Today was average for a Saturday...household chores, laundry, and shopping. I thought when we retired we'd avoid shopping at the worldwide discount chain store on Saturdays, but we don't. So we were there again today. Well, actually, I was there twice today. My first trip was to take Mother for a leisurely browse through the health and hygiene departments. Hubbie gets impatient with leisurely browses, so he stayed home.
My second trip was with "get-er-done" Hubbie to shop for groceries necessary to put together dishes listed on our supper menues for next week. Our method of shopping together is for him to check my list and rush off to look for items while I'm standing and waiting endlessly to be served at the deli meat and cheese counter. Back and forth he sprints, to the paper goods aisle and back, to the dairy cases and back, to the canned goods aisle and back, etc., each time returning with an armload of stuff.
Since the grocery store is at the opposite end of the store from the health and hygiene departments, Mother is never up for doing her grocery shopping on her health and hygiene shopping day, so she sends her grocery list with us. It's usually Hubbie's job to dash around gathering her requested items, as well, while I continue waiting my turn at the deli counter.
After I finally get my deli order filled, Hubbie and I finish shopping together, because I need to be the one to choose the meats, vegetables, and fruits. That completed, we're ready to stand endlessly in the checkout line and, finally, head home.
Today's shopping included a morning trip to the store that advertises sales every week. Mother went on this trip, though she didn't find anything she could use. Hubbie found reasonably priced khaki pants, though, and I came away with a pair of capris and a couple of pairs of seersucker shorts.
This morning, too, before Mother and I went to the worldwide discount chain store, we dropped by that other store that advertises sales every week. I found a couple of knit shirts there, though Mother was unsuccessful again.
Shopping is a chore, but it sure was a beautiful day for getting out.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Burgers, Rain or Shine
Yesterday wasn't quite as busy as Thursday, but we managed to stay occupied just the same. Since it was a rainy, windy, somewhat cool day, we were in no hurry to get out of bed, but finally roused around 8 a.m.
Mother came over about 10:30, and we all went to the grand opening of a branch bank downtown, where the give-away goodies in the lobby were notepads and pens, purse-size fingernail grooming kits, key chains, and purse-size flexible rulers with magnifiers. Outside, a local radio station broadcasting the event had set up a "wheel of fortune," featuring prizes ranging from t-shirts to coupons that can be redeemed for various goods. Hubbie spun and won a t-shirt with the station's logo boldly emblazoned on it, and Mother spun and won a coupon for a dozen donuts. I spun and hit one of the two or three "sorry" slots. No prize for me. But I'll get Hubbie's prize, since he doesn't care for t-shirts. I love them (especially the over-sized ones) for exercising or wearing to bed.
After that, we proceeded in the rain out to the canopy to get hamburgers and hot dogs, chips, cookies, and cold drinks. Even if we'd wanted to, it was too windy and wet to eat at the picnic tables. So we brought the food home and put it in the refrigerator to have for supper tonight. Of course, as usual, I'll have a turkey burger.
In the afternoon, Mother and I finished the scrapbook pages we'd worked on at our meeting Thursday, and then we labored over planning next week's meals and making a grocery list. It strains both our brains coming up with heart-healthy, but palatable dishes. We've tried various recipes I've found online, and some are pretty good. Others...not so much. We'll try a couple of more this week. The trick is planning for variety. We don't want to repeat dishes too often, or we'll soon tire of them no matter how good they are.
After a baked salmon, baked sweet potato, and no-salt added English peas supper, Hubbie and I watched a beginning ballroom dance DVD and practiced our Rumba steps before going to the dance session at 7 p.m. Last night Latin music was featured, which is not Hubbie's favorite. But we attempted most of the dances anyway. He was grateful for the few interspersed waltzes and foxtrots. We ended the evening with the Heavenly Waltz, a line dance that Hubbie actually seems to enjoy.
After all those peppy dances, I definitely felt I'd gotten my exercise for the day!
Mother came over about 10:30, and we all went to the grand opening of a branch bank downtown, where the give-away goodies in the lobby were notepads and pens, purse-size fingernail grooming kits, key chains, and purse-size flexible rulers with magnifiers. Outside, a local radio station broadcasting the event had set up a "wheel of fortune," featuring prizes ranging from t-shirts to coupons that can be redeemed for various goods. Hubbie spun and won a t-shirt with the station's logo boldly emblazoned on it, and Mother spun and won a coupon for a dozen donuts. I spun and hit one of the two or three "sorry" slots. No prize for me. But I'll get Hubbie's prize, since he doesn't care for t-shirts. I love them (especially the over-sized ones) for exercising or wearing to bed.
After that, we proceeded in the rain out to the canopy to get hamburgers and hot dogs, chips, cookies, and cold drinks. Even if we'd wanted to, it was too windy and wet to eat at the picnic tables. So we brought the food home and put it in the refrigerator to have for supper tonight. Of course, as usual, I'll have a turkey burger.
In the afternoon, Mother and I finished the scrapbook pages we'd worked on at our meeting Thursday, and then we labored over planning next week's meals and making a grocery list. It strains both our brains coming up with heart-healthy, but palatable dishes. We've tried various recipes I've found online, and some are pretty good. Others...not so much. We'll try a couple of more this week. The trick is planning for variety. We don't want to repeat dishes too often, or we'll soon tire of them no matter how good they are.
After a baked salmon, baked sweet potato, and no-salt added English peas supper, Hubbie and I watched a beginning ballroom dance DVD and practiced our Rumba steps before going to the dance session at 7 p.m. Last night Latin music was featured, which is not Hubbie's favorite. But we attempted most of the dances anyway. He was grateful for the few interspersed waltzes and foxtrots. We ended the evening with the Heavenly Waltz, a line dance that Hubbie actually seems to enjoy.
After all those peppy dances, I definitely felt I'd gotten my exercise for the day!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
A Full Day
Whew! What a busy day! It started with a cardiac rehab session at 9 a. m., where I did mildly brisk sessions on a stationary bicycle and a treadmill. With warm-up and cool-down, stretching exercises, frequent monitoring of heart, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation, the session lasted an hour. Today, three people I know were at the session. None of us knew the others had suffered cardiac episodes, so we exchanged stories. I came away feeling extremely fortunate that my espisode was moderate by comparison.
At 10 a.m., Mother, Hubbie, and I went to the grand opening at our propane gas company's new digs. The business gave away flying disks, big soft baseballs suited to young children, refrigerator magnets, pens, and baseball caps, and free hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and drinks. We brought our burgers and dogs home to have for supper...well, Mother and Hubbie had them for supper. I had a turkey burger. We all had baked potatoes and salad. Hubbie can eat my share of the beef burgers and dogs at other meals.
Then at 11 a.m., Mother and I met friends at a recently opened coffee/sandwich shop. Mother and I didn't eat or drink anything, though our friends ordered coffee and tea. But we had a good visit for about an hour. One of the friends traveled here from a town a little over an hour away to stay with the other friend for a few days, and whenever she's in our town, we all try to get together. This time, the friend who lives in this town, and I had full schedules Wednesday to Friday, so that one hour today was the only time we could get together.
Mother and I came back home afterward for a heart-healthy lunch before heading to a scrapbook meeting at 1 p.m. As usual, we enjoyed getting together with the other members of the group. We were especially pleased to see one member that we'd been trying unsuccessfully to reach by phone. We learned the reason we couldn't reach her is because her home is one that was affected by the recent floods. She's been staying with her son for a couple of months, she said. She gave us the son's phone number, as well as her own cell number, so we won't have to wonder and worry about her again.
At 5:30 p.m., we went to a local bank for an event combining a celebration of the bank's 55th anniversary, the local Chamber of Commerce's "Business After Hours," and a reception for a local artist. The event was by invitation only, and we were invited as representatives of the local arts council.
It was a nice affair. A local florist had fashioned large arrangements using fresh lemons and big yellow flowers. Tables were laden with food, including thinly sliced hot roast beef meant for making sandwiches on croissant buns, cheeses, fresh veggies and dip, fresh fruits, including chocolate dipped strawberries, and brownies, plus a choice of punch, and white or red wine. Since we'd already eaten, we just indulged in the fruit, cheese, and small portions of the weak wine.
The Chamber of Commerce supplied goodie bags for door prize drawings (we didn't win). The bags contained items reminiscent of the 1950s, like an Elvis candle, Marilyn Monroe poster, or a cartoon character lunch box. The top prize, though, was a framed print of a painting of an historic spot in town, created by the event's featured artist.
As we left, we were given gold foil wrapped chocolate cigars, with bank-logo bands. The "cigars" represented the real cigars given away at the bank's opening ceremony 55 years ago.
It was a fun day, but I was plenty ready to relax at home this evening!
At 10 a.m., Mother, Hubbie, and I went to the grand opening at our propane gas company's new digs. The business gave away flying disks, big soft baseballs suited to young children, refrigerator magnets, pens, and baseball caps, and free hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and drinks. We brought our burgers and dogs home to have for supper...well, Mother and Hubbie had them for supper. I had a turkey burger. We all had baked potatoes and salad. Hubbie can eat my share of the beef burgers and dogs at other meals.
Then at 11 a.m., Mother and I met friends at a recently opened coffee/sandwich shop. Mother and I didn't eat or drink anything, though our friends ordered coffee and tea. But we had a good visit for about an hour. One of the friends traveled here from a town a little over an hour away to stay with the other friend for a few days, and whenever she's in our town, we all try to get together. This time, the friend who lives in this town, and I had full schedules Wednesday to Friday, so that one hour today was the only time we could get together.
Mother and I came back home afterward for a heart-healthy lunch before heading to a scrapbook meeting at 1 p.m. As usual, we enjoyed getting together with the other members of the group. We were especially pleased to see one member that we'd been trying unsuccessfully to reach by phone. We learned the reason we couldn't reach her is because her home is one that was affected by the recent floods. She's been staying with her son for a couple of months, she said. She gave us the son's phone number, as well as her own cell number, so we won't have to wonder and worry about her again.
At 5:30 p.m., we went to a local bank for an event combining a celebration of the bank's 55th anniversary, the local Chamber of Commerce's "Business After Hours," and a reception for a local artist. The event was by invitation only, and we were invited as representatives of the local arts council.
It was a nice affair. A local florist had fashioned large arrangements using fresh lemons and big yellow flowers. Tables were laden with food, including thinly sliced hot roast beef meant for making sandwiches on croissant buns, cheeses, fresh veggies and dip, fresh fruits, including chocolate dipped strawberries, and brownies, plus a choice of punch, and white or red wine. Since we'd already eaten, we just indulged in the fruit, cheese, and small portions of the weak wine.
The Chamber of Commerce supplied goodie bags for door prize drawings (we didn't win). The bags contained items reminiscent of the 1950s, like an Elvis candle, Marilyn Monroe poster, or a cartoon character lunch box. The top prize, though, was a framed print of a painting of an historic spot in town, created by the event's featured artist.
As we left, we were given gold foil wrapped chocolate cigars, with bank-logo bands. The "cigars" represented the real cigars given away at the bank's opening ceremony 55 years ago.
It was a fun day, but I was plenty ready to relax at home this evening!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Cardiac Rehab
I attended an orientation cardiac rehabilitation session this morning. The first procedure was a pinprick to a finger to draw blood for a cholesterol check. The result was excellent. My HDL (High Density Lipoprotein cholesterol...the good stuff) reading is within normal range, but the attendant would like to see it even higher. So although I have been taking fish oil gel supplements, he recommended increasing the dosage and adding more fish to my diet. My triglyceride and LDL (bad cholesterol) levels are, pleasingly, very low.
Since I couldn't have food before the blood test, the next order of business was eating a muffin, banana, and milk, I'd brought along for breakfast. After that, came checking my blood pressure and oxygen saturation, listening to my heart and lungs, completing lots of paperwork, and taking a quiz. The quiz determined my level of cardiac knowledge...I got 90% on that.
Then I was hooked up to a portable heart monitor and asked to walk on a treadmill for six minutes. The attendant slowly increased the speed to a point that felt moderately brisk to me (3.2 miles per hour). Then he checked my BP and other vitals again. He was very pleased with the results, remarking that my level of fitness was better than most cardiac patients he sees...better even than folks younger than me.
I was told to expect this initial session to last three hours, but it only lasted two. Before I left, we set a schedule for me to attend sessions three times a week, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, at 9 a.m.
So I'm looking forward to getting into some serious exercising tomorrow morning.
Since I couldn't have food before the blood test, the next order of business was eating a muffin, banana, and milk, I'd brought along for breakfast. After that, came checking my blood pressure and oxygen saturation, listening to my heart and lungs, completing lots of paperwork, and taking a quiz. The quiz determined my level of cardiac knowledge...I got 90% on that.
Then I was hooked up to a portable heart monitor and asked to walk on a treadmill for six minutes. The attendant slowly increased the speed to a point that felt moderately brisk to me (3.2 miles per hour). Then he checked my BP and other vitals again. He was very pleased with the results, remarking that my level of fitness was better than most cardiac patients he sees...better even than folks younger than me.
I was told to expect this initial session to last three hours, but it only lasted two. Before I left, we set a schedule for me to attend sessions three times a week, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, at 9 a.m.
So I'm looking forward to getting into some serious exercising tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Salsa Lesson
Last night, Hubbie and I attended a ballroom dance lesson...this time it was Salsa. Of all the ballroom dances, Latin ones seem to stump us the most. The music is so fast that we have difficulty processing the steps in our minds or making our feet and hips obey the beat.
After making one feeble attempt, our instructor separated Hubbie and me. She sent me to dance with another male student, while she took charge of Hubbie. The other student and I fumbled our way through the routine, but finally (sort of) managed it. The other student was doing fine with his part, which doesn't have many tricky moves, but I was flummoxed for a while with my twisting and turning role.
The instructor moved me to another male partner toward the end of the session, and I had even more difficulty with this one, whose style was completely different from the first partner. I never did quite get in step with him, which he attributed to my fighting him and not being relaxed enough. I'm sure he was right
After we got home, Hubbie commented that we'd learned something from the lesson...that we probably won't be doing Latin dances very much. But just in case, we ordered three DVDs of Rumba, Tango, and Salsa lessons.
After making one feeble attempt, our instructor separated Hubbie and me. She sent me to dance with another male student, while she took charge of Hubbie. The other student and I fumbled our way through the routine, but finally (sort of) managed it. The other student was doing fine with his part, which doesn't have many tricky moves, but I was flummoxed for a while with my twisting and turning role.
The instructor moved me to another male partner toward the end of the session, and I had even more difficulty with this one, whose style was completely different from the first partner. I never did quite get in step with him, which he attributed to my fighting him and not being relaxed enough. I'm sure he was right
After we got home, Hubbie commented that we'd learned something from the lesson...that we probably won't be doing Latin dances very much. But just in case, we ordered three DVDs of Rumba, Tango, and Salsa lessons.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Family Day
Yesterday was family day. Sis and Niece arrived around noon, just in time to sit down to meatloaf, baked potatoes, green beans and garden salad.
Later, Hubbie's daughter and son-in-law dropped by. They'd been on a Sunday road trip to tour the flooded areas of the state, and arrived as we were getting ready to indulge in a mid-afternoon dessert of canned sliced peaches topped with warm-from-the-stove tapioca, served with warm-from-the-oven coffee cake. Daughter and Son-in-Law had eaten a late lunch at a Cajun restaurant and weren't hungry for dessert, they said.
But they joined us at the dining room table to chat. We kept the conversation upbeat, exchanging comical stories about ourselves and other family members. After a couple of months of weather disasters, illnesses, and deaths in the family, laughter was a welcome release from tensions.
After an hour or so, Daughter and Son-in-Law headed back home, but Sis and Niece stayed a while longer. Later, we had a supper of cold meatloaf sandwiches and steaming bowls of homemade vegetable soup.
Sis and Niece left around 7:30 p.m., and we settled in to watch TV and read the Sunday newspaper, the perfect end to a very pleasant day.
Note: part of the fun of the day was playing with Niece's little dog that we think is a cross between a Toy Manchester Terrier and a Chihuahua. She's energetic and playful, but not barky or snappy, and she loves everybody, including our Shih Tzu, who does not love her back. Shih Tzu preferred hiding behind the toilet to stay out of Manchester's way.
After Sis and Niece left, we discovered Niece had failed to take Manchester's favorite floppy duck toy and her leash, so we'll box those up and put them in the mail. Rare are the times when family members don't leave items behind after a visit. We still have a pair of sunglasses left by a grandson after the family gathered for Mother's birthday last month.
Later, Hubbie's daughter and son-in-law dropped by. They'd been on a Sunday road trip to tour the flooded areas of the state, and arrived as we were getting ready to indulge in a mid-afternoon dessert of canned sliced peaches topped with warm-from-the-stove tapioca, served with warm-from-the-oven coffee cake. Daughter and Son-in-Law had eaten a late lunch at a Cajun restaurant and weren't hungry for dessert, they said.
But they joined us at the dining room table to chat. We kept the conversation upbeat, exchanging comical stories about ourselves and other family members. After a couple of months of weather disasters, illnesses, and deaths in the family, laughter was a welcome release from tensions.
After an hour or so, Daughter and Son-in-Law headed back home, but Sis and Niece stayed a while longer. Later, we had a supper of cold meatloaf sandwiches and steaming bowls of homemade vegetable soup.
Sis and Niece left around 7:30 p.m., and we settled in to watch TV and read the Sunday newspaper, the perfect end to a very pleasant day.
Note: part of the fun of the day was playing with Niece's little dog that we think is a cross between a Toy Manchester Terrier and a Chihuahua. She's energetic and playful, but not barky or snappy, and she loves everybody, including our Shih Tzu, who does not love her back. Shih Tzu preferred hiding behind the toilet to stay out of Manchester's way.
After Sis and Niece left, we discovered Niece had failed to take Manchester's favorite floppy duck toy and her leash, so we'll box those up and put them in the mail. Rare are the times when family members don't leave items behind after a visit. We still have a pair of sunglasses left by a grandson after the family gathered for Mother's birthday last month.
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