Day 52 of 365

It's not like I don't like exercising. I used to walk 2-3 miles each and every day and even did some 5K walks. But as my body got worse, the pain got more intense, and the walking became too much for me. And even now with the exercise bike, the knee pain is pretty bad.

But for the last couple days, I've done an exercise that is my favorite of favorites. Something I've done since I was a little kid, something I wish I could do every day of my life. Something that makes my body not hurt so much when I'm doing it. Something I look forward to, not dread (like I do those stupid shoulder exercises).

That would be swimming.

I learned to swim when I was about six or so in the backyard pool. My recollection was that my mom was teaching me to swim and I couldn't get the hang of it. But one day I said a bad word and got my mouth washed out with soap. And the next day I could swim. (Whether that really happened or not I don't know, but that's what I remember.)

I spent most of my childhood years going to school in California, where junior highs and high schools had swimming pools. So every spring in PE we had swimming. Once I started in junior high I realized how much I didn't know about swimming. And about swimming underwater, and diving from the side, and diving from the board. I learned a lot then, but I don't use most of it now.

I'm not big on going underwater anymore. Don't know why, I just don't like it. I spend my time kicking, and floating, and treading water, and swimming above water, and doing water exercises. Just keep moving in the water has become my motto.

But the best part is the joints. The buoyancy I have in the water and the lack of pressure on the knees/back/shoulders/elbows/hips/ankles is amazing. It's probably as close as I'll ever come to being pain free when moving.

We've often thought of putting in a pool, but being in Idaho it wouldn't get year round use. My husband has also talked about a jacuzzi, but I couldn't exactly swim and get myself moving around too much in a jacuzzi. If I could get over my embarrassment of being in a swimsuit I probably would drive the 15 miles to the YMCA to swim, but I'm not sure that will happen. I've wished we lived in Arizona where I could step out every single day from my back door into a swimming pool. Don't know if that'll ever happen, either.

The hotel we're staying in right now has a nice big pool, and being the off season, the place is empty and I can swim and swim and swim. Thank goodness for the pool, because usually when we come to McCall in the summers we swim in the lake.

That's something I'm certain won't be happening anytime soon.

And a physical therapy/exercise update: 6 for 6.

Day 51 of 365

This weekend has been girls weekend for the last 10 years or so. But not this year.

Every year my daughter and I have gone away for a girls weekend. We always take three days in April to go on a mini vacation, just the two of us. We've gone to Portland and California, but mostly we go to Sun Valley. We walk around the grounds of the resort, watch some ice skating, and hit the yard sales. There's nothing like going to a yard sale at a multi-million dollar home. We've gotten high quality items at cheap prices and have enjoyed peeking into lives we'll never have. The Gold Mine thrift store in Ketchum has been another not-to-be missed stopped. The things rich people donate!

But this year there will be no Sun Valley, no ice skating, no yard sales. My daughter has to work this weekend and besides, she says, we've already spent enough time together this year. She's probably right on that one - I did live at her apartment with her for two months when I was recovering from my latest surgery.

Not all is lost, though. The school districts in our state took a hard hit last year with budget cuts and most schools have had teachers on furlough days this year. It just so happens that today is a furlough day for my husband. So for the first time we're having a husband-wife weekend. I shouldn't admit this, but I could count on one hand the number of times we've been away together - alone - in the past 26 years of marriage.

This is our first "official" weekend and we've decided to head to the mountains for some rest, relaxation, and writing. (Not that I need rest and relaxation - I get plenty of that at home when he's at work!)

McCall, Idaho is our home for the next few days. Snowy, cold, it's-still-winter-here, McCall. But such a beautiful drive!

And a physical therapy/exercise update: 5 for 5!

Day 50 of 365

We've got to break this sugar addiction we have going on in this house, so today (I think, I plan, I hope) will be my last baking project for a while.

Usually  when I make sugar cookies they go to someone else. My family gets the rejects, but I've never made a batch just for us. So when my husband came home and saw yesterday's Peeps cookies, his first question was, "Who are the cookies for?" and was quite surprised when I said they were for us. We, of course, devoured them for dessert.

Which leads us to today. I went to the trouble on Monday of going to WinCo and bagging my own groceries to get ingredients from the bulk aisle for the White Chocolate and Peach Oatmeal Cookies. Which then, because of the absence of dried peaches, became the White Chocolate and Apricot Oatmeal Cookies. But as I looked at the ingredient list closer in this month's Food Network Magazine, I had to/wanted to make some adjustments.

So today to celebrate (or mourn) my last baking project for a while(?) I'm posting the recipe along with my picture. I use my KitchenAid mixer for all my mixing, but if you don't have one, just use a large bowl to mix the ingredients. (But the mixer sure is handy!) I'm not a recipe writer, so I hope the directions are clear. If not, let me know and I can clarify.

Debz Apricot and White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 large egg
3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 c oats
3/4 c dried apricots, chopped
1/2 c walnuts, chopped
3/4 c white chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350. In mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well. Scrape bowl. Add the flour, baking soda, and oatmeal and mix until combined. Add apricots, walnuts, and white chocolate chips and mix until blended. Roll mixture into balls (my recipe made 20) and put on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Press the dough a bit with the palm of your hand to make round cookies. Bake 15 minutes or so. Let cool and enjoy!

And a physical therapy/exercise update: 4 for 4.

Day 49 of 365

When I was growing up, Easter was more about the Easter basket for me than anything else. We didn't go to church and I don't remember if we had Easter dinner with the family or not. But the Easter basket? I remember that.

It was a large pink plastic basket with a white handle. Full of Easter grass and candy. Jelly beans, a chocolate bunny, marshmallow eggs, and the best candy ever made - pink and yellow marshmallow Peeps.

I know some people hate Peeps. And I understand that. I feel that way about those disgusting, nasty, paste-tasting orange marshmallow Circus Peanuts. I know some people love them, but I can't even look at a bag of those without wanting to gag.

But I love my Peeps. Except now I buy them for myself, and they are usually eaten before I pull in the driveway. And it's only the yellow bunnies that I buy. It seems the pink ones and the yellow chicks don't quite taste the same. There are also many other different colors out and I've tried a few, but they're still not as good as yellow bunnies. I've tried the Halloween ghosts and pumpkins. No thank you. I've tried the chocolate covered ones. Not again.

So I anxiously look towards Easter so I can get me some Peeps. Yellow bunny Peeps. But this year, I didn't buy any Peeps. I don't know why. And I missed them. A lot.

Which led me to make some sugar cookies. Some Peeps sugar cookies. They're not made from Peeps, but they sure look like them. And they taste almost as good.

A physical therapy/exercise update: worked on the shoulder again today. I've done 3 days out of 3 so far this week. Yay!

Day 48 of 365

I did it again. Worked out, that is. I didn't do too much shoulder work (didn't want to do two days in a row), so I did the exercise bike instead since my new knee has been getting a bit stiff lately. I'll get back to full-blown shoulder work tomorrow. (I hope.)

I made some sugar cookies again today. I'll decorate them tonight or tomorrow, so that might wind up being tomorrow's picture for the day. I haven't finished them, but I'm sure they're going to be cute! (I hope.)

I was also itching to get outside and do some garden work since we finally have a sunny day. It was in the 20s here last night so it's having a hard time warming up much. Doesn't look like it's going to get out of the 40s. And the joints don't work as well when it's cold. Maybe it'll warm up more before the day is over so I can at least do something out there. (I hope.)

I did do a walkabout around the yard to see how things are doing. I finally have arugula coming up - and that was planted way back on Day 30. I also have one cucumber coming up, but those planting boxes aren't really working out too well. They're getting watered, but these cool nights and cool days haven't helped the sprouting process. The strawberries we planted on Day 16 are up and have several leaves. I have tulips blooming (even those that were covered in snow on Day 5). Our trees are beginning to turn green, and our tree out front is starting to have pink blooms.

Although I am a little jealous of the beautiful pink blossoms on our neighbor's tree.

Day 47 of 365

Well, I did it. I did my physical therapy exercises today. Just a short session, but I did them nonetheless.

I almost talked myself out of it. I went grocery shopping this morning and it wore me out. I like shopping during a weekday when the stores aren't as crowded, but the trade off is that I have to go by myself then. And for me driving 20 miles, then shopping and bending to get things off shelves and putting them in the cart, then on the belt at the register, then in the car, driving 20 miles back, then up the stairs into my house, then unpacking and bending and lifting again - it just does me in. Mostly my back. That's why I usually do small grocery shopping (just a few bags) each week. But this week we were out of some things, plus I have plans for some new recipes this week and needed specific items.

Like dried peaches. My husband got a subscription to Food Network Magazine for Christmas, and as he was perusing this month's issue he came across a recipe for White Chocolate and Peach Oatmeal Cookies. (He likes cooking, but if there ever is a recipe that he likes that involving baking, he turns it over to me.)

I got up early to go to town to WinCo. I typically never shop there since it's always so very busy and you have to bag your own groceries (and you can imagine what that would be like for me). I figured if I was going to get dried peaches that would be the most likely place to have them since they have a huge bulk foods department. Rows and rows of bulk foods. About anything you'd ever want. From flour to chocolate covered gummi bears to dried pineapple and mangoes. I found white chocolate chips for the recipe, but do you think they had dried peaches anywhere on row three? Nope.

All the bottom barrels (two rows deep of bottom barrels) and no dried peaches. And no dried peaches in the regular baking section. So now I have a bag of dried apricots instead. More than I need for the newly named White Chocolate and Apricot Oatmeal Cookies.

Day 46 of 365

I think I should start calling my sewing room a quilt studio.

I have been hammering out these quilt tops like crazy. I used some of the fabric I received in the mail yesterday and now have three more finished. My plan is to do two more, then start assembling the batting and backing and start the actual quilting. That will give me eight kids' quilts to send off. Whew!

Eight quilts within a month is a bit excessive, I suppose. But when I decide to start something, I can get a bit obsessive about finishing it. Although, that quilt in the frame that I fought with on Day 38 is still sitting in the frame, untouched. I imagine it needs my attention, but I've been so overly focused on these children's quilts that I haven't come up for air. And I've been slacking on something else, too.

Last month when I went back to my shoulder surgeon, he had given me until the end of April to put both arms behind my back or I'd have to go back and be treated for frozen shoulder. Which could mean more surgeries. Well, it's almost the end of April and I still can't get both arms behind my back. But part of it is my fault. I've been slacking on my physical therapy. Really slacking.

I was given exercises to do at home several times a week, but I haven't been making it a priority. You'd think the threat of more surgeries would get me in gear, but after a year and a half of going to physical therapy non stop for my back, my knee, and my shoulders, I guess I just got tired of doing it. And I guess I got lazy.

It's not like I don't have the time. I don't have a job and don't have kids at home. I've just been spending my time doing things that don't tax my body. Things like sewing and sometimes baking. (And writing my blog, of course.) Part of the issue is that always-always-always before physical therapy I had to take pain medication. That's not happening now. I'm totally and completely free of pain medication. Even those days I struggle the most I am refusing to take those meds, and I'm not about to start again now. So I know doing the physical therapy I need will hurt. And like I've written before, I've become more of a pain-avoider than a pleasure seeker these days.

But I need to get myself in gear, and now. I have to commit to therapy sessions (it's more of a cram session now) to avoid the frozen shoulder syndrome. Besides, I can't wait to be able to finally, on my own without assistance, affix a certain undergarment that requires a lady to have her hands behind her back.

Guess these quilt tops won't get as much attention as I had planned. Or at least they might move down on my priority list.