Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Wednesday Weirdness

 The weather has been so nice out for the past week that I've been spending much of it outdoors.  I took down all the Christmas decorations which is a record for me, because they would normally be buried under a coupla feet of snow by now.  This has got to be the oddest January I can ever remember.  I hear we're in for a snowstorm by tomorrow, though, and that's a good thing.  We don't want bitter cold temperatures that are bound to come to catch us without a nice, warm blanket of snow.


I haven't been blogging as much lately, either, mostly because my tailbone is still healing and I can't sit down.  So in the meantime,  I've caught the fitness bug.  Every morning I walk, walk, walk, walk ala Leslie Sansone and well, it takes time, 73 minutes if I do the five mile workout.   I have high hopes it will do me some good.  We'll see.  I read somewhere that most resolutions don't make it until February 1.  I didn't make a resolution, so I wouldn't feel guilty about breaking it, ha!   Someone asked me if I'm seeing results yet, well, I've only been doing this for eleven days, so nope, I haven't seen massive results yet.

I ordered another DVD that came in the mail yesterday and I sat down and watched it for about ten minutes.  Yeah, I know, you're not supposed to sit and watch it, but I was already done with my other workout.  Anyway, I think I'm going to keep that one on the side until I'm in much better shape because to tell you the truth, I was completely worn out just watching them hop around.  What I like the most about Leslie Sansone's workout is the simple steps.  I'm really not very coordinated and her workouts are easy to follow.

Over twenty-five years ago I used to tape (on my Sony Beta-Max, remember that?) a workout that came on TV every day and try to follow along with it after work.  I was twenty-something years old then and the exercise program was aptly named the 20 Minute Workout.  There were three or four young girls on rotating platforms who would jump and hop around and stretch and lunge with their big hairdos and 1980's leg warmers and tights on.  They did everything but sweat.

It was impossible for me to follow.   I'd be just getting into the routine only to look up and see they'd moved on to yet some other contortionist act.  Sometimes I'd get so frustrated, I'd hop up and down flapping my arms like a chicken in an attempt to catch up on all the moves I'd missed.   I felt I had to do all the steps since they were imperative to achieving a Size 2 body.  Needless to say, it never happened.  The Size 2, that is.  I would usually end up gasping for air and feeling woefully inadequate while they continued disco-dancing their way to skinnydom.  I never mastered the art of bending over at the waist, grasping my ankles as my ponytail grazed the floor and gazing seductively through my legs at the camera either.  Those little smirks and suggestive winks were so over-the-top.  I think it was more of a tape for men to watch then for flabby women to work out with.   I always made sure to do the cool-down, though, that I could handle.

The only problem with all this walking is it cuts into my blogging time, and I need to write for my mental health as much as I need to walk for my physical health.  So I've been writing snippets here and there every day. And with the weather being so unseasonably warm, we're starting to panic about the stained glass, too.  We usually build a lamp or two over the winter and if we don't get our rears in gear, that won't happen.  It's hard to concentrate on stained glass when it's almost 50 degrees outside.

We did get the little window done for the stained glass quilt for the Association of Stained Glass Lamp Artists this past weekend though.  The pattern they sent out was a selection of the Spider Mum lamp.  It turned out fairly well.  

I am sitting shivering as I write this.  I did something really stupid this afternoon.  Since we have our little flock of nine free-range hens, we are still getting at least four eggs a day probably due to the warm weather.  Carl and I love boiled eggs, so I took the oldest ten or so of the four dozen we have on hand (I pencil a date on the eggs every day) and set them to boil on the stove.

I used to set a timer for ten minutes when I boiled eggs before, but for Christmas I was given one of those plastic egg timers that  turns from red to black when the egg is done to the hardness you would like.  Well, wouldn't you know I put the eggs on to boil and went to the basement to start doing laundry and forgot all about them.  There's no timer that goes off when they're done, you're supposed to watch them.  Of course, a watched pot never boils, so I thought I'd get a good start on the laundry.

It wasn't until I heard a weird popping noise upstairs that I ran up to find the kitchen enveloped in blue smoke.  I grabbed the smoking pan and went right outside with it where it finished billowing in the driveway.  Such a mess and such a smell!  The egg timer melted down on one end and the eggs themselves had started to char.  I wasn't gone that long, but had chosen a smaller pan than usual and it had boiled dry.  And wouldn't you know, the smoke alarm that normally goes off when the toast gets a little warm remained mute through all of this mayhem. 

I turned the furnace off and opened all the windows and went back to washing with my wringer washer.  It's now a few hours later and the house is a chilly fifty-three degrees but at least it smells much better in here now.

Time to turn up the heat or pop that new exercise DVD in..........that will heat things up around here.  But I will shut the windows first!




19 comments:

Sue said...

Oh, the days of big hair. I wonder when that's going to come around again. Seems all styles ever do is go round and round. Look at capri's.....I remember my mom wearing those a hundred years ago (give or take a few years!)

Charade said...

I hope you don't mind, but I laughed out loud at your egg fiasco. At our farm house the smoke alarm goes off if you boil tea water or make toast, but last weekend it didn't go off at all when I burned some puff pastry in the oven with smoke curling out the leaky door!

Pamela Gordon said...

Oh my, this is a funny post. I've missed seeing you as I've been busy as you know, and am just getting around to my favorite blogs. I'm supposed to be cutting back on junk and sweets and starting on the treadmill. Hmmmm. Maybe I need tights and leg warmers to make it more fun! Keep up the great work on your exercises and I hope your tailbone heals soon. Blessings, Pamela

Alison said...

I haven't been posting much either, but I also haven't been out in the garden. Now that I think about it, I don't really know what I've been doing. Just sitting around like a lump, I guess.

Kudos to you for getting that exercise routine going. That's what I need to do with my time! I gotta get moving again.

Bummer (heheh) that your tailbone still hurts. I remember those silly exercise programs from the 80s. Did you ever try to do any Susan Powter videos? We are having a strange winter here too. Much less rain than usual, and lots of sunshine. We're supposed to have some very cold weather and snow in our forecast too.

Junebug said...

P U, I've done something simular and boy does it stink! I'm so happy to see your blog today, I've been missing you! Glad to hear you are just busy! Keep up the walking, you are doing so much better then me. Hugs!!

Dandelion and Daisy said...

Lucky you heard the popping noise. It is scary how fast something like that can turn into a dangerous situation.

I'm impressed, I walk about a mile a day but five miles! Awesome! I have bad knees and I'm a great believer in what exercise can do. You go, girl.

Randy Emmitt said...

Karen,

I have been there with burning egg more than once. The memory is not so great these days. Never leave sight of them...

El Gaucho said...

Glad to hear that you're OK. Kitchen mishaps can indeed get ugly pretty quickly. I'd like to think Einstein had these types of things in mind when he thought of his Theory of Relativity. Time somehow bends and rearranges itself when you put something on the stove and step away for "just a second" or run downstairs to just do one little thing. It's crazy how this universe works...

Gatsbys Gardens said...

Hi Karen,

We have all done this with the pot on the stove, lucky you caught it in time.

Eileen

HolleyGarden said...

Good luck staying with Leslie. She's about the only one I can consistently stay with, because it's easy to follow and she's so positive. Years ago, I put a pot on the stove with some water to boil (the air in my house was very dry), and I accidentally fell asleep - when I woke, oh, the smell of burning aluminum was horrible! I always burn toast, too, because I'm always doing two things at once!

Lona said...

On some days the water boils off faster. I have such a one track mind anymore I can do that and worse on any given day Karen.LOL!
Your window is just beautiful. I am always in awe when I see stained pieces. A touch of winter is coming. I guess we need the snow because of the plants.

Beth said...

Hi Karen, Hope you're feeling better. Sounds like you're getting a lot of good aerobic exercise - good for you, Karen!
Hugs, Beth

Indie said...

How funny, I actually just forgot some boiled eggs myself today! Thankfully I remembered them before it boiled dry, though. I would have probably freaked out if I came down to a kitchen full of smoke!

The stained glass is lovely. Hope your tailbone feels better soon!

Anonymous said...

Oh dear I have a picture in my head and it's threatening to make me laugh so much I'm in danger of ending up a wobbly mess on the floor. You and me dressed like Olivia Newton-John in the physical video from the 80's.

Picked yourself off the floor at that thought!!

I am proud of you for making me feel guilty enough to get the exercise DVD out and do it…I think I’ve found bits of my anatomy I had forgotten about ooow ouch! How long before it stops hurting when you do it.

Gardens at Waters East said...

I agree the weather around here - until last night - was excellent for January. I have been out walking 4-5 miles each day. Really unusual for this time of year. Now that the snow has arrived - finally, time to really do the blogging again!! Jack

Anonymous said...

Still trying to comment here.

Anonymous said...

Yippy, it finally worked!

Rosemary said...

You made laugh not only because of the reminder of the 20 minute workout but I so have left things on the stove while I "quickly" check the computer... Some girls and I use that term loosely also do the Linda Sansome walk tape..... they are not size 2! nor will they ever be but they are active and that is all that should count.. LOL..... besides you have been slugging rocks in Jan..... way to go.. love the stain glass.

Shyrlene said...

Karen, if it's any inspiration - a friend of mine used that Sansone walking CD during the winter months (and walked outside during the warm weather). She lost 70lbs, just walking - in one year. She's kept off the weight for 8yrs now!