On Overload and Lovin' It!

Finished up band rehearsal today and as usual I'm exhausted!  My brain is working overtime which I'm sure is good for it.  I'm giving myself a quick break and then will begin practicing over and over again various drum stick patterns.  I'm also working on swing rhythms and fills on my drumset.  Need to get the triplets on various toms as well as the snare.


Mark and I ran over to the Drum Store on Linden Street in Old Town Fort Collins and I got a Djembe drum and Mark got a digeridoo!  I think we are going to start a drum circle at our house and rotate between different houses.  Should be fun!

You, Too, Can Be a Musician at Age 50 and Beyond

Music has always been a part of my life.  As a child, my brother Tom and I used to play the "Name That Tune or Artist" game as we did our dishes chore in the evenings.  Even today, I think we both know every song and artist coming out of the 1960s and 1970s.  


I sang in the school choirs from junior high through college and in several church choirs, too.  At the age of 14, I got my first guitar and taught myself chords.  And in college, I put posters up around campus to hold auditions in my dorm room for singers and musicians to join my band.  Our band won the college talent show and we ended up playing several gigs for pay at the local colleges!


Off and on over the years I've played a little guitar on my own.  But with retirement upon me and this new opportunity arose through the New Horizons Music Program to learn new instruments, I've become more motivated than ever to develop my musical skills.  


The New Horizons Music Program was started 20 years ago by Roy Ernst, a PhD in Rochester, NY.  Roy's philosophy was that, "...Anyone can learn to play music at a level that will bring a sense of accomplishment and the ability to play in a group.  Thousands of New Horizons musicians have proven that to be true, many starting in their late retirement years with no musical background at all."


I love Roy's philosophy, "...the style of instruction must be completely supportive and free of competition and intimidation...Your best is good enough."  As Paul Simon said, "Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die".


Music chases away boredom and learning an instrument keeps your brain exercised which is so important as we age!  I know there are 182 New Horizon Bands across the country.  Why not check out their Web site at http://www.newhorizonsmusic.org/nhima.html and jump in with both feet!  

  

Sara's Baby Shower

Had a fun time yesterday at Sara's baby shower with family and friends!  Many thanks to Dani for hosting it and to Rachel for organizing and leading the games.  Sara and Zach got many needed baby items and were very appreciative of everything.  Sure wish Holly could have joined us as well as our Minnesota and East Coast relatives but this just wasn't possible due to the distance and ridiculous cost of airline tickets.  


Sara is a beautiful pregnant lady who is ready to have her body get back to normal; not an uncommon thought for most pregnant ladies at this stage of the pregnancy.  She only has 1 1/2 months to go!  Wow!  Seems like it's gone by quickly.


Click on the photo in the right column to get to a link of additional baby shower photos.

Springtime Schedule

It's spring...what a beautiful time of year; with the crocuses out and the tulips and daffodils not far behind.  Leaf buds are clearly changing the look of the deciduous trees and there is a hint of green mixing in with the brown dormant grass.  Knock on wood, our temperatures here in northern Colorado have been hovering in the 50s and 60s and most days we see sun. We are starting to tackle the usual yard tasks and spring cleaning is underway!  


As I look at the calendar our activities are picking up, too.  We are still having concert band practice twice a week for 3 hours each day and my drums and guitar lessons are once a week.  Mark's swing band has a concert tomorrow night and Saturday is Sara's baby shower!  Sunday is another concert that we'll be attending...our director's Pops Band concert.  


April is starting out busy, too, with an Opera and Tea fundraiser, a Wine tasting fundraiser, a dinner party, and another concert/dinner to attend.  And, with the weather getting nicer all the time, we want to start walking and biking more.  We're planning on doing some hikes in the Rocky Mountain National Park, too.  And, we hope to get into a drum circle soon, too, as one is currently being formed.


We had dinner last night with an old friend and former co-worker, Stu at the Oskar Blues restaurant in Longmont.  It was so nice seeing him again!  Sara and Zach were able to join us, too!  We are hoping that my sister-in-law, Stephanie's travel schedule works out so that she can spend a day with us in April, too!


I plan to take lots of pictures at these events and will post them here as they occur.  I hope everyone enjoys each day to its fullest.  Time is a precious commodity so do what you've always dreamed about doing.  You are never too old to try something new!  Just have the courage to try!

I Need Motivation!!!

Why can't I stay on track with my lifestyle change?  I've slacked off on my daily movement!!!  I need to walk more or get on the elliptical more as well as lift weights regularly!  And, I MUST track my Weight Watcher points better!  


I do great for a couple of weeks and then the scale sets me back!  I lose all motivation when I see even a 1/2 pound gain when I know I was on track precisely all week!


I need suggestions to keep me going!

A Visit with Sara and Zach Today

We had a nice visit with Sara and Zach today!  We brought the Krispy Kremes...yummy!  Sara and Mark put dinner in the crock pot then Sara and I made a quick trip to Homegoods.  Zach ran out to get a haircut and Mark stayed behind to put the last paint touches on the baby's room; he painted the closet pink! The room has come together quite nicely!


After we all were back at the house, I pulled out my camera and started the pregnancy photo shoot. I really appreciated Sara and Zach having patience while I went through different poses and shots with them together and with Sara by herself.  This was the first of several I hope to do throughout the summer.  Click on Sara's latest photo on the right and you can see a few of the pictures I shot.


We wrapped up our visit with a nice dinner and then headed for home.  Sara really looked great today...just beautiful!  She is starting her 33rd week of pregnancy and I can't believe she only has 2 months (or less) left to go before the baby arrives!  Exciting!

Update Time

The latest on my weight loss journey...not so good this week.  While I was on target for my points this week and up'd my activity I managed to gain 1/2 pound!  How discouraging!  Guess I'll just keep doing what I've been doing and see if a weight loss can kick in over the next week or two.


Getting excited about seeing Sara and Zach on Sunday!  Going to try my hand at a pregnancy photo shoot.  I'll take more pictures of Sara than Zach.  I'm trying to think of poses that are not the goofy traditional ones.


Looking forward to Sara's baby shower next weekend, too!  It was so nice of Sara's friend, Dani to hold the shower at her place! Should be fun!


Still have to practice drums tonight.  Spent the afternoon in Old Town browsing some of the shops.

Not Enough Hours in the Day!

I have so much I want to do each day but just don't have enough hours to fit everything in!  I was up at 7:45 a.m. (okay, I realize that's too late...need to get up no later than 7:00 a.m.).  Had my coffee, ate and was downstairs to workout by 9:30 a.m.  Finished my workout at 11:00 a.m.

Instead of going upstairs to shower, I decided that since I was already down in the basement where my drum set was, I thought I would do some practice.  So, I spent the next hour and a half doing drills, fills, and playing to rock and swing tunes.

Now it's 12:30 p.m. so time to shower!  By 1:15 p.m. I ate a little lunch then decided to do some concert drum practice.  Did that until 2:45 p.m. and then left for my drum lesson in downtown Fort Collins.

Home by 4:30.  Talked to Sara for a little while and got a surprise IM on Facebook from Jaime!  She gave me a call on the phone just to chat for a bit.  What a sweetheart.  She's definitely headed in the right direction now!  I'm proud of her.

Then time for dinner.  I ran out of time to get my photography "assignment" in which is why there aren't enough hours in the day!  I've got to squeeze one or two things in a day; will need to adjust my schedule.

What a Way to Get Out of Doing Dishes

I'm so lucky to have such a fantastic husband who likes to cook!  He spoils me by making dinner most nights.  Tonight was no different.  He made an awesome broccoli, mushroom, and onion frittata...yummy!  Since he prepared the meal, the least I can do is to clean up the dishes.

As I was cleaning up the dishes after dinner, I turned my head to say something to Mark while I was washing the top of a frying pan.   All of a sudden I felt a searing pain in my pinkie finger!  OUCH!!!  I looked down and realized the large cook's knife was facing blade up and I swiped my finger right into the blade!  All I saw was a red finger; I didn't know if I needed stitches or not.

Mark ran upstairs to get some band aids and I kept my finger under running cool water.   The bleeding wasn't stopping so I put pressure on it with a paper towel. Mark found the band aids and brought a couple down.  He quickly bandaged it for me;  I'll have to change the band aid shortly.  Not sure if I should have had a stitch or not.

Thank goodness I didn't cut the top of my pinkie off!  I guess I won't be doing much guitar this week.  (Makes it kind of tough to finger pick.)  Looks like I'll be laying off the dishes for a while, too.

Thoughts

I awoke this morning by a text from our daughter, Holly saying an 8.9 earthquake had hit Japan and they (California) was under a tsunami warning!  Thank goodness it didn't affect the West Coast very much!  I'm very glad that Holly took the kids and went to higher ground "just in case".

My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan and anyone else who was affected by the earthquake and tsunami!  The devastation is absolutely incredible and so tragic!  I hope the Japanese are able to get control of all their nuclear power plants soon or there will be an even bigger tragedy!

When natural disasters like this happen I just count my blessings.  I'm so thankful that Holly and the kids were safe.  (Erich was more inland at work so he wasn't in any danger.)   I really hope California doesn't have the big one soon.  According to scientists there is a 70% chance of a major earthquake hitting California within the next 30 years.  I pray it doesn't happen.

Time now for my weekly update on how I'm doing with my lifestyle change:  I lost 2 pounds the first week I started back to counting Weight Watcher points and only 1/2 pound this past week.  I totally stayed on the Points Plus plan and worked out 6 days.  I averaged 40 minutes of cardio exercise on the elliptical and did about 20 minutes of free weights on 3 days; did crunches and a specific lower back and balance exercise daily.  I wore my pedometer every day to cross check my progress and I averaged about 7500 steps a day, a little short of my steps goal but I met the exercise goal so I consider that a successful week!

I think it's going to be a tremendously slow process to get these unwanted pounds off!  I just need to have patience and keep telling myself this is the way it must be if I want to be healthy. More on my progress next week.

The Sun Has Returned!

We had several cloudy days in a row with an occasional peek of sun late in the afternoon but today was different...clear blue sunshine skies greeted me when I awoke!  Yes!  What a way to start off the day; sunshine always puts me in a great mood!  As much as I love waking to sunshine beams, I think I'll close my venetian blinds the opposite way so the sunlight doesn't peak through and glare in my eyes in the morning; feels a bit like having Gort's weapon beam of light shining in my eyes!  "Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!"

We made it up to 56 degrees today and it should be about 60 degrees for the next few days.  The sunshine is supposed to stick around, too.  Can you believe that this weekend begins Daylight Savings Time?  Is this a recent change?  I thought it usually happened in April.  I welcome it.

Had my drums and guitar lessons today.  I'm working on offbeat rhythms in drums and am starting on Swing rhythms.  I finally have Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" finger picking pattern down in guitar as well as John Denver's "Poems, Prayers, and Promises".  Just need to practice speed now.

I'm still managing to stay within my daily Weight Watcher's points plus totals and have incorporated more movement into each day.  I'll have a fuller update on my progress on Friday.

Tidbits

Looks like the snow missed us again!  That's okay with me because I'm definitely ready for spring!  I enjoy my walks outside...better than working out on an elliptical.  There is supposed to be another round of snow tonight and it looks as though that will miss us, too!


I managed to get in 3 hours of drum practice and 1 hour of guitar practice yesterday.  I decided to start playing my fills and basic rhythms to some of my Ipod tunes; helps me play a rhythm consistently throughout the song.


I've been quite successful getting in my time/steps for the past few days to support my permanent lifestyle change of more "movement" in my day.  It will be more of a challenge this week as my music lessons and rehearsals come back into the picture.  But, I'll make it happen.


Mark is finalizing our tax return today (thank you, Mark)!  It's one less thing to think about.


I'm starting to read a photography book today which deals with composition.  It has assignments at the end of each chapter.  Might take a little longer than I anticipate since the weather needs to cooperate for some of the outdoor shots.  We'll see.


Well, I hear the elliptical calling me so I'd better not ignore it any longer.  Back later with more updates.

Day with Sara

Had a very nice day today with Sara!  She drove up to Fort Collins and we did a little pregnancy and baby shopping.  She looks great!  Check out her week 30 photo on the right.  We're all getting very excited about the new baby arriving in a couple of months!

Holly and the kids will be out here for three weeks in May.  Very glad Holly will get to see her new niece and Zoe and Ezra will get to see their new cousin shortly after she makes her appearance!

Lifestyle Change...How to Make It Permanent

Over the years I've probably lost and gained hundreds of pounds.  I could tell you the calories or point values of countless foods.  In the last 15 years, my clothing size has gone from 8 to 16 to every size in between at different times during this period.  And, I've tried just about every diet on this planet...well, almost.

I know I "feel" much better when my hips and thighs are a few inches smaller than they are today.  It was a rude awakening to me when I recently got into a go-cart and realized the seat was a bit snug on my butt! That was my "aha" moment and I vow to make a permanent lifestyle change.

To begin with, I need to get to a comfortable weight and then need to maintain it which is the key.  In my 57 years I finally learned the secret to maintaining a weight loss and realize there is no getting around it...keep moving!  Yep, move EVERY day!  This is particularly important for women who have reached menopause.

My daily routine involves a lot of sitting.  I do at least 2 hours of drums and guitar practice.  I fill in the rest of the day with my other loves:  writing, reading, blogging, and more photography study.  (No wonder my backside has spread!)

I am tired of all my excuses for not incorporating more movement into my daily activities.  I want a permanent change.  With the help of my watch and a pedometer I will track my progress.  Whenever I can fit in movement, I'll do it.  I will start with a 30 to 40 minute movement goal or 8,000 to 9,000 steps a day goal...no ifs, ands, or buts!  And, I am counting Weight Watcher points again to help me lose the unwanted pounds I so successfully gained.

I'll write about my progress weekly and look forward to sharing any ideas with you.

Home Again

Left Las Vegas about 5:30 this morning and arrived back home at 7:45 p.m.!  Beautiful weather and scenery on the drive the whole way!  I'm thankful we made it home safely; the Chevy Silverado was a good ride and Mark did an awesome job driving!  


I'm glad we did the drive out to California and back so we could once again experience the beauty of this country's landscape.  I wish more people had the opportunity to travel across country via car or truck, really the only way to appreciate our country's vast beauty.  


It is so amazing to see the way rivers and oceans have carved out a countryside of rocks and to see where the earth actually pushed itself up to create slanted mountains.  And it's so interesting to watch the radical changes in the landscapes within the same state!  


If you've ever lived on the East or West Coast and never traveled beyond either coast you would be amazed at how unpopulated most of the United States really is!  I hope you'll add a cross-country driving trip to your bucket list.