Monthly trip to Mayo Clinic

You can see the results ..by clicking on the blog name.
Don continues to update his Myeloma Hope Blog.

When we returned home, Sweet Pea and I did a couple of miles in the neighborhood.
The end of the best day of the year: I treasure every one.

Appreciate: a particular meaning

Appreciate: my word for the New Year. I am thinking of "value" or "cherish" or "delight in" even simply "enjoy".

Not gratitude. Gratitude is more of a giver/receiver situation. Thanksgiving. A good thing, but not what I am thinking of.

I appreciate a funny comment on my first post about appreciate..
(editor's note: I appreciate the comment on this entry.) Oh, I do appreciate every comment.

Appreciate! Appreciate Sweet Pea's cheer in the morning; Runner Don's taking pictures of the food we cook.

I'm thinking I will appreciate the first 5K race of the season.
I will appreciate the streets being clear of ice so I can run outside.
I will recognize a momentary occasion for joy when it appears.

A sunset, a child, a joke, a tender touch, a cheer offered by someone for someone else, the flavor of fresh fruit, a laptop and a cell phone that work, the sound of the dishwasher starting up, the sound of a voice I recognize, a breeze in my face, a new friend, an old friend... maybe you.

Appreciate today as the best day of the year.

"APPRECIATE": my word for 2008

There will be good things in the new year. Appreciate seems like just the right word.

And today is incredibly the best day of the year! Blessings for 2008.

Never skip more than one day

Not sure who first said that ... one wise trainer said it ... 3 days a week, 4 days a week, 5 days a week ... but never skip more than 1 day at a time.

After running on Thanksgiving morning, we skipped last Friday and Saturday (after Thanksgiving), but we are on the wagon again. Tread mill, track, resistance machines, free weights, even running outside (Brrr!) ... something most days and at least every other day.

I'm still working on Don's request to eat mostly vegetarian. It is not something I have experienced, but I am attempting to imagine it. We have chicken or fish for a meal every other day, and bison once a week, keeping the every other day pattern. The undesirable protein in his blood is down. Good. There are scores of wonderful vegetables, plus fruit and nuts, of course. I'm trying to discover interesting ways to combine them to make satisfying meals.

We continue to choose organic fruits and vegetables for the "dirty dozen" most pesticide contaminated. I have only recently read that pesticides damage the liver
.. so much implication for the person with myeloma.

Gluten intolerance has been linked to myeloma. Wheat, barley and rye contain gluten. It is interesting and challenging to work with other grains: brown rice flour, teff, quinoa, amaranth, bean and nut flours. I'm just getting to know these
and figure out how to use them.

This week a teff banana bread, pancakes, corn bread (without wheat flour), and I'm wondering what will Christmas baking be like?

I'm eating what he eats... in support and solidarity ... because it is easier than cooking separate meals ... because it is probably good for me.

This picture was taken from up on the track at the community center on the last day before they started tearing it out in preparations for a swell new one to be installed.
Since we discontinued our membership at Lifetime Fitness, we have continued to subscribe to their "Experience Life" magazine. The December issue which arrived in the mail today, has an interesting article ("Chart a Course to Fitness") describing seasonal training and cycles of variation. Inspiring to think of a plan with intentional variations? I sort of blunder along, doing what I can, when I can, usually all I can. This cold weather is freezing my bones, and I know it is a harbinger of Minnesota January temperatures to come.

So I will be of good cheer, make lemonade, work out indoors and declare it the best day of the year!

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