Theme for the Week – Stress

Keeping it Together

This has been a tough week, for everyone.  The United States’ inauguration of the 45th President, a man who is very controversial, took place on Friday.  This fact has and is causing a great deal of stress for all involved here and abroad.  We no longer seem to be able to trust what we read in the news or even see on the television or on social media.  Stress is good in some instances but this kind of stress is not good.  I have been reading quite a bit about what stress does to your body and I sure don’t like what I read.  I know that I am a victim of stress.  It certainly didn’t help my health situation any and I have been learning how to cope with stress through exercise, meditation, and yoga.  Also learning to manage my reaction to stressful situations through a type of breathing that I was introduced to through Dr. Weil who was one of our presenters at IIN when I was taking my course there.  Here is a link to a page on his website that gives instructions for his top Three Breathing Exercises.  The one that I have been practicing faithfully for the last few weeks is the second one, the 4-7-8 Relaxing exercise.  I am a person who tends to wake up during the night and getting back to sleep has always been a problem for me, especially if I have already had four or five hours of sleep.  With practice, this exercise has really made a huge difference to me.  I am now fairly confident that if I do the exercise when I get back to bed, I will fall asleep very quickly.  In fact, one time I fell asleep before I even finished the exercise.  You can also find videos of him demonstrating how to do the exercise through his site.  Give it a try and see if it works for you too.

What Happened this Week

On a personal note this week I restarted the ball rolling on the cataract surgery that was put off from last fall.  Currently scheduled for the first eye on the first of March.  I am fed up wearing my glasses and I am not going to buy new ones since according to the surgeon I will not need glasses for long distance when I am done.  I will only need them for reading.  My contact in one eye no longer is adequate for anything, certainly not for driving or seeing where a golf ball goes.  Now I am looking forward to having this correction done.  A couple of interesting things are showing up.  One is my balance is lousy.  That is supposed to be because the eyes are not working together properly.  The other is that I cannot handle bright sunlight.  I am blinded by lights and when walking often don’t see what is in front of me if the sun is shining in my face.  This could be problematic as I might fall off the curb or bump into a tree or a person or something.  Hopefully I won’t step on a snake or an alligator!!!!

Saturday was an emotional day.  I was amazed at how many friends were marching in cities all across this country,  in Canada and around the world.  The march is about human rights and also about women’s rights.  I care about all human rights – ALL – but I have a special place in my heart for my fellow women.  There are many men who care a great deal about women too and they will be marching right alongside their partners and daughters and sisters.  There was a march in Beaufort too.  It was small and called “Cookies and Concerns”.  Many in attendance brought cookies that were to be shared with local shelters and others just brought themselves and their big hearts.  A small but mighty group walked across the Woods Memorial Bridge.  I was thrilled to be able to participate locally while supporting my friends who marched in cities far away.  We talked to each other about things that mattered to us and our fearless leader, Allison Davidow, counted numbers of folks in attendance and kept track of the numbers of people concerned about each of the rights identified by those who were there.  We made the local newspaper.  This picture is from the Island Packet.  You can just see me in the upper left corner in my blue hat.  I wish I had worn a pink one!  I came home and watched c-span along with John as they covered the March in Washington D.C.  Oh how moved I was by the speakers and their speeches and when Alicia Keyes broke into “This Girl is on Fire” I burst into tears.  Just so moved by the outpouring of support for each other.  I so hope this momentum continues. 

Exercise and Puppy Update

I combine these two topics as one is definitely affected by the other.  The puppy gets us out to walk which thus gets us more exercise!!  Once again this was a big week of walking.  We had beautiful weather all week long which encouraged us to get out and get those steps in.  I managed to get to Yoga twice, attending a class that was way more strenuous than I have been used to as I usually go to the restorative yoga.  My whole body was shaking when I finished the class, probably should have stayed for the restorative which was right after it.  Anyway, I think this class will help me build up some more strength in my upper body in particular.  John says I should start working out on the machines but I want to be outside.  Anyway, my total mileage for the week was 38.05 miles for a total of 511 minutes according to my Fitbit.  That seems pretty good to me.  I also got in a Zumba class and not to be left out, three afternoons of playing 9 holes of golf with John.  So lots of outside time and fresh air.  Maybe that’s why my Fitbit says I have been sleeping 9 hours each night.  The dogs are really settled into life in South Carolina again.  The puppy is finally sleeping in until about 7am which is much better for all of us.  He is still starving in the morning but not quite as starving as he has been.  It might be because he is getting bigger and he is now almost five months old.  He lost some teeth this week and wonder of wonders we actually found two of them.  Something that is quite unusual as pups usually swallow them.  We began the training on the invisible fence this week and he seems to already understand not to go by the white flags when he has his collar on.  Pretty smart dog!  We were supposed to go to Puppy Class on Saturday but it was cancelled due to the expected storms.

Recipe of the Week

Started on Monday night with our first Mediterranean dish.  We had some frozen Mahi-Mahi so I looked for a simple fish recipe along with broccoli.  Watch out for the hot peppers, you can overdo it:) However, Tuesday was  John’s smashing success with the Angel Hair alla Puttanesca with Tomatoes, Olives and Capers.  Yummy is all I can say.  The recipe comes from the book “The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative for Lifelong Health”  by Nancy Harmon Jenkins.  The books title links to her page on Amazon.  The Angel Hair pasta that we used is a brand made with Jerusalem Artichoke flour and is delicious.  It does have a little white flour in it too.  The sauce was excellent and I hope this meal will become a staple that we see over and over again.  I am also going to try it using zucchini noodles too.

We also had our first Foyer Group through out church and I was to bring dessert.  I found a cake recipe in the same cookbook for a “Ciambella di Ricotta” or Ricotta Cake that I made and served with homemade blueberry coulis.  I had a small piece of the cake with some coulis and a bit of ice cream and loved every mouthful.  So nice to have a treat and since it was all homemade I knew what was in it.

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Comment of the Week

I received the nicest text message from one of you wonderful readers and it lifted my spirits so much.  Here I quote “Loved blog yesterday.  Honest. Helpful. Vulnerable.  Made the veg chili but added some leftover steak.  Ordered cookbook (not exactly one you referenced but simpler one).  So this girl is better off today having read your blog.”  Thank you for your thoughts they are so very much appreciated.

Congratulations to our daughter and her long-time girl friend Hadley who made January 20th a happy day for us by becoming engaged.