Weather Wimp

OK, I'll admit it , up front. My name is Lynn and I am a weather wimp! We have had a few months of very "cold" weather in San Francisco. For most days in the last three months, it would dip into the very low 40's..DON'T LAUGH.. with no relief in sight ! It was global colding and I was freezingly miserable. San Francisco has a very temperate climate year round. It mostly stays in the 60's and 70's with a few variations into heat waves and cold spells for a few days at a time. We really have no seasons to speak of. It can be 48 in August or 78 in December.


We don't have the interest, experience, inclination or wardrobe to handle "cold" weather for more than a couple of days at a time. Back when I read a real newspaper, it said that the hottest day to date and the coldest day to were days apart and it was mid year! We never know from day to day what will happen. I recall wearing my winter coat to Easter services and a sundress to Christmas Mass.


I don't get it when people say they put away their Summer clothes. I don't have a Summer wardrobe and a Winter wardrobe. I only have a San Francisco wardrobe!

But in the last couple of weeks it is back to a minimally comfortable 60ish and I am finally thawing out.

PE Or Not PE

There are is a lot of discussion, today, about how our children are becoming more overweight and unhealthy than ever before. Children today are on medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type II diabetes, which usually is only seen in adults. Children are also suffering from depression as a result of today's' pressures on them. only seen in adults. There is debate about making schools lunches healthier and some schools have removed vending machines. When the No Child left Behind Bill was passed, many schools eliminated PE, art and music programs so the they could concentrate in reading , math and science, in order to raise test scores. Richard Simmons has a campaign to include mandatory PE in the Schools. He is supporting a Bill in Congress called the FIT Kids Bill. He is asking people to show support for this bill by contacting government officials including President-Elect Obama.

Since Richard spoke to a Congressional hearing about childhood obesity, I've been thinking more about my own PE adventures. At first I didn't remember having PE in elementary school but then I dredged up the memory of enforced volleyball games and square dancing. I hated them both. I couldn't hit the ball over the net ever! And I waited anxiously until bell rang and I could return to the safety of my classroom where I could throw words and ideas over the net, with the best of them, all day long! One day, most of the fifth grade class had to stay in for recess for not doing an assignment right. There were so few of us outside I decided to try to play tether ball. Most of the kids out there were my friends so I felt like it was safe to try because all the tether ball “jock girls” were inside. When it was my turn I stepped into place, excitedly trying to do my best, when the ball came my way. My hands went up but they didn't hit the ball, they hit my glasses off my face and they crashed to the ground, breaking. No more sports for me I decided! It makes me laugh to write about it now but it sure wasn't funny to that 10 year old little, fat girl, who was embarrassed in front of her friends and had to face her parents that day with a pair of broken glasses that were not going to be easy to pay for.

By the time I got to high school, I was having plastic surgery every summer on my face, so PE excuses were very easy to come by and readily accepted by me. I had study halls and worked in the school office instead. I didn't start to get any kind of real physical activity until I started working out with Richard Simmons, ten years ago. But I'm certainly glad his videos don't include tether ball!

Sassy Seniors!

A couple of months ago I went to two senior facilities to talk about my weight loss and wellness ideas. I am becoming familiar and at ease with speaking in public, especially about something that I love and live. One facility was an assisted living facility. The other was a YMCA senior enter program.

I expected mostly very elderly people, using walkers and wheelchairs who would just sit there and listen, unenthusiastic and unaffected by what I had to say, even though my information and approach is always extremely informative and interactive. I was so surprised and delighted to be very, very wrong about the people I met. Most were very elderly, some using walkers and wheelchairs but they were alive, funny and very full of good advice and inspiration for me. Both groups had actually participated in an exercise class right before my talk. I was soon realized, much to my delight, that I was actually preachin' to the choir!

One gentleman had been a foster father to over 100 children in his life. One lovely lady told me she was 93 and she didn't look a day over 75! Several of the people just wanted to talk and be acknowledged by the group. I asked questions and posed some issues about growing older and staying healthy and active. They were quick to offer ideas and very profound insight.

In one group, two of the elderly women had their daughters there. I began to talk about how many of us are raised to have low self-esteem. When I asked who had been raised with lots of praise and warmth, the two daughters responded that they both had mothers who were loving and supportive. I told them that I thought that was the reason they were still with their mothers today, loving and supporting them in return.

It seems that these incredible people who I was privileged to met have the secret to health and happiness and that's why they are still very much physically, mentally and spiritually alive.

I want to be like them when I grow up.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like... Blast Off

I've gained a bit of weight over the holidays..3 pounds to be exact, so I think it's time to go on Richard Simmons Blast Off Week, using the FoodMover, Richard's tool for portion control and accountability. Blast Off Week is usually the first week of the program or for when you've gone off program and need a jump start. It is 1000-1200 calories. It is a time to cleanse your system of pumpkin pie, fudge, stuffing, gravy, etc.etc.etc. It gets you going with a couple of pounds loss, hopefully, so that you'll be motivated to keep going. I've been able to do it successfully a few times and unsuccessfully many more times. I will try to eat very clean, with a minimum of processed. If I begin to gnaw on things, inedible, such as children, chair legs and computer components, I'll know it's time to stop. I need lots of fortitude, luck, prayers, carrot sticks and celery to see me through.

Balance and Tipping the Scale

Today was rather challenging. When I talk about achieving balance and consistency in my life I wonder how much I can fit on that balance scale. Today I had three children in my daycare. An 11, 7 and 2 year old. All day I was feeding, cleaning up, keeping people busy and happy at the same time. I also did a sample session on the phone with a potential life coaching client. And soon I will being doing my third job , monitoring Internet forums. So my scale and my plate were overflowing today. I haven't fit in my exercise but I will do some toning before I go to bed. I have to be comfortable with the process and let my "good enough " be good enough.

Plans and Promises

Happy New Year. I don't make resolutions every year but I have been known to take pen to paper, oh all right.. fingers to keyboard and write my plans and promises each year. To my mind they sound softer and easier to break than resolutions...

Because one of my plans and promises is to achieve a modicum of consistency in my life overall, I plan and promise to write on this blog regularly, with no two month absences. I think I can realistically commit to writing three times a week, or more if my life or the angst in it get more intense or interesting or both.

I believe this will be a year of bigger changes for me because I finally feel ready to step out of my comfort zone in some areas. I really want to make my life coaching business take flight. This is my year of "do it or dump it", as dream Coach Marcia Wieder says.

So here I go, headlong, into 2009 with plans and promises intact and a clean slate to scribble on, paint upon or erase as I see fit.

OH, My Aching Knee!

Here's another adventure I had recently. About a month ago, I just had one child in my care on a Friday, so I decided it would be a good day for a zoo trip. I could take the little one on an outing and get in some much needed walking myself.

I got on a city bus...baby, stroller and bag of supplies and food in tow. All went well as we looked at the lions and tiger and bears... but... OH MY.. I started to have some pain in back of my left knee. By the time we walked around a little more and we got off the little zoo train ride the pain became excruciating and I was unable to walk! I sat on bench and called the zoo number and explained my awkward plight to them. They sent a sweet lady in a golf cart to pick us up and take us to the main gate. Twenty eight dollars later, I was home via taxicab. Still unable to walk I got everything I needed to take care of the child piled on the coach and waited for his mother to pick him up. That night, after talking with some friends we decided that if it wasn't better the next morning I would go to the emergency room. There was nervous talk of blood clots running rampant through the fiber optic phone wires!

On Saturday, after 3 hours in the emergency room, it was determined that I had a Bakers Cyst in the back of my knee. They are caused by a build up of fluid from arthritis. The one inch cyst which is harmless and was theoretically too small to be noticed was crying out to be acknowledged by sending agonizing pain up and down my leg. I was sent home with anti-inflammatories and told to ice it several times a day.

Fast forward one month later. The pain is still there although not agonizing. I'm not at "Valley of the Dolls" status but taking anti-inflamatories and ibuprofen many times a day is not my idea of fun.

I went to my orthopedist today and was told I have advanced arthritis in my left knee. I am now officially "bone on bone." My doctor gave me a cortico-steroid shot. It really didn't hurt that much, though. He assured me that this would stop this "flare." I'm not sure how true this really is as I hobble about tonight.. I then went to get my flu shot. I need protection from all the little ones in my care, who spew infectious bodily fluid from all the orifices in their tiny, little bodies! My motto for today is "Two shots are better than one!"