A Couple of Thoughts

Water!!! I need more water!

When I was a child and teenager living at home, my mother often told me that when I feel hungry, I should just have a big drink of water. Finally, I am willing to believe! I could go into a discussion of the family dynamics and logical (to me) explanations that made me NOT want to have a big drink of water, but that is water under the bridge. (Too punny! I kill myself!) TODAY I can report that I love water and sometimes can't seem to get enough, even though our plumbing is working just fine.

For the most part, I drink Anoka City water. We used to have bottled water from Culligan, but discontinued it about a year ago. I'm considering now whether to keep drinking city water. But when I fill the car's gas tank, I still like to go into the convenience store and pick up some bottled water. So far the only brand I don't like is Aquafina.

I now realize that most of the time I think I am hungry, I am simply thirsty. A major feeling of peace comes to me when I take a big drink of water. Instead of throwing some water down while standing by the sink, now I most often run the water to be sure it is nice and cold and add ice cubes. Then I take my bottle to a relaxing place and enjoy. The ritual of preparing it has become part of the satisfaction.

Then if I am still hungry and it isn't meal time, I can go get something low glycemic to snack on. And I must now admit that water does suppress the appetite, and that when I feel hungry, I should just have a big drink of water. All diet advice tells us to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. So that is one of my daily goals. It is such and easy goal to attain!

I'm Baaaaaaack!

A recent winter-scape as seen from our deck

After a nearly 3-month hiatus, I'm back to blogging. It wasn't intentional; I simply drifted away. I seem to have had little original or entertaining to say. Plus, the kids are all adults now, living elsewhere, so I have no one to photograph and put up on the blog.

Well, no one other than Marian, Bob, me, and 2 cats. The first 3 of us are only growing older and not going anywhere much in this winter weather. Post one picture of the 3 of us, and that's good for at least a year or two. Post one picture of the cats, and that is good for years and years since their looks never change after kittenhood.

Since October, we've had a great holiday season. It started with a beautiful sit-down Thanksgiving dinner at Ryan and Andrea's new house in Albertville. Andrea set the table in fall colors with cloth napkins she had cut and sewn. She and the kids made place cards with Scrabble letters so everyone knew where to sit. They served sparking juice in wine goblets. It was so special and fine. And we all had such a good time visiting and playing together.

Just before Thanksgiving, I heard about and joined a Transitions Lifestyle group. I heard about it from a friend who lives in the state of Maine, and she--Cindi--phoned me with the information on a group starting meetings in Fridley that very night! I know the Lord works through us for each other, and I'm most thankful for Cindi in this regard. The 12-week course starts with a 7-day detox. Most of us in the group started AFTER Thanksgiving. I started November 29. For that week, I started the day with lemon juice in warm water and then ate only fruits and vegetables. And plenty of water. Since then I have lost 20 pounds!

For the first year after retiring, I had become so sedentary that I couldn't walk a block without having to stop to catch my breath. Climbing the 13 stairs from the basement found me breathing hard. I felt nauseous and weak much of the time. When we had our first annual family reunion in Itasca State Park last July, I didn't have the stamina to even walk to see some Lady Slippers the grandchildren had told me about. Forget going on a bike ride with the family! Walking from the parking lot to the headwaters of the Mississippi at Lake Itasca was a major effort, and included several rests. It was not a far walk.

In an effort to get myself involved in life again, I decided to audition for The Minnesota Mormon Chorale last fall. I used to sing with The Bach Society Chorus in Minneapolis years ago, and missed participating with fine musicians to perform beautiful music. I was so excited to be invited to sing! Things I learned: I needed to sit down more often than another other singer in the group; we were expected to stand even in practices; I really don't look good or feel comfortable in concert dress; my legs, feet, and back cause me nearly unbearable pain by the end of a 45-minute concert.

In stead of giving up, I decided I needed to get healthy if I wanted to keep up with my family and with life in general for the rest of my life. I had had enough of sitting around not feeling well. I couldn't imagine spending any more time NOT PARTICIPATING.

So I was prime for changing. I knew doing the same things I had done before didn't work. I had been reading about Cindi's detoxing and her renewed love of vegetables. And now after finding the same kind of group she had, I can firmly say that I also absolutely love vegetables. Celery has replaced my Icee habit.

After the detox week, we started on a low glycemic index diet. It is really a change of lifestyle that we are working towards. It takes about 12 weeks to change. I suppose that is why the course is that long. Until a few days before Christmas, I was sticking to low glycemic and did not eat anything with sugar in it. I even made our traditional Little French Christmas Cookies without tasting the batter or eating baked cookies. I baked rolls for Christmas dinner, and that is when I started tasting things made with sugar. We had a most enjoyable Christmas, spending Christmas Eve at Justin and Madelyn's and Christmas dinner here at our house with all of our Minnesota kids and grandkids. Nothing on earth is as close to my heart as family, and thank the Lord we have such a loving family. I made fudge and caramels after Christmas; I ate small pieces here and there for a week. I gave lots of the candies away, though, and even now a few pieces remain on the counter in a plastic storage dish.

But I find I am having a hard time getting back to eating foods from the low glycemic index, and I believe it is because even some sugar in my system makes me crave more. Even bread is a binge item for me, and almost all bread has some form of sugar in it. But I did learn of Ezekiel Bread from one of the Transitions Lifestyle coaches, and I use it now instead of any other.

Soon I'll be doing another week of detox. I'll be doing it with a friend. After that, I will continue to keep refined sugars out of my diet. When I was off sugar completely, these are the benefits I noticed:

No nausea

No dizziness

No headaches

No abdominal bloating or discomfort

Increased energy

Less sleepiness

Greater sense of well-being

More positive attitude

Enjoyment of housework (I especially love this benefit!)

Better comprehension of what I read

More interest in almost everything

Enough for one day. I'll blog about my weight, exercise, and changing diet and cooking. I'm very thankful to have found a new beginning in my retirement years. Who would have thought?

Janice's First Babysitting Experience

Sorry to make a second posting on the same day as the last, but I DID manage to get yesterday's picture of Janice into the blog. See how thrilled she is not to be spending the evening with Grandma while her mom and dad go out on a date for the first time since Janice's birth!!
Janice cried for the first hour or so. This picture was taken after the crest of the crying was over and she was only sad. After her crawling and walking to the front door several times while tears were still streaming, I decided to keep her in my room with the door closed. I must say she did get a lot of practice walking, as she would alternately walk toward the door and then toward me when I put my arms out for her. She calmed down after a while and ate some Gerber banana puffs and drank milk from her tippy cup. Then she let me put her on my lap where we played with her Magna Doodle and a musical toy. She got to even dancing to the tunes. Then Kayla came back from having seen Where the Wild Things Are at the Imax theater in St Michael with Uncle Phil and his friend, Erica. (His friend, not his girlfriend! Oh sure, Phil!) Then the three of us were playing with the toys and playing hiding games on the bed with the pillows. By the time Janice's parents came home, things were hunky-dory!

Janice naturally was overjoyed to see her mother. Things went much better than I thought they would. I am hopeful that the next evening she spends with me will go even better. But I'm not going to count on it!

Janice's First Birthday

Looks like she's reading the card with care!

It's October, but I'm posting pictures from Janice's birthday because I'm only now beginning to learn how to use my MacBook Pro to store and post pictures. The party was at her house in St Paul. She turned ONE on September 30. Those in attendance were her parents, of course, and her sister Kayla, Greatgrandmother Anderson, Grandpa Anderson, Uncle Phil, me, and many of her cousins from Gerald's side of the family.
Three of the four generations of women present at the party!! I, the grandmother, was taking the picture. Greatgrandmother Marian got a kick out of watching the gift opening.
All of these girl cousins spent most of their time playing upstairs in Kayla's room where all the costume stuff and girlie toys were. Janice had a princess cake, which we were all happy to help her eat.

That's all for now. I took a picture of Janice last night to keep a record of how she felt about being babysat for the first time in her life. But I can't seem to find where it got stored! When I get to it, I'll post it.

The hottest news item right now is that I auditioned for and was invited to sing with the Minnesota Mormon Chorale. Unfortunately, I've been sick and had to miss a couple of practices. But I sang 2 songs with them on a program organized by the St Paul Stake Relief Society and enjoyed it ever so much! I look forward to the songs we are preparing for Christmas. I will post dates and times for those concerts later.

Catch Up Time

I haven't blogged in over 2 months!! The summer has been full, but I'm only putting in a few pictures and describing a few events today. We had a family reunion with all of our Minnesota kids and their mates and kids in July. We rented a cabin in Itasca State Park while others in the group camped 2 miles away. I'll post pictures of that later, after learning more about posting multiple pictures and "decorating" my blog.

After Itasca, Bob and I drove to Utah. Here is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. It is Nephi wearing a shirt that says it all!! We love visiting our Robin. I caught this picture Robin and Bob. John was driving truck most of the time we were in Utah, but he was in town a couple of days and we went to a ward picnic/bike derby with their Murray, Utah, ward one evening. We again stayed with my sister Lucille and her Yorkies.

This summer Ryan and Andrea moved to Albertville. One night we, Greatgrandma Marian and Ginger, baby Janice, and Kayla went out to the Space Alien Bar and Grill in Albertville with them. Here is a picture of Greatgrandma, Andrea, and me in the restaurant. The kids were off playing video and skill games to earn tickets for prizes. The food was so good that we wondered if Space Aliens might be owned by Famous Dave's. Ribs!! Yummy!

I captured Ginger's Janice on film with her teeth showing through a big grin.

And below is a shot of Janie yesterday at Culver's in Albertville. I stayed with her, Abby, and Mason while Ryan and Andrea took Nolan and Nolan's friend Jacob to the state fair. After lunch, Mason went down for a nap and the girls and I sewed all afternoon. They are learning to use a sewing machine. We made several bags out of old t-shirts, and they sewed gift bags. I put a drawstring top on one of Janie's bags to carry her Book of Mormon.

Last Thursday I was invited to sing with the Minnesota Mormon Chorale after a second audition. (Lots of competition for spots in the group!) I'm looking forward to practicing starting next Thursday.

But the biggest deal around here is Dan's upcoming wedding on September 20. I've got a number of pictures to post later about that!! I am helping sew dresses for the bridesmaids and the flower girls.

Tonight Bob and I are going out to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, so I had better get ready for that right now or I'll be late for that the way I was late for our wedding reception 40 years ago!!

Green Gardens and Black Thumbs

When I was in elementary school, I thought it would be fun to join the garden club. We had lilac bushes and peonies in the front yard, lily-of-the valley outside the front door, and a rose bush by the steps down to the sidewalk from the side yard. All I would need to do is plant a few flower seeds in this spot of open dirt between our house and the neighbor's.

The only problem was that I had no background in gardening, and neither did any of my family members. I came to realize that summer that my mother couldn't keep the lilacs from spreading and taking over, the peonies only needed a bit of fence surrounding them, the lily-of-the-valley were coincidentally in a spot where they naturally flouished, and the bush was a WILD rose bush that had survived repeated mowing by my mother and older brother and sisters! In other words, the flowering plants in our yard were low- and even NO-maintenance. I also found out that summer that planting seeds in the ground and watering them would not guarantee anything.

I planted a variety of seeds that came in one envelopes I had purchased at the Paradise grocery store down the street. (I had a crush on one of Mr Paradise's twin sons who were a year older than me and went to Catholic school.) All I can remember now is that carnations were in the mix because I did get a carnation bloom. I have to admit that I didn't do much more than pick out what I thought were weeds and continue to water the ground. That's all I knew to do at the time.

I knew better than to ask Mom for advice or help when not much happened. After all, she had killed almost all of the African violets Mrs Syrotski had given her over the years. And I was too embarrassed by my miserable failure to ask anyone else. There were a few scraggly plants, and then the one carnation bloom. Seems to me a couple of zinnias also came up and blossomed, but they didn't smell good.

Then later in the summer, to my HORROR, I got a phone call to schedule some of the women from the garden club to come and see my garden!!! I didn't want them to come, but how could I say that? So I scheduled, but I wasn't there when they came, big old chicken that I was. I never heard from them again, and I rarely tried in my adult life to nurture a garden. I knew both of my thumbs were black.

Well, this Mother's Day I got living, flowering plants. I can't begin to describe the stress I feel today as I look at the plants now on my deck. I practically break out in a rash every time I think about the Mother's Day plants! Me, with two black thumbs, trying to keep these alive in order to NOT be embarrassed when the kids come over and take a look at the flower pots on the deck. Ryan and Andrea gave me petunias in a hanging basket. I left it hanging and watered it, but wind storms caught the planter and bent the plants. I tried ignoring it, but finally today I cut it back (WAY back) and dug around to bury the roots deeper. If I don't have success reviving the petunias, I'll replant with the same variety so Ryan and Andrea won't notice.

The two pots of flowers Justin's family gave me are doing okay. Thanks goodness!! I kept them in the house until I was certain we were not having the temperature drop below freezing at night. (I forgot about the hanging basket swinging in the cold!) I need to fertilize them all, though. I've got the fertilizer in the garage! I'm amazed I haven't done it already, but I think part of having black thumbs is that the brain that operates them is also deficient in the flower department.

But I am making a commitment to these flowers starting today. I will continue to water, I will fertilize, I will read up on their proper care, and I will ask for advice. And I understand prayer helps too. Thank goodness I didn't totally neglect any of our kids. I figure if I did okay with them in the past, I could surely learn how to do okay with the plants in the present. In fact, I think I'll go buy some flowers to put in the large pots on the front sidewalk!!