9-0-1-2 (988 to go)

A women's health and fitness expert on The Today Show this morning listed, at the end of her little talk, what we women over 50 need to do to stay healthy.

She listed the usual foods we need to eat, the things we need to avoid, and then she said, casually, "Oh, and of course get in your 10,000 steps per day."

Well, of course we'll do that, honey. No problem.

She added, just as casually, "If it's easier for you, just run five miles first thing in the morning. That'll give you your 10,000 steps."

My heavens, that sounds even more fun, doesn't it? I'll just hop out of bed at dawn, throw on some clothes, and bolt out the door. I'll run my five miles and come home to check that little item off the day's to-do list.

Let's get real.

I love my nifty new pedometer, but really, getting in 10,000 steps a day is no easy task. I walked for 25 minutes this morning at my workout class, and Ken and I walked for about 20 minutes just before lunch. Add to that my trotting back and forth here in the house, and I have a whopping 9012 steps in so far today. But it's just after 2:00 p.m., and I'm not sure I'm up for another 988 steps before day's end. I hope I find the gumption, though, because this is the closest I've come to 10,000 steps since getting my pedometer a week ago.

I keep the gadget in my pocket and check it regularly to see how much the steps are adding up. I guess I expected to discover I was already walking 10,000 steps a day with little or no effort. Then there was the little glitch when I initially set up the pedometer, setting the time, measuring my stride, etc. I didn't realize I'd set the time for a.m. when it should've been p.m., or vice versa. This little error mattered, because the pedometer resets itself at 12:00 midnight each day. I wondered why it was wiping out my morning's steps by early afternoon. Lo and behold, once I set the clock correctly, the problem was solved.

On to other matters:

I've been doing a little sewing for the sales table at my sorority's big upcoming spring convention. I used to love to sew, starting my little career at age eight or so, by making dolls' clothes with my mother's Singer sewing machine, the kind with the lever at knee height that needed to be pushed to make the sewing machine run.

Since learning to knit, sewing has taken a major back seat. I'd rather be holding knitting needles than guiding fabric under a sewing machine foot.

But I bit the bullet this past weekend and made some reversible purses from a pattern I found here. They're rather clever in that one strap is made into a longer loop than the other, so the longer loop can be pulled through the shorter loop to make a secure closing. I made the first one the size the pattern called for, but the next two I made a bit larger because, after all, one can never have a purse that's too large, can one?

I made only three of these reversible purses, because I'm not sure whether they'll be something ladies at the convention want to buy. I figured that if they don't sell, I'd rather come home with only three of them, not twenty of them.

I also made a few more Wonder Wallets. These have sold very well in the past, at $6 each, but my problem is that I've just about fizzled my interest in making them. I've made maybe 100 of them, so you can see why my interest is waning.

I had had four more of them cut out for about a year now, waiting for the inspiration to sew them. The inspiration appeared, briefly, right after I finished the reversible purses, so now they're done and ready to go onto the sales table. They've very handy little wallets. I use mine to store airline frequent flyer cards, discount cards for various stores, and things like that. They save wear and tear on my other wallet. When we travel I leave my wallet at home and take only my little Wonder Wallet with some cash, my insurance card, my driver's license, and my beloved credit card. That's all I need to take, so it saves me from dragging a heavy wallet in my travel shoulder bag.

And one final thing, from the one-step-forward, two-steps-back department.

I made these socks for a male friend. After finishing the first sock, just as I'd cast on for sock #2, I decided Ken had better try on the completed sock to make sure it was about the right size.

Well, it wasn't. It was too short.

Bummer.

So I forged head with the second sock, making it longer by an inch than the first sock, then spent considerable time picking out the toe of the first sock so I could ravel it back and reknit it. I didn't realize I tend to work in the loose end of the yarn so securely. My heavens, I entertained the idea of using scissors to cut the darned toe open in order to get at the end of the yarn.
Finally I got the toe raveled out and lengthened the foot of this sock, too.

Mission accomplished.

Now I'd better get up out of this chair and get walking, since it's 2:45 p.m. and time is getting away from me.

Only 988 to go. You can do it. You can do it.

P. S. It's 3:41 p.m. and my pedometer now reads 10, 484. I decided to take the dog for another walk, and once I got outside, I just kept walking for awhile. Phew. The dog didn't mind. There are all kinds of new scents for her to check out, now that the spring is "springing."