This is just a quick post about a video I saw. It's a funny bit by one of my favorite comedians. And it is funny, but it's also true - at least for me. I was raised in a home like this:
We had to use all those words in place of less polite ones. One time, one of my brothers learned how painful it could be to fall on that bike bar. My dad asked if he was okay, you know, didn't hurt his "perky".
If you passed gas, you either had either "pooted" or "lost your manners". Lost your manners could also mean you were misbehaving, as in, "Have you lost your manners?" Going to the bathroom you either went Number One or Number Two or "made water" or "poo'ed", or - and this is the most hilarious - did a "hard job" but it was pronounced "hod" job. And that was the remedy for almost everything. Feeling grumpy, didn't sleep well, couldn't concentrate? Maybe you need to do a "hod job".
I just had to share these little tidbits of my young life. I just love Mike Goodwin because I sure can relate to his comedy.
If you really want a giggle, check out his "What you not gon do" jokes. I put those in the sidebar.
I was thinking of my mother today when I turned out the perfect skillet of cornbread. I've made cornbread maybe 10 times in my life, but only a few times has it come out so wonderfully. You know cornbread is good when you can just eat it solo right out of the skillet.
Mama (and my sister) could make cornbread like this without even thinking about it. Of course, they both swore that they made their best cornbread when it was meant to go into the holiday dressing. I didn't even learn to cook decently until I was close to being 50. That's coming from someone in a family where even the fellows all can cook.
The first time I made something really good was done on a whim. I wanted some pinto beans, and my sister wasn't feeling up to cooking. My oldest brother happened to be visiting at the time. When my sister came down and tasted the beans, she did a doubletake. She gave my brother a spoonful to taste. He looked at her, then they both looked at me. I was sure they were going to drag me for messing up a pound of pinto beans.
Nope. The first thing one of them asked was where I learned to make the beans so well. You know I was glowing with joy. I told them I'd read the instructions on the bag. And that was the day they both learned that there are instructions on the bag.
For a long time after that, I cooked a lot of beans - pinto beans, mostly, but I also learned to make decent navy beans. The thing is, any kind of bean or stew-like dish in our family goes with cornbread. If you don't have cornbread to go with the beans, we all become Smokey from "Friday".
I slowly learned to cook some of the things that had been staples in our home. I learned to fix what we think of as Mama's Texas Bean Stew (pinto beans, ground beef, and a host of seasonings and secret ingredients); I can do baked chicken pretty well, and I do all the fish, pork, and veggie-based recipes. I learned fast how to make hot water cornbread, too. But the cast iron skillet cornbread was my stumbling block.
Cornbread isn't hard to make, but it can be tricky to make it perfectly. "Perfect" means like my mama. It means a tender center with a crispy crust and a buttery, melt in your mouth crumb. Very, very tricky.
Even now that I know the hacks for Mama's cornbread, I don't always get it right. Any little variation in the alignment of the stars can ruin it!
I long ago posted the quick recipe on the sidebar and added to the Sidebar Recipes page:
I did not share my hacks though. Until now. Ready?
Always get your lightly oiled cast iron skillet sizzling hot before pouring the batter. I heat the skillet at 450F (not 400 as in my recipe above) & test the sizzle with a drop of water. (Turn the oven down to 400F for baking.)
Always let the batter rest. A couple of hours at minimum but overnight in the fridge is best.
Always add the baking powder last. Even if you rest the batter overnight, don't add this ingredient until just before you are going to pour the batter.
If you forget & add the baking powder beforehand, that's not a disaster, but... it's just better not to.
Let the rested batter come to room temp (about 65-70F) before adding the baking powder. Gently fold it in and don't overmix the batter.
Before pouring the batter, add a little more oil.
When the batter is poured, add some small and random pats of butter around the top of it.
Like I said, there will be times when your bread is better than it is at other times. I have never learned the trick to getting it just right every time...
If you luck out, you will get what I do on the best of days:
As I told my family, I wouldn't have been such a skinny minnie when I was younger if I'd known how to cook!
First, let me just say that this is the first time I have referred to myself as a "senior". In my head, I'm still trying to grasp being an adult of any kind! But, yep, I am now 60+ (plus 4 years, to be real). Anyway...
Just a couple of years ago, I was walking outside a lot more. These days, either the sun is hotter or I'm just more sensitive to it. I can really only handle walking very early or very late in the day and, even then, the summer humidity is brutal. Of course, I have the underbed treadmill that I was gifted, and I do use that a couple of times a week, but it feels very passive in some way and not as strenuous as an outside stroll. Still, I need more exercise that is geared towards building and keeping strength. I have started doing a couple of things that make me feel so much better.
Isometrics
Isometrics exercise is something I find doable. I've been doing them a few times a day for the past few weeks (I have more energy now that I can eat better). Here are some benefits:
Low impact
Low or no cost
Can do them almost anywhere
Can target certain areas of the body
The low impact part is what got me first. I hate putting my body in any kind of pain in an effort to be healthy. I will leave that to the young 'uns. The low-cost part is what made me really happy. I don't want to invest in a lot of stuff that will just add clutter to my life.
What got me started in the first place was when I ran across a video on isometrics. However, the workout was geared towards younger and more athletic people. Thankfully, when I looked around, I found a lot of articles like this one. I just started out doing the exercises shown.
It's been about 3 weeks now and I have invested in a set of resistance bands (one band was free thanks to a local senior program). And that is it for cost.
Because of my age and the health issues that run in my family, I am also concentrating a lot of boosting my blood circulation. I never thought much about my circulation until a neighbor mentioned that she was having problems and has to wear these special socks. She is about 25 years older than me and when she joked for me to "get ahead of the game", I listened. Also, I have been working on improving my balance and gait, both of which are sometimes off because of a neurological issue.
Boosting Circulation
There are a lot of really simple and zero-cost exercises that help boost circulation in the legs. This video goes through just a few. There are a lot of other videos and articles with more ideas.
Since there are times when I am forced to be off my feet because of temporary illness and balance issues, I have started doing a lot of what I call foot and leg movement exercises. There are leg raises, ankle pumps, and toe circles. I can do those while sitting or lying down.
There are also ways to just boost your daily movement quota. If standing at the sink, you can walk in place or lift up on your toes and back down (as if wearing heels). This is a good time to do some of those circulation exercises.
The main thing is to just move. That doesn't mean you have to be constantly walking or running or doing anything out of your comfort (or safety) zone. Just moving at all is better than being still. As part of this new exercise kick in my life, I try not to sit for longer than half an hour without standing and moving around for a few minutes. That sounds easy, but I didn't realize how passive my life has gotten.
Move, move, move
I am always talking about how fit so many of my older neighbors are. What they seem to have in common is that they are always moving around. Most don't use smart phones or computers, and I guess they don't watch much television. I see ladies who are close to 90 still walking a few blocks over to the store or walking down the street to the church. By the way, this is an old article, but still inspiring.
(Speaking of my neighbors, one lady who passed away last year (at 92!) walked up and down one of the hallways each afternoon to get her exercise. This is after she'd had to start using one of those rolling walkers and didn't like to go outside with it. Before then, she would take a trek outside and around the building in the warm months and, in the snowy months, she would stroll around the community room, doing 3 or 4 circuits. Absolutely amazing. Up until her last year, she was doing her own laundry and coming down most days to work on jigsaw puzzles or have coffee with her friends. Her health only went downhill after she slipped and fell in her apartment. Knowing her, she was probably doing chores. The lesson I take from this is to just not stop moving.)
No matter how much you hate to exercise, here are some more ways I found to keep moving as much as possible:
If you are on the computer a lot, find a way to stand for much of the time. You might have to put the computer on a higher table or desk or counter. I have a stand for mine that raises and lowers. Sometimes I will set it on my dresser and stand while typing. At the very least, set a timer for taking a "stand up break" just to get off your behind for a few minutes.
While doing dishes, keep using your feet to lift and raise yourself, or just move from side to side in a little step-dance move.
If sitting while chatting or watching TV, raise and lower your legs. Do some of the heel and ankle pumps. Clench and relax your calf or thigh muscles. With your arms up and to the side, do arm circles. This is another good time to use resistance bands to do some arm stretches.
If you have trouble walking outside, try walking up and down the halls of your home or building. If a 90-something year old can do this with her walker, there is no excuse for the rest of us.
The older I get the more I appreciate living and I don't want to lose that appreciation. I'm going to keep moving as long as I can before I am forced to be still.
So many of us talk about living a long life. I'm not afraid of death but, if God grants me more years, I want to be healthy enough to enjoy them.
No matter what you decide to do for your health and well-being, keep safety in mind. Talk with your doctors about what is best for you. Use your common sense. I'm not a professional (as if you didn't know); I'm just sharing my positive experiences.
Peace
--Free
P.S.:
I did buy one thing during Prime Day this year. I got one of those vibration plates after reading about the benefits. I was able to do a 0% payment plan with my Prime card, but had the plan of returning the machine if it didn't live up to the hype, I will do a post soon on the pros, cons, and supposed benefits along with my observations.
Is it just me, or have a lot of us gotten spoiled in our shopping habits by online access? I can'tbe the only one. Can I?
This year for my birthday, I decided to focus on 2 things: my health and my wardrobe. I set aside my monetary birthday gifts for clothes, and I bought myself some resistance bands for exercise and am buying another health-related item when Prime Day hits.
Anyway, about the clothes shopping... Instead of heading to Amazon.com or Walmart.com, I went to Old Navy.com and found a nice blouse and a couple of pairs of jeans. There was a bit of a sale (I think there is always a bit of a sale at O.N.) and I decided to get dark blue jeans instead of more of the black jeans I have. I have about 5 pairs of black jeans because I have been self-conscious about my weight. Now that I am losing weight (thanks to my dentist), I decided to go blue with the jeans.
I chose "boyfriend jeans" without knowing anything about that style because they looked really cute on the model. I got them in my usual size and... Is it vain of me to say how thrilled I was that the jeans were absolutely huge on me? They were sagging like crazy when I tried them on. I will temper that by saying that I think "boyfriend" jeans are meant to be worn loose and kind of slouchy. I'm not a fan of "slouchy", and I wasn't crazy about the rolled cuff. Even if I were still a size 4, 6, 8, or 12, those jeans would not be flattering on me. I'm not sure how the model wore them so well...
Since the jeans were too big (I love saying that), I decided to return them in-store. It's been a minute since I've shopped the store and wanted to get an idea of how O.N. sizes run. Sure enough, from looking at several pairs in various styles, either those pants run large or else I've lost more weight than I thought. (The waist is looser on my regular sized jeans and I'm not struggling at all to get into the next size down. Again, I really like being able to say that just a little over a month of having my teeth.)
My SIL was with me and agreed that O.N. sizes did runs slightly large. We looked around for about fifteen minutes before I was sick of trying to shop in-store. It just felt very inconvenient and irritating. For one thing, for every style of jeans I liked, we had to sort through jumbles of sizes. Everything was neatly folded, but nothing was sorted by size. Finally, I just got a refund, and we left. It is just too hot and humid to be sorting through denim.
By the way, what is up with stores not running the air a bit cooler on sweltering days? I can remember surviving Arizona summers by strolling through stores and malls.
Apparently, Old Navy didn't get the memo
I wonder if stores here realize they might get more business if they made the atmosphere more comfortable. Another thing the SIL and I noticed is that both Old Navy and Staples (I had to do an Amazon return there) were not only stingy with the AC but seem to lack staffing. Those poor employees at Staples must hate Amazon returns. If they had turned up the AC, I might have strolled around and bought some notebooks or something.
So, again, is it just me? Have I gotten spoiled to shopping from the keyboard the way remote workers have gotten spoiled to being productive in their PJs?
Anyway, I am back home and have had a nice cool shower - for the second time today. I'm pretty sure if I go out anymore today while the sun is up, I will need a third shower. Arizonans like to say, "But it's a dry heat." Where I live, we say, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity."... By the way, I even cut my hair. It was just too much to care for in this summer weather.
Now I can go find some jeans. I guess I'm just not used to being out in the hot and understaffed stores anymore. When I go online, all the stores let me go right to the size and color and style I want. I don't have to refold stuff (or feel like a jerk for not doing so), and I don't have to wonder why they mixed put the stonewashed denims in with the dark blues I want... It's just not as tedious.
Peace
--Free
I wrote this the day after my birthday, then immediately got a nasty cold. Just remembered that I wanted to post this, so...
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