7 + 4 = 11

A week or so ago, I was studying up on dusting painted walls and learned that - instead of buying a dust mop especially for that purpose - you could fashion a sort of "apron" for the head of the broom out of a piece of flannel and use that to softly sweep the dust from your bedroom walls. Well, yesterday I was giving the bathroom its special monthly cleaning and came across that chore once again in The Manual. I was playing around with a flannel dusting cloth and realized that I could actually fashion a kind of kerchief for my broom. I centered the cloth across the end of the broom head and held down the piece facing me while I pulled both of the sides together and tied them. My broom looked a little bit like a woman of the '40s heading off to work at the war plant! And most importantly it did the job.

Another little thrill this past week has been the success I had with a recipe called Graham Gems. Imagine all the goodness of home-baked biscuits with the added heartiness of whole grains. To die for... The recipe starts out with a basic Baking Powder Biscuit dough, only you substitute one cup graham flour for one cup sifted flour.

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BAKING POWDER BISCUITS

2 cups sifted flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold shortening
2/3 cup cold milk

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together and cut in shortening with 2 knives or a pastry blender. Add milk and mix quickly. Knead for a few seconds on a lightly floured board...

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You could stop there, pop 'em in the oven, and they'd be perfect. But the recipe for Graham Gems actually calls for a little more creativity. I didn't have 8 to 10 custard cups on hand, so I used a muffin tin and they turned out fine. I guess they're supposed to look a little like gemstones --- maybe if you squint your eyes. Like I said, though, you could just cut them with a biscuit cutter and bake at the same temperature and they'd be just as delicious. Super easy, too. I made these on a work morning.

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GRAHAM GEMS - Roll dough 1/3 inch thick... and cut into 2-inch strips. Place 4 strips one on top of the other. Cut into pieces 1 3/4 inches long. Place each of these sections upright in buttered custard cup. Bake in hot oven (425 degrees F.) 15 to 20 minutes or until browned. Makes 8 to 10.

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It's been nearly two weeks since I added some limbering and stretching exercises to my morning routine, so it's high time I gave them a little attention in my blog. I do the first exercise before I get out of bed. In fact, I'm usually still partly asleep. My legs most certainly do not go over my head, but it really works the abdominal muscles just raising the legs until they're perpendicular to the body - then lowering them:

1. Before you get out of bed in the morning, do this routine five times: stretch body out with arms out at sides. Lift both legs simultaneously as high as you can, even, if you can, over your head; then down again, slowly.

I do the next several exercises while I'm sipping my morning glass of water and am still in my nightclothes. None of these next exercises really instructs you as to an exact number of reps, so I've been doing five of each. No. 2 opens up the ribcage and probably works the abs as well when done slowly and carefully:

2. Here is a good stretching exercise that helps to develop the bust and improves the posture and figure generally: Stand with feet slightly apart, arms down at sides. Stretch arms in front up and over the head slowly as far as you can, without straining, then slowly return to original position. Repeat this several times.

I haven't quite felt No. 3 working anything more than my waist as yet, but I'm open to some improvement in the hips!

3. To improve hips and waist and improve general line of figure: (A) Stand with feet slightly apart, abdomen in, seat well down, fingers interlaced and raised high over head, arms making a frame for the face. Keep face framed by arms throughout exercise, and body absolutely steady from waist down. (B) Swing forward till body and arms are horizontal. Swing body round to right side and travel upwards till arms are over head once more. (C) Turn to the left and swing the body round and down till body and arms are once again horizontal, as in B.

No. 4 makes me yawn. In a good way. I do feel more awake after doing this exercise:

4. The first exercise is for the purpose of air washing the lungs and keeping the chest in form: Stand erect, feet fairly far apart; clasp your hands behind your neck. Force the head and elbows back, inhale through the nostrils, expel the air through the lips. Breathe in as the head goes back; exhale as you return to first position.

You gotta love deep knee bends! All of the advice I've heard by fitness experts in my own lifetime comes back to me now in bits and pieces. In the '80s, my sisters and I would work out in the basement to a Jane Fonda record of our mom's. ("Bridge over Troubled Waters" was the cool-down track.) By the '90s, step aerobics were all the rage and I remember working out with Denise Austin on TV and ordering her step and weights set on QVC. Jane and Denise alike cautioned women at home to be sure the legs were positioned far enough apart and the knees slightly bent before doing exercises like this one:

5. This for keeping waist, thighs and hips slender. Stand tall, hands on hips. Lift on your toes, let the knees spread, lower your body until you are in a squatting position, buttocks resting on the heels. Rise slowly.

Allow plenty of space when doing this exercise or your liable to hit something with your arms! The last few words are great advice. The more conscious you are of the movements you're making, the better you're probably working the muscles. If you zip thru the motions, you may not get all the benefits of doing fewer reps more slowly.

6. Wig-wagging exercise for keeping bust and arms normal: Stand tall, lift the hands high and far back. Swing the hips from one side to the other, stretching the arms full length, keeping fingers and thumbs spread. Use your muscles. Be conscious of them. Mere movements don’t mean a thing. It must be a real workout.

I'm not sure if it's the humidity or the limbering-and-stretching or the smaller portions at dinner, but something's working. I weighed in this morning at 183! According to my scale, that's 4 lbs. lost in the last 6 days. HIP HIP HOORAY!!! I thought I'd celebrate with this wonderful series of photos from a 1940 LIFE magazine pictorial on reducing salons. (And I thought Bally's didn't look like fun.)