On a test of 8 measures of well-being, women who took up an exercise program increased their score significantly over a 6-month period. Here's the article:
AHA: A Little Exercise Goes a Long Way for Overweight Older Women
They said that while the study was done on older women, there was no reason to expect the results to be different with other folks.
I am 2 months into my exercise program (as opposed to my usual less diligent program) and I do feel better. I certainly can walk better and farther! I wonder what 6 months will bring!
Really, exercise isn't optional for a well-functioning, good-feeling body: we weren't designed that way - sedentary beings used to be eaten.
I like starting slow, like the mailbox technique. No one day was hard on my body, but now I am walking over 2 miles per day at a decent clip instead of 200 feet.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
What Seniors Are About
Here's a quote from a recent book on marketing to seniors. I thought it was pretty close to what I am experiencing in my life. Just in case the mindset I exhibit is a puzzle to you...
People who have a middle-aged perspective look for deeper psychological and metaphorical meanings, and grasp the relationship between concepts more quickly. They value self-sufficiency, social connection, altruism, personal growth, and personal revitalization.
FWIW! PL
People who have a middle-aged perspective look for deeper psychological and metaphorical meanings, and grasp the relationship between concepts more quickly. They value self-sufficiency, social connection, altruism, personal growth, and personal revitalization.
FWIW! PL
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Pieces Coming Together
Yesterday I stumbled on a celiac site (http://celiac.com) and read some of the scientific papers they archive, including one going back to 1890 or so. Now I find my mind is integrating a lot of it with other input, such as:
climate data - the timing of our current era, the Holocene, and the development of agriculture
agriculture and what it meant to culture and peoples
my own personal health history and some of the mysteries of our family's health stories
my linguistics background
my fascination with the migrations of peoples
being Irish
and I find that there's a story emerging here. It will take me too long to write it to include it here, but just know that gluten intolerance or out and out allergy is hereditary, and that gluten can cause mental as well as physical responses, pain, obesity, and diabetes, and permanent damage can be done to the small intestine that will interfere with nutrient absorption (and probably cause obesity) for the rest of one's life.
So the bottom line is that I am going to write a book called (working title): Food, Climate, and Migration: The Story of Your Health.
I believe this is serious stuff for our family, and I also think that I can see the genetic patterns emerging among the grandchildren in terms of gene contributions from their parents. But more on this another day. PL
climate data - the timing of our current era, the Holocene, and the development of agriculture
agriculture and what it meant to culture and peoples
my own personal health history and some of the mysteries of our family's health stories
my linguistics background
my fascination with the migrations of peoples
being Irish
and I find that there's a story emerging here. It will take me too long to write it to include it here, but just know that gluten intolerance or out and out allergy is hereditary, and that gluten can cause mental as well as physical responses, pain, obesity, and diabetes, and permanent damage can be done to the small intestine that will interfere with nutrient absorption (and probably cause obesity) for the rest of one's life.
So the bottom line is that I am going to write a book called (working title): Food, Climate, and Migration: The Story of Your Health.
I believe this is serious stuff for our family, and I also think that I can see the genetic patterns emerging among the grandchildren in terms of gene contributions from their parents. But more on this another day. PL
Monday, March 10, 2008
Mailbox #19, March 10
Well, it's a whole new mailbox, and at the landmark #15 the pace was not too bad, but not record-setting by a long stretch: 37.5 min instead of the all-time best of 34.5.
The time for the new mailbox and back was 52 min. It was what it was. I was feeling the fatigue of walking all-out for 50 min. Mailbox #19 takes a little over 2 miles of walking and has 6 hills.
I now 'own' #18!
It's warming up a bit and I'm going to try to walk in the mornings on busy days, just to make sure it happens. With no time change, the sun will be getting up VERY early!
Don't forget to cheer when I hit #20! (That will be Wednesday - Tuesday is always #15.)
The time for the new mailbox and back was 52 min. It was what it was. I was feeling the fatigue of walking all-out for 50 min. Mailbox #19 takes a little over 2 miles of walking and has 6 hills.
I now 'own' #18!
It's warming up a bit and I'm going to try to walk in the mornings on busy days, just to make sure it happens. With no time change, the sun will be getting up VERY early!
Don't forget to cheer when I hit #20! (That will be Wednesday - Tuesday is always #15.)
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Sealing Plans
We have set up a date for sealings for May 28, 2008. It will occur in the SLC area, either at the SLC temple, or Jordan River, probably the latter so there's some hope of Andrya joining us, even with the infant needing her to remain nearby. (Interpretation: Amber standing by with the baby while she comes in briefly to participate - so we hope!)
Chris will join D and me. We have also invited the Romneys, K and L. It is a kind of proxy in its own right.
If any other family members can possibly be there, please join us!
Our target is to put as many families completely together as we can on that date. We will start tomorrow going through the pedigree charts and family group sheets to make sure we have included everyone who is eligible, then work toward eligibility of those within reach. Again, your help is solicited.
Certainly the new family search website makes doing this so much easier! PL
Chris will join D and me. We have also invited the Romneys, K and L. It is a kind of proxy in its own right.
If any other family members can possibly be there, please join us!
Our target is to put as many families completely together as we can on that date. We will start tomorrow going through the pedigree charts and family group sheets to make sure we have included everyone who is eligible, then work toward eligibility of those within reach. Again, your help is solicited.
Certainly the new family search website makes doing this so much easier! PL
Temple Work Report for 3/7/08
Yesterday at the temple, D did 2 endowment sessions, one for his dad and one for his grandfather Vandenbergh.
And I took my packet of 13 women, and took care of the remainder of the preliminaries. What a wonderful experience. You'll know why when you peruse this list of names:
Ruth Clark Horan
Mary Jane Reynolds
Hannah Scott
Minnie Adams
Ella Marie Adams
Ellen
Florence Beatrice Lewis
Julia Ann M Simpson
Ruhamah Clayton Lewis
Eleanor S Lewis
Mary Amanda Lewis
Mercy L Jones
Hannah Mount
Then I did the endowment for Nana. Very very lovely. I felt closer to everyone of them. Thanks to Amber, Moriah, and Chris for getting things started and Chris for doing the remaining preliminaries for the men:
John Simpson Lewis
Nelson Brumagim Vandenbergh
John Clendening
John Simpson Lewis
Elias Lewis
David Wallace Lewis
Jacob L Clendening
James Clendening
George W Clendening
John Mount Dey
Harold Dey
and 5 Adams and Tanner men, including:
Charles Tanner
John Augustus Adams
Alfred Adams
...
...
He will take care of their endowments in Jordan River.
And I took my packet of 13 women, and took care of the remainder of the preliminaries. What a wonderful experience. You'll know why when you peruse this list of names:
Ruth Clark Horan
Mary Jane Reynolds
Hannah Scott
Minnie Adams
Ella Marie Adams
Ellen
Florence Beatrice Lewis
Julia Ann M Simpson
Ruhamah Clayton Lewis
Eleanor S Lewis
Mary Amanda Lewis
Mercy L Jones
Hannah Mount
Then I did the endowment for Nana. Very very lovely. I felt closer to everyone of them. Thanks to Amber, Moriah, and Chris for getting things started and Chris for doing the remaining preliminaries for the men:
John Simpson Lewis
Nelson Brumagim Vandenbergh
John Clendening
John Simpson Lewis
Elias Lewis
David Wallace Lewis
Jacob L Clendening
James Clendening
George W Clendening
John Mount Dey
Harold Dey
and 5 Adams and Tanner men, including:
Charles Tanner
John Augustus Adams
Alfred Adams
...
...
He will take care of their endowments in Jordan River.
This Week's Walking - First Wk of March
This week started out very well, though I decided not to push it. I made an excellent time on Monday to Mailbox #17, pulled back to #15 on Tuesday, and pushed it again on Wednesday, making Mailbox #18 in 48 minutes, a good pace.
Then came Thursday, a scheduled day off, and Friday. Friday was an exhausting day: late start for the temple because of work emergencies, 2 meals out, fun time w/ grandkids, no time to walk, and too tired to try. Saturday was bad insomnia overnight and another meal out, and by walking time I was still tired. I did Mailbox #18 again because I had skipped a scheduled walking day, and made it but only in 52 1/2 minutes, well short of Wednesday's pace.
For the first time I did a cool-down in the driveway for 10 minutes afterward, and that was a lot more comfortable than coming in and crashing.
I did to AF exercises every morning, so tomorrow I graduate to Level 6, where I will remain for the next 8 days.
It's interesting that Monday went much better the day after fasting and a day off than Saturday did after 3 restaurant meals and two days off! Lessons to be learned here! PL
Then came Thursday, a scheduled day off, and Friday. Friday was an exhausting day: late start for the temple because of work emergencies, 2 meals out, fun time w/ grandkids, no time to walk, and too tired to try. Saturday was bad insomnia overnight and another meal out, and by walking time I was still tired. I did Mailbox #18 again because I had skipped a scheduled walking day, and made it but only in 52 1/2 minutes, well short of Wednesday's pace.
For the first time I did a cool-down in the driveway for 10 minutes afterward, and that was a lot more comfortable than coming in and crashing.
I did to AF exercises every morning, so tomorrow I graduate to Level 6, where I will remain for the next 8 days.
It's interesting that Monday went much better the day after fasting and a day off than Saturday did after 3 restaurant meals and two days off! Lessons to be learned here! PL
Monday, March 3, 2008
Milepost #17 Report!
Each day I go out, I wonder if I can go to that next mailbox.
Now that I have completed the first cycle of 15, I am starting over. The first many are far from each other.
Today I did complete #17, the next one along, and I did it in 43 minutes even.
At the 15-mailbox mark today I was at 35.5 minutes, which as I recall compares very favorably with what I did a few days ago - only I can't look at early posts and see!
Last week sometime it took me 41 minutes to do something like 13 mailboxes.
I'm just really pleased to be seeing some progress. I'm looking ahead to the physical for our mission and I don't want any corporeal indiscretion to cause me to have limitations put on my papers.
So every extra step means Samarkand or Ulan Bataar here we come! PL
Now that I have completed the first cycle of 15, I am starting over. The first many are far from each other.
Today I did complete #17, the next one along, and I did it in 43 minutes even.
At the 15-mailbox mark today I was at 35.5 minutes, which as I recall compares very favorably with what I did a few days ago - only I can't look at early posts and see!
Last week sometime it took me 41 minutes to do something like 13 mailboxes.
I'm just really pleased to be seeing some progress. I'm looking ahead to the physical for our mission and I don't want any corporeal indiscretion to cause me to have limitations put on my papers.
So every extra step means Samarkand or Ulan Bataar here we come! PL
Current Writings, Because You Asked...
Bonnie and I go together to ANWA, the American Night Writers' Assn. She's the new president of the Tucson chapter! This is an LDS women's writing group. So I needed to polish off something. And now, I'm really back into it - or would be except that I spend my days writing things, and I can hardly rationalize the time.
I picked Triple Divide. I thought it was finished but it really was like a very long narrative outline interspersed with some finished scenes. Now I'm fleshing it out. I really love the way it's coming along! I'm hopeful about it.
I also have The Songdog Sings a Sad Song all lined up but only 1/3 of it exists. The main characters Michael Harvey Lewis and Annie Skye have a little following among those who have read the first book of this trilogy-within-a-volume. But it will be a long time before I can get to it.
Currently I write a monthly newsletter, several blogs, and manuals. The manuals are by far the hardest - I agree that non-fiction can be a real trial.
Thanks for asking, and for commenting!
I picked Triple Divide. I thought it was finished but it really was like a very long narrative outline interspersed with some finished scenes. Now I'm fleshing it out. I really love the way it's coming along! I'm hopeful about it.
I also have The Songdog Sings a Sad Song all lined up but only 1/3 of it exists. The main characters Michael Harvey Lewis and Annie Skye have a little following among those who have read the first book of this trilogy-within-a-volume. But it will be a long time before I can get to it.
Currently I write a monthly newsletter, several blogs, and manuals. The manuals are by far the hardest - I agree that non-fiction can be a real trial.
Thanks for asking, and for commenting!
Heartbreak, or It's Never Too Late
I have been reading my journals, and in them are two tightly braided themes: Write Professionally, and Earn Money.
The Earn Money comes out of my babyhood: I felt an urge to contribute financially as early as age 6, which is why I took my precious dollar and walked myself the 3/4 mile to the store and bought my bamboo fishing pole, string, bobber, hook, and sinker. $1.03 with tax. If I could fish, I could put food on the table.
The Write Professionally was there from childhood, too, but it reached fever pitch by age 40 and I saw that I could combine it the Earn Money urge. I gave it a stab, actually sold some stuff, worked as an editor, helped D w/ his books, etc.
"Heartbreak" is reading this: http://www.kingsolver.com/about/about.asp.
The parallels are everywhere, right down to the present. Maybe you can pick them out, too.
It is not lost on me that while she was doing those successful writing things, I was making wonderful babies AND doing a lot of writing and sometimes farming and sometimes gardening.
BUT there's a big part of me that is not willing to let go of the Professional Writer piece (as well as the 'buy local' and 'grow your own' pieces, but that I've addressed earlier and in other places: see http://grammypegskitchen.blogspot.com).
I have read a lot of Kingsolver. Some of it is delightfully quirky, and all of it is struggling for meaning. I was SO disappointed by Poisonwood Bible, not for the writing but for the point - it never did have one, other than to criticize a well-intentioned boob for being a 'man of faith'.
I DO have a lot to say of value, that I know. And I would really love an audience, as in Published Book.
I don't want to become Barbara Kingsolver. But I would like to be read as she is. And I really really liked Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (almost done) despite some really overly precious writing. I wish I had written it.
And one last point: This woman is an awesome marketer. That I lay no claim to, despite being a student and purveyor of it. No, she takes it to remarkable heights! I have much to learn! PL
The Earn Money comes out of my babyhood: I felt an urge to contribute financially as early as age 6, which is why I took my precious dollar and walked myself the 3/4 mile to the store and bought my bamboo fishing pole, string, bobber, hook, and sinker. $1.03 with tax. If I could fish, I could put food on the table.
The Write Professionally was there from childhood, too, but it reached fever pitch by age 40 and I saw that I could combine it the Earn Money urge. I gave it a stab, actually sold some stuff, worked as an editor, helped D w/ his books, etc.
"Heartbreak" is reading this: http://www.kingsolver.com/about/about.asp.
The parallels are everywhere, right down to the present. Maybe you can pick them out, too.
It is not lost on me that while she was doing those successful writing things, I was making wonderful babies AND doing a lot of writing and sometimes farming and sometimes gardening.
BUT there's a big part of me that is not willing to let go of the Professional Writer piece (as well as the 'buy local' and 'grow your own' pieces, but that I've addressed earlier and in other places: see http://grammypegskitchen.blogspot.com).
I have read a lot of Kingsolver. Some of it is delightfully quirky, and all of it is struggling for meaning. I was SO disappointed by Poisonwood Bible, not for the writing but for the point - it never did have one, other than to criticize a well-intentioned boob for being a 'man of faith'.
I DO have a lot to say of value, that I know. And I would really love an audience, as in Published Book.
I don't want to become Barbara Kingsolver. But I would like to be read as she is. And I really really liked Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (almost done) despite some really overly precious writing. I wish I had written it.
And one last point: This woman is an awesome marketer. That I lay no claim to, despite being a student and purveyor of it. No, she takes it to remarkable heights! I have much to learn! PL
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Movement Of Properties
This has been an interesting exercise, considering what to do w/ our 6 properties at a time when selling them is not only difficult but possibly the worst thing to do with them because of the market. Waiting would get a better price (if we could wait long enough) but meanwhile they cost, and keeping them is hardly a streamlined, simplified, mission-friendly state of affairs.
At the same time we have just done our 2007 taxes and found out how much financial benefit we get from the properties even when they are empty.
Rentals have 3 advantages: income from the tenant, thus essentially having someone else pay the mortgage, taxes, etc.; appreciation from selling it a few years down the road; tax savings due to depreciation.
So we have decided not to sell, at least not fire-sale fashion.
Here are some details:
Bonnie and family are moving into our Sallee Place residence, paying us what they are paying for their current house. We have the benefit of not having to screen possible tenants, and we can leave a few things here for them, such as unopened jars of mayonnaise or Nana's buffet.
We are listing the Benson house as a rent and lease-option. This should give us some positive cashflow shortly.
We are listing the Rye Court property in Anacortes as a rental, after a few months of having it for sale this summer. We'd like to sell it - it is our costliest property.
The other Anacortes house is already rented for the next 2 1/2 years, and may end us on a lease-option with the current tenants.
All these possibilities are just that right now, though we are focusing on bringing them about one by one.
So simplification, our desire, is running up against the realities of the market. Waiting 3 years to sell may well mean we get a decent price for each of them, which of course would buy us more options on every front.
Your thoughts?
At the same time we have just done our 2007 taxes and found out how much financial benefit we get from the properties even when they are empty.
Rentals have 3 advantages: income from the tenant, thus essentially having someone else pay the mortgage, taxes, etc.; appreciation from selling it a few years down the road; tax savings due to depreciation.
So we have decided not to sell, at least not fire-sale fashion.
Here are some details:
Bonnie and family are moving into our Sallee Place residence, paying us what they are paying for their current house. We have the benefit of not having to screen possible tenants, and we can leave a few things here for them, such as unopened jars of mayonnaise or Nana's buffet.
We are listing the Benson house as a rent and lease-option. This should give us some positive cashflow shortly.
We are listing the Rye Court property in Anacortes as a rental, after a few months of having it for sale this summer. We'd like to sell it - it is our costliest property.
The other Anacortes house is already rented for the next 2 1/2 years, and may end us on a lease-option with the current tenants.
All these possibilities are just that right now, though we are focusing on bringing them about one by one.
So simplification, our desire, is running up against the realities of the market. Waiting 3 years to sell may well mean we get a decent price for each of them, which of course would buy us more options on every front.
Your thoughts?
Those Papers!
I spent over 3 hours this morning on our papers, and most of it wasn't filling them out, just printing them and organizing them. The one that still had to be completed was all about our health insurance, and if that sounds easy...BAH!
Now the stacks of medical and dental forms are sitting in a folder waiting for us to get our appts and all that will go on around that - lab tests, mammograms, who knows what-all. It will probably take us till the time we leave Tucson to get it done.
Then we have our final interview with the bishop, and I suppose the stake president, and then we press the magic button on the recommendation website.
And then we wait!
And then we get our call, not long thereafter. Say June 1.
And then we hope that whatever visa situation we find ourselves in, it won't take more than the 5 remaining months till our wishlist report date of November 1.
Friends of ours from China just left for Spain...
Now the stacks of medical and dental forms are sitting in a folder waiting for us to get our appts and all that will go on around that - lab tests, mammograms, who knows what-all. It will probably take us till the time we leave Tucson to get it done.
Then we have our final interview with the bishop, and I suppose the stake president, and then we press the magic button on the recommendation website.
And then we wait!
And then we get our call, not long thereafter. Say June 1.
And then we hope that whatever visa situation we find ourselves in, it won't take more than the 5 remaining months till our wishlist report date of November 1.
Friends of ours from China just left for Spain...
Saturday, March 1, 2008
New Blog
To capture all my foodie thoughts, I have created a new blog, Grammy Peg's Kitchen. It includes food politics as well as sweet things close to home. Bonnie has signed on as a contributor, and if you'd like to, let me know. You can visit it at http://grammypegskitchen.blogspot.com .
Comments always welcome!
Comments always welcome!
Mailbox Catchup 3/1/08
Yesterday I made it to #15 for the first time, which should be 1.5 miles. 39 minutes.
Tonight I made it to #16, which is the first mailbox I repeat as I begin the second cycle. I made it to the house without this new leg in 40 minutes (which compares directly w/ yesterday's) and added 3 minutes getting up there to Mailbox #16 and back. So, 43 minutes.
That's a bit slow.
I also began Level 5 of the Air Force exercises this morning. It was fine.
We didn't go out today till 6:10 and even so it was warm. Ugh! PL
Tonight I made it to #16, which is the first mailbox I repeat as I begin the second cycle. I made it to the house without this new leg in 40 minutes (which compares directly w/ yesterday's) and added 3 minutes getting up there to Mailbox #16 and back. So, 43 minutes.
That's a bit slow.
I also began Level 5 of the Air Force exercises this morning. It was fine.
We didn't go out today till 6:10 and even so it was warm. Ugh! PL
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