MALL WALKING

In the eight years that I have been living here, other than going to Macy's once or twice a year, I think I have walked through the mall twice. 

That has now changed. 

I love to walk, but after my knee injury I knew I couldn't walk my hilly neighborhood. My knee would start aching and swelling when I did. 

However, I was gaining weight and feeling tired. I knew I had to find a way to start walking again, so I went to the mall. 

At first it was tiring to walk around the entire mall, which is over a mile, and my walking sandals didn't have enough cushion for walking on concrete. 

Once I switched to tennis shoes and walked on an almost daily basis though, I found the walking was becoming a lot easier. 

I am now up to two miles on the days that I walk. I am feeling better, plus I have fun seeing what is in the shop windows as I walk, and engaging in one of my favorite activities, which is people watching. 

The mall is just a five minute drive away so it is also convenient. 

I know that walking isn't enough, so this week I have started on my healthy eating plan and a couple of days a week I go and exercise somewhere else. 

I'll share those with you later. 

I am never tempted to detour to the Cheesecake Factory. That would require a twenty mile walk to work it off. 

I would love to start swimming, but I don't have access to a pool so that won't be happening at this point. 

Do you have an exercise plan? I would love to hear what you are doing or if you have plans to start something new. 

Read More »

GOOD INTENTIONS AND LOSSES

I have good intentions I really do. 

I plan to write my blog at least twice a week. 

Then suddenly I realize that time has gone by and it has been a week since I have posted. 

Life has been getting in the way. 

I lost a very good friend last week. Leo was the first person I met when I moved into my apartment last year. He was such a funny nice man and he along with a small group of others have become like family to me. 

One minute he was laughing with us and the next minute he went to his apartment and had a massive stroke. 

It is definitely a down side of living in a retirement community, and as I am the youngest person here I know that there will be other losses. 

However, I wouldn't trade the experience of getting to know these older people. I love their stories. There has been so much tragedy in their lives, and yet they still laugh and look forward to their days. 

It's nice to have a community of friends where at any time of the day there is someone to talk to. 

But that gets me back to my good intentions. I still need to earn some extra money each month, so I need to schedule my time a little better. I need to get to my booth more often, list things on Etsy more often, and write my blog on a more regular basis. 

The one thing I have done is schedule an exercise program. I'll let you know how that is going. 

Good intentions aside, we all need to take care of ourselves both mentally and physically. 

A belated happy birthday to my mom who turned 93 on Monday. She has taken pretty good care of herself.

Read More »