Tag: Blogging

My Brilliant Idea For Getting In Shape

Getting “in shape” is all relevant.  It depends on what kind of shape you are in in the first place.  And my shape is getting rounder by the day.  So I’m not in good  shape.

First of all I don’t really care that I am a size 12. I am in midlife, have given birth to 4 kids and sit at a computer all day working. I won’t ever be a size 8 or probably even a 10 again. I don’t care. I have no one to impress and just care about being healthy… and I know it is not healthy to lead a sedentary life, which I hate to admit is happening.

Yes, I am writing about the boring and all too many times written about – weight loss, but not really. I just want to be in better shape. I won’t get much smaller, but I refuse to get larger. I am acquiring a spare tire around my middle that is quite depressing and I know it’s from sitting at this computer so much.  There is no movement happening!!

Today I had a hard time finding clothes to wear when I went out to the DUMP!!! Now that is bad.

My excuses are these: I don’t have a yard of my own and I used to work constantly in the gardens, digging and expanding and weeding – all that. I have no incentive to do that now. It’s not my yard and I am just doing it for someone else. And who knows how long I’ll even live here. There is no future in it, if you know what I mean, and you might not, but anyway….

Same thing with the house. It’s not mine so I take care of it, but don’t spend time wondering how I could make it cuter or nicer. Again, there is no point. Those are the two big changes in my life and because of them, I have to concentrate elsewhere and it happens to be working online. So I sit from 3 or 4 AM until at least 3 PM with a few breaks in between to let the cats in ..and out…and in… and out…AND I do laundry and dishes etc. to make myself move.

I’ve had excuses all summer for not going walking in this beautiful area. We’ve had one of the hottest summers in recent northeast history, the besides that, when I have walked, the horse flies have been so horrendous that I wished I had just stayed home.  Also, there are ignorant people on my road let their dogs run out and bark at me when I walk. So I’ve gone walking very little.

Today I got a brilliant idea. My rental is a ranch, but there is a cellar with a straight flight of stairs going down to it. I am going to use those stairs to get into better shape.

I am going to set the timer for an hour and when it goes off I will walk up and down my stairs for 3 minutes. (I checked to see how long I could do it and 3 minutes is a good starting point – I told you I was out of shape!)

Then I will set the timer again and do it again. All day I will do that and it’s got to help some! Three minutes every hour? Who can’t spare that. No excuses!!!

In 18 minutes I’m going for a walk.

Check out this funny postcard by my friend Tom aka Swiss:

Summer With The Siblings

My firefighter son always comes north (from Florida) to visit at least once a year. He arrived this week, which means that three of my kids and myself are sharing space in this small house. We are on top of each other inside, but the weather has been fairly good – if you call 80’s and humid good! – so we go outside a lot and sit around my new table (that only seats two – first come first serve) or the kids go to the beach and swim. I am not so much into doing that. Crowds of summer people and local kids are not my thing. I prefer the lake in any season but summer.

midori
A glass of Midori while I grill

It also means that I am spending large amounts of money on food and large amounts of time in the kitchen and at the grill. I always have a hard time remembering which kid likes what food. None of them are horribly picky, except the 12 year old, but I always have to ask, mostly about onions. One likes them cooked and one likes them raw. No tomatoes for either. One loves seafood, like his mom, and the other doesn’t. One loves mushrooms….and so forth. I eat just about everything, so I grill and bake around their likes.

My oldest son lives in Kentucky and we have been trying to convince him to come up too and he called the other night to tell me he is coming!! I am so excited. I haven’t seen him in over 3 years and it will be the first time in that long that all my kids have been together too. My oldest was 20 when my youngest was born so they have never all lived together. It’s very odd, but the way it turned out.

He is driving here in his Porsche and bringing an old guitar of his for my youngest son who seems to have inherited the musical talent that my other boys have. The kids are just as excited at the thoughts of spending time together. I’ve warned my landlady that it could get loud next door.

He is on his way… and they will be heading into Boston for the weekend to see the Red Sox play and just enjoy the city. Maybe they will share their photos for me to post.

I have been trying to find an air conditioner – just a small one for the front room where the sun beats in every afternoon – but there are none to be found. I hope the humidity stays reasonable, but it won’t matter really. I’ll have all my kids together, which is a rare thing for sure. I imagine they will all get on each other’s nerves and we’ll see if the oldest will actually stay the whole week or hop in his car and head back to the quiet life in Kentucky!

Purple Columbine Flowers

Purple Columbine Flower
Purple Columbine Flower

The Columbine plant is available in so many lovely colors. I have a red and yellow one and a few “blue” (which are more a dark purple) and light pink.

This Spring I saw some at the Agway that had feathery looking flowers and I almost bought one just because of the uniqueness, but didn’t.

They are easy to grow and the seeds are fun to collect – there will be loads of them! – to plant for next year.

dried seed pods
Tiny Seeds Are Inside These Pods

Find a small jar and collect the round, black seeds in late fall when they are completely dried out or just let them self sow in the garden. Be sure they don’t get pulled up as weeds next year. The leaves will be rounded.

Long, Long Summer Days

I have been dreading summer. I am the single parent of a 12-year old who needs activity – lots of activity. I work at home. I live in a small, rental house – about 1,000 square feet. He plays video games and watches tv in the living room which is right beside the kitchen where I have my computer set up at the kitchen table.

I listen to iCarly, Big Time Rush, Fairly Odd Parents and Spongebob all day – well, only when I’m not listening to him yell at his video games. He is a loud child who likes to scare the cat, make random strange noises, and thrives on noise.

Don’t get me wrong, he does go outside. We live near a lake and he goes swimming with a couple of friends who live up the road. But those friends have a big family and take trips all summer. We live on a dirt road and bike riding is tough and I don’t want him riding alone.

I don’t have relatives or friends close by to go visit, and I need to get my work done anyway. We don’t have our own home and since it’s a duplex, I am always worried about him making lots of noise outside with his friends, so inviting friends here is not helpful.
Every day we struggle with what to do. I get up early and begin working around 4:30am and he sleeps until 9am or so, but after lunch the day really drags.

I never planned for my kids to not have siblings, but the plans I’ve made have never come close to coming to be. At my age all my friends have grown children, money for vacations and traveling, and look forward to summer. My older son will be visiting for a couple of weeks and that will give us something to do. I’ll be cooking and the kids will be hanging out, but if my son is occupied it will be a big help.

Meanwhile, I will be getting very little done work-wise and my blogging takes twice as long since I can’t think straight! Is it really only the beginning of July?