My Star Word for this year is REJOICING.
I’ve been struggling with setting some intentions this year. After my heart attack on December 21, 2022, I realized that I really don’t know what I want for this year, or even for the rest of my life. At age 78-and-a-half, I could have another 20 years left, or I could easily not even have another year.
I’m tired of the pandemic, I’m tired of politics, I’m tired of pushing myself to DO SOMETHING. I’m ready to just let life happen and observe for a while. I’ll keep on writing my “5 Things”, and I’ll stick with my regular groups and activities, but I’m ready to find out why I’m REJOICING. Maybe I’ll try just REJOICING about my regular, ordinary life.
Therefore, I’m leaving the same general categories that I had last year, and I’ll use them as a wish list and fill in markers for a “diary” of events and activities.
Health and Fitness
- Recovery – I’m feeling fine after my heart attack
- I had a blood test in late February and my cholesterol numbers were exactly where they should have been all along
- I went to Cardiac Rehab early in March, and the nurse agreed that my personal trainer can do everything they would do, so I should keep on working with him. If I ever want to go to Cardiac Rehab my referral is good for a year
- I had my 6-month follow-up and the cardiologist said my heart sounded fine
- I had an Echo Cardiogram in July. The tech said there was no need for me to schedule an earlier appointment than my 1-year follow-up in December with the surgeon who put the stint in
- I had a little scare in July that turned out to be nothing except a UTI
- August has been uneventful, health-wise (TBTG)
- Ditto for September
- And the same for October
- I got my fall inoculations in October for the new bivalent COVID, RSV, and the annual flu shot
- Continued good health in November
- Exercise
- I continue to work with my personal trainer on balance and strength
- While working on balance in May, I stumbled and fell on my knee. I didn’t do any permanent damage, but my leg was bruised and swollen. It’s still bruised but no longer swollen
- I try to spend 55-60 minutes a day, five to six days a week on the NuStep
- My trainer has added long walks instead of too much strength training
- We are starting to try walking on uneven surfaces like grass. Fear on my part is the biggest obstacle
- With the change in weather this fall we are no longer able to walk outside, but I continue to progress in strength and balance
- Diet
- I’m trying to be much more proactive about the kinds of things I eat
- The dietitian who counseled me, said the same things the dietitian said when I lost the 70 lbs back in 2014. It was good to have a reminder
- Three fruits and two vegetables every day – limit red meat – eat more fish
- The blood work they did diagnosing the UTI showed I was slightly anemic, so I’m trying to include more “leafy, green vegetables and beans” in my diet
- I’m deliberately including more sources of iron in my diet, including at least one meal a week with beef
- Weight
- I was keeping steady on the .9 lbs a month loss from last year until the latter half of February. Living in temporary housing, and not being able to cook made March a total loss. In fact I gained a pound
- I was back on the weight loss wagon in April and finished the month .4 pounds lighter than I started March
- I seem to have hit another plateau, and haven’t been able to lose any more weight in May, ending the month exactly where I ended April, but at least I didn’t gain anything
- I lost a pound in June – Hooray!!
- I lost another pound in July – Whoohoo!!!
- I managed to regain a pound and a half in August. Combination of the Annual Picnic, and my personal trainer being on vacation
- I lost one of the pounds I gained last month. Basically holding my own
- I’ve lost 10.4 pounds since May 2022, an average of .7 pounds a month
- I’ve lost 10.2 pounds since May 2022, an average of .6 pounds a month – maybe because my weight stayed stubbornly at the same place
- I’ve lost 8.8 pounds since May 2022, and average of .5 pounds a month – Thanksgiving completely messed up my diet
Friends and Community
- Gazebo Group – We meet regularly once a week
- I send out reminders for the meeting every week – I have a distribution list that I use
- Google lost its mind in September and decided that I was spamming all the people on the list – I hope we’ve developed a work-around because we meet on Zoom once a week during the winter and we don’t have a regularly scheduled link
- Greisser Girls Gab – This is sacrosanct time for me
- Other Residents at Franke Tobey Jones
- Lunch with Jett Brooks
- There was a new resident in the Duplexes in April who has been attending Gazebo Group pretty regularly recently.
- With better weather and the relaxing of pandemic restrictions, other folks in the Gazebo Group have been traveling. I’ve vicariously taken a cruise to Egypt, enjoyed a bicycle tour of the Low Countries in Europe and cruised to Alaska in April and May
- We had the Annual Picnic in August with great food and a live band – it was delayed a couple of weeks because on an outbreak of COVID in Assisted Living
- August tickled my wanderlust, but nothing is planned before April of 2024 when I will visit my Arkansas sister to view the total eclipse (from her driveway)
Learning and Knowledge
- Great Decisions
- January – we met and got our assignments for leading the discussions
- February – Energy Security – There wasn’t much I didn’t know already, but it was nice to have a conversation about it
- March – War Crimes – We basically agreed that Russia’s actions in Ukraine are war crimes, and shortly before our meeting Putin was invited to explain himself at The Hague
- April – China and the U.S. – We are fortunate to have an ex-State Department employee who lives here – he was able to give us first-hand insight into our relations with China during the early part of this century
- May – Economic Warfare – This discussion was right in my wheelhouse, and I really enjoyed it
- June – Political Trends in Latin America – Once again we were glad to have some professional insight from our retired State Department employee
- July – we took a vacation in July – we will resume in August
- August – the topic was not very interesting to me and I skipped the meeting – opting instead to go to Happy Hour with other folks from FTJ
- September – Iran at the Crossroads – once again, this was written over a year ago and many changes have happened in the world, so the discussion in the book was not relevant
- October – we took the month off
- November – Climate Migration – I was the facilitator, and we had a decent discussion about climate change
- Creative Writing Classes
- Al and I took a course in Journaling in May – I learned that my 5 Things is doing double duty as a blog and a journal
- In June and July we took a course in Finding, Telling and Sharing Life Stories taught by the same professor as the Memoir class
- In August I attended one workshop where we met in small groups and critiqued each other’s story
- In November we took a Creative Writing and Poetry class – interesting and more about finding your creativity than writing
Travel and Culture – This has been a total bust – I don’t think I’ve left Pierce County since #2 son and his spousal unit went Whale Watching with us in August 2022 and a train trip to Portland for Thanksgiving in 2022
- Visit Harriet (upstate New York) and/or Betty (Texarkana)
- Visit Kennewick and Bill’s Family
- Visit Chicago and Ray’s Family
- Visit Victoria, Canada
Hobbies and Creativity
- Reading
- This Body of Death by Elizabeth George – finished
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver – finished
- A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean – finished
- Raven Black (Shetland Island #1) – Ann Cleeves – finished
- White Nights (Shetland Island #2) – Ann Cleeves – finished
- The Way of the Bear – Anne Hillerman – finished
- Red Bones (Shetland Island #3) – Ann Cleeves – finished
- Blue Lightning (Shetland Island #4) – Ann Cleeves – finished
- Dead Water (Shetland Island #5) – Ann Cleeves – finished
- Thin Air (Shetland Island #6) – Ann Cleeves – finished
- The Way of the Bear – Anne Hillerman – finished
- The Crow Trap (Vera Stanhope #1) – Ann Cleeves – finished
- The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon – Bill McKibben – finished
- Telling Tales (Vera Stanhope #2) – Ann Cleeves – finished
- Dark Winds – Tony Hillerman – finished
- Frozen (Vera Stanhope #8.5) – Ann Cleeves – finished
- Democracy Awakening – Heather Cox Richardson – finished
- Hidden Depths (Vera Stanhope #3) – Ann Cleeves – finished
- Prequel – Rachel Maddow – finished
- Silent Voices (Vera Stanhope #4) – Ann Cleeves – reading
- Writing
- Memoir – I took a course on Journaling in May
- Personal/Family Stories – I wrote small vignettes (300-500 words) every week for the Life Stories class
- Blogging – 5 Things that Made Me Happy Today continues daily
Spirituality
- Bible Study
- I’m trying to attend Presbyterian Women at FPC, Texarkana – via Zoom
- Bethany Presbyterian Church
- Bethany has quit streaming the services, and I’m still shaky enough about COVID to go in person
- The First Presbyterian Church of Texarkana, Arkansas (my ancestral church)
- I’ve been attending on-line, regularly
- I think of this as my church
- I will pledge money there as soon as I fulfill my commitment at Bethany
- PCUSA Nominating Committee – I resigned in July as I am no longer able to travel the distances required to attend meetings
Money and Finances
- Quit obsessing
- I finished the 2022 taxes and sent the return off in early February
- I planned very well last year, and owed $3.00 that was deducted from our bank account on April 18
- I need to look at increasing the amount I send to the IRS a little bit
- Apparently my obsession was warranted as the country barely seems to have averted a crisis over the Debt Limit
- We retired counting on five US Government checks every month – Al’s Air Force retirement check, his VA Disability payment check, his Air Force Civilian retirement check, his Social Security payment, and my Social Security payment
- The settlement in Congress seems to be all right, and we did receive our first of the month checks for June, July, August, and September. I’m still worried about what will happen in the fall at budget time
- We received our checks for the beginning of October before the government shut down – “they” are promising that Social Security won’t be affected by the shut down – fingers crossed
- The first of November checks have arrived – a deal was reached at the last minute to delay action until January and February 2024
- The December checks have arrived – fingers crossed for the first of the year which seems to be the next deadline
- Keep Al informed – I try to let Al know where we stand
- Al may be eligible for the PACT Act – if so, it will increase his VA check to up to 100% disability
- We mailed his paperwork off to the VA – we sent it Certified Mail and know they received it
- We mailed an additional batch of paperwork off to the VA August 30, and they should receive it September 1 (according to the Post Office)
- We have received notice that the VA is “working” on his application
- We went to Al’s appointment with a medical group in town to have his records reviewed (AGAIN). Hopefully, VA will make a determination before the first of the year
An Aging Liberal Hippy from the Left Coast 