The 150 Project #3: "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger"

Welcome to the "150 Project"...
One of my "Retirement Resolutions" was to get healthy...hence the "150 Project". That's my goal weight on Weight Watchers. Putting that number right out there keeps me from going back into denial. I was also a smoker. I quit in June 2013,  on the day I retired from teaching. Now that I'm retired, I hope to add exercise to my program. Posting my progress on the "150 Project " is my way of keeping myself honest, tracking progress, and, just maybe, inspiring others because...if I can do it, anyone can!
~Cheryl

The song that's the title of this post, sung by Kelly Clarkson, is my mantra. It's even the ring tone on my cell phone! And, in my third month with my trainer, Ben at Body by John, I really am feeling stronger. Going to the gym isn't even scary anymore (well...except for "leg day" maybe).

 I thought it would be fun to show those of you who may have "gym phobia", as I did, what a typical training session is like.

 

And the fitness model for this post?

Well it's middle-aged "Moi", of course!

 

 I like the fact that the gym is quiet and non-threatening. I'm usually with Ben while John is training someone else at the other end of the gym.

The trainers push us to our personal limits...but not quite over.

 The music helps me keep moving.

(We seem to have negotiated a pretty painless mix of Beatles and rap.)

 

Doesn't it look like I'm having fun?

(Look at that face!)

 

  

Check this out:  "0" intimidation factor...no spandex in sight!

 

 And best of all, I get to work with Ben and John, two amazing trainers.

 

My DH, Hank, is training with Ben now, too.

 

 So that's it...a morning at the gym.

Time to give the sneakers a rest until tomorrow...

 

When it's time to do it all again!

 

“Don’t worry about failures; worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.”

– Jack Canfield

 

 



Cardinals

Mom often wants to share memories with us when we visit her at Falmouth by the Sea, where she is in rehabilitation following two strokes. Many of her stories have been about events that meant something to her, or to one of us "kids", in years past.

 

She has been talking a lot about the bright red Cardinals that used to come to the feeder by our childhood kitchen window. 



Photo courtesy of Wikimedia (since I have no Cardinals yet!)

This is a recent photo of the house we lived in Connecticut from about 1956 - 1961. Mom's bird feeder was just outside the kitchen window, which is the bay window on the right in the photo. Cardinals were frequent visitors.

Since Mom was getting so "into" Cardinals, my sisters and I decided to try to bring some to her. We bought bags and bags of Cardinal seed and spread it outside her window daily. We even put a few "faux" Cardinals inside her room. Now there are birds everywhere at Mom's end of the rehab. center...Cardinals, robins, blue birds and chickadees. She...and the other patients and staff...are really enjoying all the birds (and squirrels) we've managed to attract.

 

Having had such unexpected success at Falmouth by the Sea, I decided to buy a bird feeder to place outside our kitchen window at Applegate.

 

 In order to convince DH to brave the piles of snow and ice with his ladder, I told him that we were feeding the birds to honor Mom. I'm not sure he really bought that, but he was a good guy and managed to get the job done.

 

 
 

There's just one little problem...the feeder has been up over a week and not one bird has visited us.  I googled for ideas and tried some of them...like throwing birdseed on the ground around the feeder.  Still no luck.

 

 My sister, Joanne, also inspired by Mom's stories, hung a feeder outside the kitchen window at Mom's condo. Joanne reports that hers is just beginning to attract some chickadees and finches.



The new bird feeder outside Mom's kitchen window in Portland



 Maybe I just need to be patient and wait for the neighborhood Cardinals to find us.

 

Any other ideas???

  

Sewing Soothes My Soul

When I am stressed...as I have been since Mom has been ill...I like to sew. During tough times, while the physical exercise of working out with my personal trainer, Ben, helps strengthen my body, sewing seems to soothe my soul.
 

My mother taught me how to sew on her old Singer when I was a young girl so maybe sewing makes me feel closer to her right now, when she can no longer sew.

 

I found this fabric...it was a sample size donated by a decorating shop...at Goodwill for $1.99. With batting I had on hand, I turned it into a chair cushion to brighten up a dark corner of our living room.

The chair has an interesting story too. We brought it back from the overgrown rural two-room farm house in Virginia where DH's father lived as a boy. The old chair is handmade and utilitarian, with a rope seat...but it is full of family memories, real and imagined.

 

This pillow comes from another fabric sample from Goodwill. I just folded the sample in  half, stuffed it, sewed the edges, and voila!

 

This folding screen was once Mom's. I brought it home and sewed new panels for it. It's perfect next to my desk in our "library" area.

 

 

I love the fabric...it is reproduced text from vintage newspapers.

 

 

The "articles" in the fabric newspaper, seem to fit my current mood..."Memories", "Forgiveness"...

 

and "Curiosity".

 

 

  

 I found the fabric at JoAnn's. It is designed by Tim Holtz, whose repro vintage embellishments are so popular right now with scrapbookers, jewelry creators and altered-art aficionados.. They can be found at Michael's and A.C. Moore.
 

 

 

Or, you can visit the Tim Holtz website here.

Tim Holtz has a whole line of "Eclectic Elements" fabrics at JoAnn's. They are a bit expensive at $14.99/yard for 44/45' cotton fabric so I used one of my 40% off coupons.

 

 

 

I must be really be in stress mode because I even dug out an old sewing project and finished it. I had found this partially finished piece of embroidery at a flea market a few years ago and always intended to do something with it. It just seemed sad sitting all by itself, unfinished and forgotten by some long-ago girl scout.

 

So...if the Girl Scouts have a pillow-making badge, I think I finally earned it.

The way things have been going around here lately, "Be Prepared" seems like a pretty god motto to keep in mind.

 

Or how about this Girl Scout pillow from Etsy? The badges come with it!

 

 

Then I sewed throw pillows for the guest room...

 

 

Lots of them!

 

 

I didn't sew the white "ruffled" pillow...found that one on Clearance at Marshall's for $10.00 and love the texture it adds to the grouping.

I liked it so much, I went back for an aqua one for the master bedroom.

 

I have to keep reminding myself that texture is as important as color in pulling a room together. Sometimes I get so "into" finding the perfect color that I forget to consider varying shapes and textures.
 

I made this simple pillow for our little "TV couch" in the Master Bedroom....the fabric was in the remnant bin at our local Curtainshop.

 

And, on an especially stressful day, I came home from visiting Mom and reupholstered the ottoman in front of my reading chair.

 

 

There's still a good-sized basket full of fabric left so I'm "Prepared" to sew my way through any stressful days ahead...

 

 

 

And where will I put all the pillows I make and can't even use?

Why in this gigantic new basket from Home Goods,  of course!

 

 

 

Did I mention that home shopping also does a pretty good job of relieving stress?

 

How do you cope with stress?

 

This post is linked to:

Sew Darn Crafty Linky Party at Sew Many Ways

Give Me Back My Princess Phone!!!

I miss my old Princess phone....rotary dial and all. I miss the days when my phone was a convenience rather than an obligation, cluttering up my mental "to do" list. I miss having real time to myself...when I could just ignore my phone completely if I wanted to.


 I miss walking along the ocean, or taking a nap, without having to worry about people using technology to track me down. And I really miss the days when I wasn't expected to answer the phone in the bathroom!





Yesterday, having already worked out at the gym, visited my Mom, and cleaned the downstairs, I decided to treat myself to an afternoon nap. I thought I would outsmart my cell phone by turning the ring tone off while I slept. What a mistake!

.

 By the time I woke up and checked my messages, it seemed as if the whole world was angry with me. "How", I asked myself, "Could I get in this much trouble while I was asleep???"

  



My cell phone...friend or foe?

 

I had napped for two hours and, by the time I woke up to all the missed messages, my family appeared to have fallen apart.

 

Because I hadn't answered my cell phone for two hours?





I miss the days before cell phones, when no one could track you down every minute of the day. When no one felt they had the right to every minute of your time. When no one could use GPS to find out where you are when you just want a little time to yourself.

  

I had this exact phone my kitchen wall "back in the day".

When you could take a nap without feeling guilty or waking up to upsetting texts.

 

What about you?

How do you manage your relationship with your cell phone?
Is it friend or foe??? 

 

 

 

p.s. There are some interesting on-line articles from the Huffington Post here and here on this topic as well as this one from Womens' Health magazine. Guess I'm not the only one who finds sleeping difficult in the age of cell phones.

Mom & Her BFF

On Monday, Mom's dear friend, Paula, and her husband, Dick, drove up from Massachusetts to visit with Mom for the afternoon.

 

 

Mom and Paula are both originally from England and always have had a lot in common.

 

 

It takes a long time to grow an old friend. 

~John Leonard

 

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.~William Shakespeare 

 

Joanne, Mom & Paula



Mom continues to improve a little more each day from her two strokes and ensuing pneumonia. Her progress still seems like a miracle to us.