Planning for 2012

About this time every year I think about what I’ve accomplished in the current year and what I want to accomplish in the upcoming year. Today’s blog item is about the forward look….what I’ve found works best for me. It is not as simple as making a short list of resolutions although that can be a starting point.

The key ‘extra step’ is to establish some frequently taken measurement toward the annual goal. It is important to do this because for almost everyone ‘what gets measured gets done.’ Here are some examples about developing those measurements that will help you accomplish whatever annual goals you set.

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If you want to take off 20 pounds and get in shape during 2012 some example measurements could be:

• Lose 2 pounds per month for the 1st 10 months of the year and sustain your weight for the last 2 months of 2012 (check your weight weekly to know where you are in the 2 pound window for the month)
• Average 12,000 steps per day (use the same pedometer or other measurement device for the whole year) and measure at least weekly
• Lose 10 pounds in the first quarter (January-February-March), sustain the loss in the second quarter, lose 10 pounds in the third quarter (July-August-September), sustain the loss in the fourth quarter.

Of course, this also means that whatever you measure can warp your behavior for the negative. If you decide that the bathroom scale is your sole metric - don’t fall into the obsession of weighing yourself several times a day. You could even decide to weigh yourself infrequently but use a pair of tight jeans as a secondary metric (it always is wonderful to be comfortable in clothes that were previously tight!).

If you have a previous goal that was very successful, it may have become habit and you really don’t need a new annual goal. I had the 12,000 steps a day goal in 2011 and now it is easily achieved with the way I move through my day. For 2012 it is something I will continue doing it but it isn’t a stretch goal any more. Maybe this year I’ll do something with intensity of those steps; this is something my Fitbit Wireless Activity/Sleep Tracker measures so it would be a way to challenge myself to a higher level of activity while simply sustaining the total steps.

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Establishing a goal to see more of the area you live in - hiking or museums or restaurants - is a goal for many people and may increase in importance if you already know the time you will live in the area is limited. Some example measurements:

• Take at least one local excursion every month (make the list of 12 now or decide that you will magnet the directions/brochure to your refrig at the beginning of each month). If the activity is weather dependent, do it as early in the month as possible so that you won’t have to double up the following month.
• Take a local vacation week and plan day trips every day of the week. Plan an excursion for every holiday rather than spending the day at home.

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If you have accumulated a lot of stuff over many years…and are ready to jettison some of it, a goal for 2012 might help get it done. Here some example ways to measure your progress.

• Spend 2 hours each week reducing clutter around the house.
• Donate or freecycle at least once a month.
• Wipe hard drives then take old electronics to Best Buy for recycling by mid-year
• Participate in the neighborhood yard sale in the fall
• Develop of month by month plan of all of the above

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Sometimes a goal can be about a habit you want to change. A few years ago I decided that it would be useful for me to use my left hand for the computer mouse even though I am right handed (so I can have a pad and pen on the right side of my keyboard and the mouse will not be in the way). It took me a few weeks to get reasonably comfortable and a little longer to get totally proficient with the left hand…but now I actually am more coordinated using the mouse with my left hand than with the right. The key for a goal like this is to ‘just do it’ and discipline yourself to stick with it for some pre-established period of time. I used 2 weeks for my initial time window and by the end of the period knew that I could learn to use the mouse with my left hand and the new habit was well on its way being established.

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I almost always have a goal related to journaling since it helps me keep perspective on everything happening in my life. At first my measurement was ‘write something every day’ - there was no length or quality metric. Then I used ‘write a page a day’ and went through times when poems became my popular form of entry because it would make a page pretty quickly. This year I may go with a word count metric…something like ‘1000 words a day.’

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So - do your goals for 2012 and get a fast start on all of them at the beginning of the year!

Waking Up in the Morning

If you were completely without external constraints on when you needed to wake up – what would your preferred awakening be like?

Most of us would respond that we prefer to just wake up on our own with a gradual transition from sleep to wakefulness…feeling rested and ready for the day ahead.

I sleep fairly easily and could probably achieve this as long as I

• Go to sleep about the same time every night and
• Get up when I first awaken in the morning rather than dozing.

Those are two pretty significant provisos and require discipline that sometime is not possible. The most likely nonconformities are – I stay up later if I am in the middle of something at bedtime and I sometimes decide to go back to sleep in the morning…sleeping longer and waking up with a headache if it goes on too long. If I am not at home, my sleep is different….not quite as sound because I am more wary or a bit uncomfortable; that doesn’t necessarily mean I need to sleep longer, it just may interfere with my biological clock that would normally wake me up.

So – almost everyone, including me, will try various other methods of waking up.

The loud, harsh alarm clock is dreaded but common. It does wake you up. The big negative is that it is jarring. Discipline is required to not hit the snooze button to recover from the shock. Whatever advantage finishing the sleep cycle might provide is completely gone too. It isn’t too bad if it is really just the backup plan and you are really already awake because it is your normal time to get up.

There are better sounding alarm clocks that play music or nature sounds. They too wake you up unless you are a very sound sleeper or the volume is turned too low. Again – they work best if you are really already awake and you avoid the snooze feature. Remember – the snooze feature will not allow you to get any quality sleep since it is too short; it’s only function is recovery from the shock of waking up which you want to avoid anyway by waking up at a consistent time each day.

Setting a timer – say 8 hours – from whenever you go to bed is another technique. I tend to be at my best with about 7.5 hours actually in bed. I’ve found that being in bed for over 8 hours actually makes me feel ill! My timer has a harsh beep so it has a lot of similarities to the alarm clock. I only use this option when I am traveling across time zones and know that my biological clock will be unreliable.

Of course – it helps to have the sun rising when you awaken. I’ve had an east facing window in my bedroom for the past 20 or so years and like the early light. It isn’t there in the winter time when I get up but it helps for a greater part of the year. I’ve considered what it would be like to gradually change my bedtime so that I would always get up at dawn. There is an app that would provide an alarm relative to sunrise….but I haven’t tried it yet.

There are also alarm clocks that start with light to wake you up…simulating a sunrise. Most of them have noise that eventually kicks in if the light does not do the trick. That would seem like the gentlest approach to waking up at a consistent time. Most of them are pretty expensive so a simple timer that turns on the lights in your bedroom may be something to try first!

While we are on the subject of waking up….think about what is driving the time and way you awaken. The determining factor has changed over time for me:

• 40 years ago – being at work or school by a particular time
• 20 years ago –picking my daughter up by a certain time in the afternoon required an early wake up time/start at work
• 10 years ago – leaving home early enough to avoid a lot of traffic for the morning commute to work
• Now – recognizing that I am a morning person

Recipe of the Week: Quik Beet Muffins

I had several open packages of Nestle Quik powder in my pantry – left over from when it was my daughter’s favorite drink. I decided to do some baking to use it all up. These muffins were supposed to turn out red – but they are really brown with the chocolate. The mint chocolate flavor is still wonderful so this is a great way to get a little extra veggie nutrition and still have a wonderful treat.

15 ounce can of sliced beets

2 cups Quik (or 1 ½ cups sugar and ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder)

½ cup olive oil

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Spray muffin pans.

Drain the beets, reserving ½ cup of the juice. In a food processor, puree beets with the reserved juice to make about 1 ¼ cup puree. Add Quik and olive oil. Pulse until blended. Set aside.

Whisk the eggs and extracts well.

In large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour and soda). Pour in the beet and egg mixtures, whisking until smooth.

Pour the batter into muffin pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve at room temperature topped with powdered sugar sprinkles or whipped cream.

Celebrating December 2011

What do you celebrate in December?

In my family there seem to be more than the normal events to celebrate with the addition of a birthday and an anniversary. The ideas below are more generic –the ‘winter holiday’ celebrations:

• Take a winter walk. This is just the beginning of winter so there is a lot to notice in the natural world transitioning from fall. Winter is the starkest time of year but there is a beauty in clear cold days – crystalline nights.
• Holiday light displays are popular in the December evenings. I enjoy walking through the one at a local garden, rather than driving. There is wonderful hot chocolate with whipped cream on top at the nature center too – a perfect treat on cold nights.
• Finding or making the perfect gifts is the prelude to witnessing the delight of recipients.
• Baking favorite foods is part of the tradition in almost every family. My particular favorites are oatmeal raisin cookies and red cake (plain or with whipped cream or with cream cheese icing).
• Gearing up for gatherings of friends and family with lots of party mix and veggie trays always ready is another happy prospect.
• Cards/letters of seasonal greetings are sent out early in the month and then arrive from others.

December is the special month to savor all the good things that happened over the past 12 months and to fill your thinking with optimism for the New Year to come.

10 Cosmetics from the Kitchen

A well stocked kitchen has many ingredients that can be used as toiletries as well. I've made a list of my favorites.

1. Olive or almond oil - Great to use as oil for your skin and probably better for you than petroleum based oils. Almond oil has almost no smell but it seems to go rancid more quickly that most olive oil.
2. Baking soda - This one has a myriad of uses…in the bath, a paste to brush your teeth, a slurry to cleanse your skin.
3. Honey - While it is sticky - it also feels really good on your skin (try a honey facial mask!) and can be used with ground oatmeal to make a wonderful, exfoliating scrub for your face.
4. Tea - After you use the bag to make tea, let them cool rather than throwing them in the trash and use them on your eyes while taking a 10 minute break lying down. A spray bottle of strong tea can be quite refreshing in the summer time but be careful to not get it on anything besides your skin because tea can stain.
5. Oatmeal - Did you know that the 'juice' from oatmeal is great for your skin? You can put it in a small back and use it in your bath - squeezing out the milky juice but keeping the oatmeal from clogging the drain. It can be processed in a small food processor and used with honey for a facial scrub as well.
6. Cucumber – Cucumber slices feel great on closed eyelids for a 10 minute break lying down. It can also be used as another ingredient in your honey/oatmeal scrub…just process it in the food processor after the oatmeal.
7.  Salt - Can be another ingredient for a scrub…it dissolves relatively quickly so is actually very mild when used for this purpose. Dissolved in warm water, it can be used as a mouth rinse and helps heal any mouth soreness.
8. Lemon juice - When I was growing up we sprayed our hair with lemon juice then went out in the sun to let it bleach; it only bleaches a little but is easy on the hair while it does it. It can also be mixed with water to make a great rinse for oily hair any time of the year.
9. Vinegar - Used similarly to lemon juice. It also can be used as a spray for sunburn; it has great cooling properties. The apple cider variety is the best for your skin, but be careful not to get it on clothing that it could stain.
10. Vanilla - A teaspoon in bathwater along with some unscented oil or Epsom salts on a winter's night - lovely. Vanilla is one of my favorite winter scents.

Recipe of the Week: Homemade Soup for a Cold Day

Variety is the spice of life. Trying a new recipe each and every week is something that works well for me. Enjoy!

 

The first cold snap of the year feels colder than the temperature actually indicates. Soup is always welcome and it is quite easy to make. The recipe below can be easily modified for what you have on hand using the generalized techniques noted as the bottom of this posting.

5 medium size fresh mushrooms – chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

Small amount olive oil

Beef bouillon and water

Seasonings to your taste: onion flakes, black pepper, a favorite no-salt blend

Egg noodles

1 can rutabaga, drained of liquid (I got it on sale so that is why it was in my pantry)

¼ cup frozen green peas

Dollop sour cream

Dried basil

In your soup pot, sauté mushrooms and celery in a little olive oil. When they are softened, add the water and bouillon.

Process half the rutabagas in a small food processor and set aside.

Add the seasonings to the soup pot. When the liquid is hot, add the noodles set a timer for their minimal cooking time. Toward the end of the time add the green peas and half the can of unprocessed rutabagas.

When the combination is heated through, stir in the processed rutabaga.

Pour hot soup into your bowl, top with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of dried basil.

Generalized soup making techniques:

1. Sauté the firmer vegetables prior to adding any liquid.
2. Some kind of stock is required. Bouillon cubes are easy to keep on hand and sufficient for most soups since the flavor comes more from the other ingredients. Be aware the they contain salt so don’t add salt while you are cooking your soup.
3. If you want noodles or rice – add them after the liquid is hot and let the seasonings cook into them.
4. If you use canned vegetables, drain off their liquid since it is usually laden with salt – way more than you need in your soup.
5. Keeping frozen vegetables in the freezer (peas and corn, for example) are handy for both salads and soups.
6. Processing a softer ingredient in a food processor before adding it to the soup (or taking some of the veggies out after they are cooked to puree) can give the broth of the soup a natural thickness that makes it easier to keep on the spoon.
7. A dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of a dried herb on top of your soup after it is in the bowl can make a hum drum meal into something quite special!

Decorating for Christmas Everything but the Tree

Our tradition is to decorate for Christmas just after Thanksgiving. The activity signals the beginning of the happy flurry always associated with December. This year I find myself enthusiastic about our decorations other than the tree!

My favorite is the way we are using Christmas cards from years past:

• Under the clear plastic on the table (picture at right)
• Backed with thin magnets (attached to the card with 2 faced tape) and put on the refrigerator, the door to the garage, the frames of the French doors 
• Standing up on the mantle
• Pinned to the giant scrunchies on the pantry and coat closet doors (picture of the scrunchies before the cards were attached below)

The flags on the stair railing are festive as well. The first flags we bought were used outdoors and faded after a year or two. It’s better to pick out favorites and use them year and after year – making them part of the tradition rather than a short-term glitz.

The same can be said for the pine cone wreath hanging in the den. I did use it outdoors on the front door one year but decided thereafter to decorate it with more fragile ribbons, bells, and artificial birds to hang somewhere inside. It is about 15 years old now. The wreath started out with more sentimental value than the purchased flags since my sister made it from pine cones collected from the yard of another sister.

What are your favorite ‘everything but the tree’ decorations this year?

10 Extra Special Holiday Gifts

Extra special gifts require some extra thought …to make it perfectly tailored for the recipient. The ideas listed below are intended to get your creative juices started! Remember – sometimes the most memorable gifts are not the ones that cost a lot of $.

1. An IOU (on pretty paper) for something they would enjoy or need like: a home cooked meal (maybe 3 or 4 of them), 4 hours of babysitting, a trip to a local attraction like a garden or museum with transportation provided, 3 months of pet food (delivered a month at a time), or rototilling of the garden come spring.
2. A homemade favorite dessert.
3. A homemade favorite cookie dough for the freezer….to bake and enjoy long after the holidays are done.
4. A favorite blend of coffee or tea or hot chocolate…or their favorite special creamers.
5. A box of microwave popcorn wrapped with that movie on DVD they asked for
6. An exact replacement for a favorite T-shirt or pair of socks that wore out sometime during the year.
7. A thumb drive of family pictures (assuming they have a computer or frame to view the pictures).
8. If the person is a reader and you have access to a used book store where there are a large number of books they would enjoy – buy a number of books and wrap them each individually in different kinds of paper…newspaper, glossy magazine pages, etc.
9. If they are a person that enjoys personal notes – send one daily – either email or the old fashioned snail mail….that lets them know you are thinking about them every day. Do it for a month or more around the holiday. If snail mail is used, there are lots of small flat ‘presents’ that can be slipped into the envelope – a well-wrapped tea bag, a pressed flower, a paper snow flake or heart, a dried leaf, a recipe card.
10. Create a collection of digital images that the recipient would find soothing or visually appealing that you can load on their computer with instructions on how to play the ‘slide show.’ Natural images are my favorites - botanical prints, bubbling/rippling water, feathers, wood grain.

Do you have some ideas to add to the list – things that you’ve given or received that were extra memorable or needed….and obviously appreciated?

Everyday Creative: Creating a Stand Up Platform for a Laptop

I tend to spend too much time in front of my computer. A while back I started using a Swopper as the chair at my desk so I get a little exercise while I am reading items on the machine (bouncing, moving back and forth). 

I tend to get tired of the same repetitive motion and it is, after all, still sitting. So - it was time for an experiment.

Since I was not sure how well I would like a stand up work environment, I started thinking about what I could do that would cost nothing - at least initially. What I developed is pictured below.

 I already had enough surface area on my L shaped computer table and 2 plastic egg crates that happened to be empty in my basement. I turned the egg crates upside down. The laptop goes on one and the mouse goes on the other. The spaces in the bottom of the egg crate are large enough to allow plenty of good air circulation for the laptop however I decided to put a label box under my mouse pad. The configuration is the right height for me! I've used it for about 4 hours throughout the day and it works well.

Had it been too low - I could have used some other label boxes or books under the egg crate the laptop was on. The space under the egg crates is great for the power cords or the quick references I need for whatever I am doing. There is a lip around the edge of the egg crate that keeps the laptop from sliding off.

Is this going to be my long term solution to a stand up platform for my laptop? I don't know. It certainly is good enough for awhile and if I do decide to buy something I'll know the exact height I need and that I really will use what I buy.