20 + 1 = 21

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. For those of you following my little reducing saga, you'll remember that two weeks ago I had to stop taking the diuretic I'd taken for the last couple years to help control my blood pressure. After losing 20 lbs., my blood pressure had dropped so low that I needed to begin stepping down on the meds, and the diuretic was the first to go. Within four days, I gained 4 lbs. in water weight. During the last 10 days, I've worked my patooty off and managed to lose not only 4 lbs. to compensate for the water weight but 1 more lb. to boot. And all the time I've continued drinking 64 oz. of water per day - the same amount of water I was drinking while I was taking the diuretic and the same amount I drank everyday last week --- so I'm feeling pretty confident that what I've lost this last week has been genuine poundage. At any rate, I weighed in at 173 this morning. We're back on the move, dear readers!

The red Mexican bird of paradise is now in bloom which means our long-winded desert summer is about halfway over --- it also means, unfortunately, that my little apartment is starting to smell very stuffy. I've tried to keep things sealed up in here since it became blazing hot in June. The windows are never opened and the door opened just long enough for me to exit or enter. I'm not sure what the cure for this midsummer stuffiness might be. Is there some secret none of the natives have filled me in on yet? It's too hot even in the middle of the night to crack the windows. Ah well, I guess I can endure the stuffiness for a couple more months.

The Woman's Home Companion Household Book (1948) has some wonderful suggestions for those seeking to cool their homes - in looks and in temperature - during summers in a pre-air conditioning world. Maybe these'll come in handy for you lucky dames living in a more temperate climate! It's fascinating to me how much more amenable people once seemed to adapting their decor to the season instead of fighting Mother Nature tooth and nail to keep things looking the same year-round. It was almost expected - either when you did your spring cleaning or about the time you put up your window screens - that you would switch out the furnishings, linens, and draperies throughout your home for the summer ahead.

The first few are very practical tips for cooling your home and circulating air:

• Closed windows and drawn blinds throughout the day will prevent sunshine and warm air from penetrating the house, as southerners learned long ago. Wait until the sun has left the horizon before opening windows and raising blinds to welcome any cool air the evening may bring. Opening upstairs windows and keeping the lower ones closed will permit the warm air, which has risen to escape.

• Electric fans put in action in strategic points throughout the house will keep the air in circulation... In front of the fan or fans, place a tray filled with chunks of ice - they will cool the air which is circulated by the fans.

• Evenings will be somewhat cooler if candles are substituted for electric lights.

• Sofas and chairs, which in the winter faced a cheerful fireside, should now be directly or obliquely in the path of any breeze the windows or doors may lure into the room.

These next two have the comfort of the housewife in mind:

• With an eye to relief from the burden of cleaning tasks, many housewives use a blanket cover instead of the traditional bedspread. A dressing table which has good lines can be left unskirted during the warm months.

• Summer is no time for laundering fine damask, babying fine crystal or polishing prized silverware. During the warm season, use only the simplest, most informal luncheon cloths and place mats.

This last series is all about "cooling" your decor:

• Bright slipcovers [examples: white with green ivy print or a floral print in blue, white and a bit of wine] rank high in importance among summer transformations. Not only do they play a part in cooling off the color scheme but they protect upholstery fabrics from the harm to which dust and sunshine streaming through summer-open windows expose them.

• Large rugs - Oriental, velvet broadloom, wool piles, etc. - deserve a professional cleaning annually and it is practical to send them out for cleaning and storage when the warm days arrive. Living room, dining room or bedroom floors left bare by their departure will look much cooler and will have a chance to display their own hardwood beauty.

• Use sheer white fabrics to make cool, filmy summer curtains to replace warm winter draperies.

• In place of the usual kindling wood and logs, pile laurel or pine branches across the andirons and in the woodbasket. For a more dramatic change, store the andirons, etc., and set a big potted plant or basket of greens in their place.

• Wooden bowls... are nice for serving rolls, fruits and vegetables, as well as salads.
  
  
• This is the time to use vegetable-shaped soup bowls, leaf-shaped serving dishes. Hunt out amusing salt and pepper shakers and relish dishes of all kinds. Have pottery vivid in hue - in one solid tone or colors which combine.

Displacement

39 ounces down, 25 to go!

You know, one of the side benefits to drinking all this water on a daily basis is that I'm going to be drinking less of the other things I'd normally drink to quench my thirst. Like Vitamin Water. I love this stuff, and - truth be told - it's not nearly as bad for me as some of the other things I used to drink. Like Pepsi or Gatorade or Coffee Coolattas. Vitamin Water contains 125 calories to a 20-ounce bottle, and I'd guess I was drinking about 1 1/2 bottles per day before I started on the water. I haven't sworn off Vitamin Water, but I do have a quota when it comes to the real stuff and that competitive edge in me feels driven to make that quota every day. So it's water first - and by the time I make my quota it's bedtime and I'm not thirsty any longer. That's 185-190 calories a day I'm turning away. Hey, that's gonna add up --- more than 1,300 calories a week, more than 5,200 calories per month. YIKES!!! I'd better stop. I'm freaking myself out!

The weather is really heating up here in the American Southwest and, with it, my routine is adapting a bit. I can only keep the windows open from about 11 p.m. 'til 7:00 a.m. Which puts a crimp on all the fresh air I'm used to putting to work for me when it comes to housework. I can't open the windows to air out my mattress when I'm changing the bed linens on Thursday evenings. I just hung my quilt and blanket and pillows outside to air on the landing, but it's still in the high 80s, so I know they won't feel quite as fresh and crisp afterwards as they used to... On the plus side, if I put a freshly washed garbage can or wet bucket out there on a sizzling Saturday afternoon, it's dry in a flash!

Now I understand how housewives in four-season climates must have felt when after being cooped up indoors all winter they threw open the windows and dragged everything outdoors for a breath of fresh air. Beating the dust out of carpets, cleaning out fireplaces, letting the sun shine in on even the darkest corners of the house. Things just work a little backwards here. Think how happy I'll be come December!

The biggest change with these temperatures is that I've taken part of my weekday walk indoors. There's a basketball stadium about a ten-minute walk from where I work and the building is open during the day to walkers. You can walk laps around the stadium on one of the upper tiers and savor that lovely air conditioning. What it means is that I'm spending about 20 minutes in the broiling hot sun in order to get to and from the stadium - where I only have time to spend about 10 minutes! - but even taking 10 minutes off the time I have to spend in the noonday sun is worth it. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to make this work. Maybe a month. But what matters is getting it done now. I'll let next month worry about itself for a change.

Transitions

One more pound bites the dust! I weighed in yesterday morning at 192, so that's two pounds gone (for keeps) in two weeks...

And though I wasn't aware of it, I must have been snacking every night after 8:00 - because that mission has kept me every.single.night from nibbling one thing or another. One night last week I was tossing and turning at 2:00 in the morning. I finally got out of bed and found something to do with my insomnia and, sure enough, no sooner was I out of bed then the cravings hit. All I could think about was the leftover pizza in the fridge. I went so far even as to open the fridge and hold the pizza --- and then I caught myself and put it back! I'm very proud that I haven't broken that 8:00 rule even once this week.

We're experiencing full-blown summer here in the Southwest, so I'm making the transition to the summer version of my vintage breakfast menus. The American Woman's Cook Book (1945) contains little footnotes just below each menu with seasonal options. I should start seeing some fresh fruits filling in for the dried fruits and cold cereals occasionally taking the place of the hot cereals. So instead of Stewed Apricots and Oatmeal this morning, it was Fresh Berries (whatever kind might be in season - strawberries, here) and Corn flakes. This should be a nice change of pace!

50s gal mentioned a series of photos on Flickr that I've been poring through during the last couple of weeks - and what a treat! It's a series called Mom's World and the pictures were taken by a Michigan woman, almost all of them during her first marriage (late 1940s and early '50s). She had a full-time job in a doctor's office and continued working even after the birth of their first child several years into the marriage. (It's the child, all grown up, whose been posting the photos. His mom narrates the introductions and actively responds to comments left by viewers.)

As you can probably guess, what intrigued me most was her description of housework. Every other Saturday afternoon (she worked on Saturday mornings), she'd give her kitchen a thorough cleaning. Anything done in between was just regular maintenance. This kept her kitchen quite clean and left her plenty of time to spend rambling through the woods, boating, visiting amusement parks, etc. Genius, I thought! Especially as I realized the other day that I could see my reflection in the inside wall of my refrigerator. Does my fridge really need to be quite that clean? And it would be awfully nice to have some time left over on the weekend for something other than housework. Ever since I added the kitchen to my routine, that's become a real problem.

I've been giving this some serious thought and what I'd like to do is try and break my kitchen routine up a bit. The chores described in the manual as daily chores must be done every week:

Every Saturday...
1. Open windows top and bottom for free circulation of air, or open kitchen ventilator.

2. Rinse and stack dishes, pots and pans.

3. Check and reorganize foods; put away.

4. Collect all refuse and put in garbage can.

5. Wipe off top of refrigerator and all work surfaces in need of cleaning.

6. Wash dishes. Dry and put away, if not room to rinse with hot water and leave to dry.

7. Wipe off surface of range. Clean spilled food from drip pan or oven.

8. Dry damp work surfaces.

9. Dust radiator or register.

10. Take out garbage; put clean lining in garbage can.

11. Clean sink. Rinse dishcloth or mop; hang outdoors if possible.

12. Collect soiled towels; wash. Hang fresh towels.

The heavier jobs, the ones described by the manual as weekly chores, are going to be done on alternate weeks:

Week A...
1. Put away all foods except those belonging in refrigerator. Remove all foods from refrigerator. Wash interior of refrigerator. Return food to refrigerator.

2. Wash exterior of refrigerator.

3. Clean range thoroughly.

4. Clean, scald and sun vegetable bins, bread and cake boxes.

Week B...
1. Clean out and wash 1 cupboard or several drawers in rotation weekly.

2. Dust lighting fixtures. Dust window shades or Venetian blinds. Wash wall behind sink, stove and work surfaces, if washable. Wash work surfaces. Wash exterior of cabinet work and shelving to remove fingermarks.

3. Clean garbage container thoroughly.

4. Clean metal fixtures, soap dish, sink strainer, and dish drainer. Wash, rinse and scald dishcloth or mop or send to laundry; hang outdoors if possible.

The kitchen routine is definitely a work in progress, but I must find a way to keep it clean and still have some time left over for, well, even the basics. I've been pushing so hard with this stuff, I haven't had time for things like getting the oil changed in my car, going to the library, etc. Maybe this change will make a difference... And speaking of kitchens, it's time to get started on mine. Off to work!

My Daily Constitutional

It's an unusually cool, breezy Saturday, and I'm sitting down with a cup of coffee before embarking on my housework today. Here's one sign of how much my habits around the house have changed since November: I bought a tall container of creamer maybe a year ago. You know, the dry, powdery type. Well, it made sense at the time. I couldn't see keeping these big cartons of milk about the house when the only thing I was using milk for was my coffee. On the few occasions I make coffee at home, I would sooner than not find it had already gone bad. Flash forward five months. I haven't touched that creamer in weeks, at least. It sits at the back of a cupboard waiting to be of service again, but I always have fresh milk in the house now. I need it for my breakfasts, I need it for my vintage dinner on the weekends... what a change!

I remembered to pull out the scale yesterday morning and did a rare weigh-in at home. So here's my official starting weight for this new mission: 194. I'm planning to weigh in once a week - on Friday mornings. I dutifully drank my glass of water yesterday morning and walked for 29 minutes during my lunch hour. This morning, another glass of water and I'm planning to walk at the park today for 30 minutes (+ 6 minutes to make up for my short walks on Thursday and Friday). I also cleaned about 2/3 of my kitchen last night, so I need to finish that this morning, go to the park for my workout, then head to the supermarket to do my weekly shopping. Here's the menu I'm planning for my 1945 dinner this weekend:

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

Tomato Sauce

Buttered Peas

Carrot Sticks

Baked Caramel Custard

The Stuffed Cabbage Leaves recipe sounds very interesting and possibly delicious. We'll see! The whole menu feels very springlike - apropos for a supper on Easter Sunday. I'm even going to shell some fresh sugar peas for the hot vegetable dish...

One of the challenges for me when it comes to walking is definitely going to be timing. If I don't walk as soon as my lunch hour begins, I know that I won't have the willpower to get out there and do it halfway in. Been there, done that. Once I'm sitting comfortably at the table with my feet up in the next chair reading a magazine and eating my lunch --- there's no way I'll get up and go out there to walk! I know myself too well to take that chance, so out I go at 12:00 p.m. This is where those hearty vintage breakfasts are going to come in handiest. I need that long-term energy that's going to last me from 7:00 in the morning 'til I'm finished with that mid-day walk. A growling tummy doesn't make me any happier about postponing lunch for another half hour!

I'm trying to keep a brisk pace. I certainly ought to start stretching my calves beforehand, though, because my shins feel very tight during my workout and that could probably be alleviated with a little stretching. It's much too sunny to be outdoors at high noon without a hat or cap and/or some sunblock, so I need to give some thought to keeping some of these things in my office. I'm really trying to head off some of these minor discomforts that could otherwise end up as excuses for skipping a workout, do you know what I mean?

One of the biggest things I tend to do to sabotage an exercise plan is to start worrying about how I'm going to be able to walk outdoors once we're experiencing full-blown summer here in the desert. (These walks give me way too much time to think!) In about a month, temps will be at the 100-degree mark everyday and there's no relief even in the mornings and evenings. It's relentlessly sunny here, so there's not even the occasional cloudy day to enjoy outdoors. You're trapped inside 24/7 from about the end of May until the first of October. It's not even comfortable outside at midnight. I've been trying to come up with some exercise options for the summer - and I think I've come up with a few possible solutions - but the trick is not to let worrying about what's to come in a month keep me from exercising here and now. No matter what kind of challenges I'm facing come May, I've got to enjoy the privilege of being able to walk outdoors for as long as it lasts.

I'll talk to you later. My kitchen is calling...