nightmare just thinking about lunch.  Our waist lines were expanding and we were not enjoying the food so I remembered a health food store that had been in our area forever.  Decided to check it out.  I figured I had nothing to lose (except weight) and everything to gain (except weight).
      Anyway the first step into this store, and it was heaven.  I swear I was back a hundred years.  Why, you ask?  THE Smell.  It was wonderful.  So many herbs, oils, homemade bread, a lovely wafe of yummy smells was coming from the back right.  I swear it was like walking into your Mom's kitchen your hungry as a bear and dinner is on the table.  On top of that as I took a step, under my feet was a hardwood floor.  Beautiful, old and very well taken care of.  I follow the yummy smell and here is a Deli, on my right there is a long slab of wood, 2' wide and I would say 12' long fastened to the wall and floor with bar stools all around.  Between that and the counter you order from there are numerous tables and chairs.  Behind the long slab on the wall is a mural of plants in a green house, beautiful.  I feel like I'm home.  Corney I know but that is just how I felt.  It was home and I knew the food here was nutritious as well as being very delicious.  As I am standing there one of the clerks walks up to me and say, " Is this your first time here."  I say," Yes."  She goes into an office of some sort and comes out with a plastic bag of samples, hands it to me and says, "Hi, my name is Jesse and Welcome to Sunflower Natural Foods."  And as they say the rest is history.  That was back in 1991 or 92 and I have been going back there ever since.  It's like a small general store with fresh produce (mostly local), herbs of every kind in jars, vitamins and natural medicines, everything you would find in a grocery store but this one has the real product and it's not loaded with additives.  I love this place and feel so grateful we have it in our area.  It's located in Yuba City, CA on Market Street.  If you are ever in the area, stop and browse and try the Deli you will not be disappointed.  There really is a heaven on earth and I found it.
     My husband and I were there yesterday and as we were ordering our lunch they told us our Daughter and Granddaughter had been there the day before.  Not surprising as my whole family loves it.  So come and join is when you can and order a cup of herbal tea, you'll go back in time.  Tootles

ipad or Kindle ?

My first thought is, Kindle, of course.  I own one and I am thrilled to have it.  In My Hand. I still cannot believe I have all these books.   In My Hand.  I'm not a big spender so when I do purchase it's because I really, I mean I really like the Author or the book itself speaks to me (Don't ask).  Let's just say I don't have a lot of money to spend but like the saying goes, if I have 10.00 in my pocket and it's between a book and dinner....I just started a diet.  So that being said when Amazon offers free books, I swear I think I have died and gone to Heaven.  It's Christmas anytime of the year or I just keep getting presents.  I have always been a reader, always read everyday.  Especially, just before I go to sleep, always reading and believe it or not I am able to read even more.  I try to take it with me and when ever I have a minute I open it up and read.  It's great and I love it.  NOT to say I do not have a conversation with people.  If someone is around they have my attention.  I'm talking about when I am alone or not with anyone to speak of (you know what I'm talking about).  It's not like I'm shopping and out pops the kindle (like all those people with cell phones hanging on their ears, are they that important they can't even go shopping without someone getting in touch with them.  More about this later).  I respect my time and honor my self so that when I am reading I'm enjoying it very much and not offending anyone.  I'm still astounded how much I love and enjoy it.  Believe me I could go on and on and on and on about the Kindle but I will stop for now and talk a little about the ipad.
     I have to be honest I don't know a lot about the ipad.  At first glance it seems to be very impressive.  The looks, how it's set up and just in general.  My Son, has one on order so will be more informed after he tells me what all it offers and how it's working for him.  But for right now this is what I know.  It's bigger than the Kindle.  In color, Has Safari, A keyboard, You may take notes. The app store.  Now I know there is more but right now I just don't know what it is so I'm just going to comment on this much.......Well bigger isn't always better but I will keep an open mind.  Color might be nice in some books and blogs.  Has Safari, well Kindle does have access to the internet and it isn't fast but you can check your email, I can send emails from it and I am able to send text messages thanks to GoggleVoice. (thank you goggle, I love it).  I have to admit it's not that much fun getting on the net but the fun part is and I will shout, IT'S FREE.  Now I do have a keyboard on the kindle but it is very small and I really don't hold my hands as I do like I am typing now.  It's the one finger use and really for what I use it for it's ok.  You can take notes on the kindle, I must admit I have not yet. Nor have I highlighted. The app store, no, Kindle does not have that.  Perhaps that would be useful I know my husband has an iphone and has lots of apps which he enjoys using.  My understanding is for the most part the books will be 14.99 on average. I don't think I have heard about any free books.  So they lost me there.  Here is what I am thinking right now.  If you are a reader and that is what you use the Kindle for then I'm in favor of the Kindle.  But if you read sometime but go on the internet a lot, check your email a lot, look up facts, info, or entertainment a lot,  You type up notes etc.  Then by all means the ipad is for you.  As for myself I just don't know for sure.  The jury is still out. Tootles