Power Marketing

As I was doing my marketing yesterday evening, it occurred to me that this biweekly trip to the grocery store is a great opportunity to burn some calories. Having a tough time trying to figure out how to fit a workout into your busy schedule? Make your marketing work for you!

1. Park on the edge of the parking lot.
Do you drive to the grocery store? Well, put your legs to work next time and park your car at the very edge of the parking lot - as far from the store as possible. Not only can you avoid all the congestion near the closest parking spots, but you'll burn some extra calories walking to and from your car.

2. Take that cart up and down every aisle.
Every aisle - whether it contains items you need or not. Weave it in and out every stack of fruits and veggies in the produce section, too. And don't forget the bakery! As your cart gets more and more full, you're adding resistance to your workout. Not only is this a great opportunity to burn some calories and tone leg muscles, it keeps me from forgetting anything I need at home. I always take a list to the grocery store with me, but there's inevitably something that slipped my mind as I was making up my list. Walking up and down each aisle reminds me of anything that I'm low on and need to add to my cart.

3. Return your cart to the cart corral.
It's always been a pet peeve of mine when people leave their grocery carts willy nilly all over the parking lot --- ripe for rolling right into other cars or blocking off just enough of another parking spot that it has to be bypassed when spots are scarce. Take an extra minute and return your cart to the nearest corral. You'll be doing your fellow drivers a favor and burning a few extra calories at the same time. A win-win!

4. Take your time getting the groceries into the house.
The fact that my apartment is on the second floor of my complex gives me a chance to combine a stair-climbing workout with my marketing. Instead of trying to carry every one of my grocery bags into the house in one trip, I take just two bags at a time. One in each hand. If I've got a particularly heavy bag that needs to be hoisted and carried in my arms, I'll take that up by itself. I carry my bags all the way into the kitchen. Set them down on the table, then head back downstairs for the next (small) load.

I've never used a pedometer to try and calculate the amount of calories burned by adding these extra steps to my marketing trips, but all these little steps have got to add up when taken week in and week out. Think of it as "power marketing."

In a February 1944 advertisement, the Borden Company (think Elsie the Cow) offered up four tips of their own for weary wartime housewives. These tips were designed to make marketing a little easier during an era of food shortages and ration points, but the last one would be a great power marketing tip for those of you who live close enough to a grocery store that you might be able to turn a "quick run for a few things" into a workout. The Trader Joe's I shop at on Wednesday evenings is just two blocks from my apartment complex and I've always stopped there on the way home from work to do my shopping. Maybe it's time I start driving all the way home, then walk back to the store to pick up my groceries and carry them home in my own two arms. I never buy more than one bag worth on Wednesdays...

1. DO YOUR WEEK-END SHOPPING EARLY IN THE WEEK! Miss the Saturday mob - and get better service.

2. PLAN YOUR SHOPPING LIST AT HOME! Means less time in the market - and helps budget ration points.

3. KEEP UP-TO-DATE ON POINT VALUES! Check ration calendars... Know when points expire. Your grocer will love you for it - and you'll get your points' worth, too.

4. CARRY YOUR PACKAGES! Then you won't have to worry about slow deliveries.

Lunch Hour

I've been doing a pretty good job with these vintage lunch menus lately... I can only say "pretty good," because even this week I broke down and took one of my pre-mission frozen lunches to work on Wednesday. (I'd eaten the same lunch for the last two days in a row and couldn't face it one more time!) I've finally reached the bottom of that carton of soup, so I'm planning a new menu for tomorrow. First, though, let's take a closer look at the last one. How much of an improvement was this vintage menu over a typical pre-mission lunch? Here's the 1945 menu, with a few adaptations in the interest of my waistline:

Organic Creamy Tomato Soup
Open-faced Cheese Sandwich on Whole-grain Bread with Mustard and Lettuce
Celery
Olives
Fresh Pear

Now let's compare it to one of my normal pre-mission lunches - a frozen Enchilada Pie by Cedarlane.

Typical pre-mission lunch
Calories: 430
Fat: 14g
Sodium: 1,190mg
Carbohydrates: 52g
Protein: 26g

Vintage lunch, adapted
Calories: 350
Fat: 16g
Sodium: 1,530mg
Carbohydrates: 37g
Protein: 16g

Kind of a mixed bag this time. I certainly take a sodium hit whenever soup is on the menu. All in all, though, I'd say these vintage menus are doing well by me. Here's the original menu for tomorrow, straight from The American Woman's Cook Book (1945):

Oven Baked Beans
Catchup
Boston Brown Bread Sandwiches with Cream Cheese Filling
Cole Slaw
Applesauce
Milk

...with a few edits:

Vegetarian Baked Beans
Catchup
Open-faced Raisin Brown Bread Sandwich with Light Cream Cheese
Pennsylvania Cabbage Salad
Applesauce

Lunchtime at work is still a bit rushed. I zoom out the door at noon - as soon as I've slathered on some sunblock and thrown a cap on. I've been wearing heels most of the time these days, so I bought a cute little pair of slide-on canvas shoes with a good sole that make that noon walk so much more comfortable! My iPod in my pocket and away I go... You know, I remember vividly when this routine was new and it seemed like a massive rush to walk for 30 minutes and try to cram down a meal. These days, it doesn't really seem so bad. I'm usually back in the office by 12:35. My lunch takes less time to prepare - maybe two minutes in the microwave for my soup (versus five minutes for one of the frozen meals). That gives me a good 15 minutes to eat, a quick trip to the ladies' room to powder my nose and reapply lipstick, then I'm back to work. Admittedly, I don't always have time for fruit after eating my lunch, so I'm sure to fit it in as a mid-afternoon snack when that happens.

Once a week, I treat myself to a chance to wear a dress with those heels. I have one weekday off from my mid-day walk. One chance to dress up and wear the kind of clothes that I can't really do any power walking in. What surprises me is that I find myself a little antsy on my days off. That uninterrupted hour seems to go on forever! What a turn-around.

15 + 5 = 20

Good morning, dearies!

Three days and one new computer monitor later, I'm back in business. My monitor's been acting up for a couple weeks now, but it gave up the game yesterday. When I couldn't get online, I actually started feeling a little worried. Would I be able to keep up the hard work without my dear readers to help me through the rough patches? As soon as I'd finished my workout this morning, eaten my breakfast, and powdered my nose, it was off to the store to pick up a new monitor. Whatever it is about this blog, it's been an absolute necessity to me in this journey and I haven't the time to hem and haw about repairing the old monitor. Now if I can just get used to this extra wide, new screen...

As you can see from the title to this post, I had some wonderful news from the scale to compensate for the computer issues. It was 2 lbs. a few days ago and 3 more this morning, leaving me at a weight of 174. That's 20 lbs. lost since April 9!!! I'm not sure why - you know firsthand how hard those first 11 lbs. were - but the last 9 have come off fairly quickly.

Is it the humidity?
With temps in the 90s and 100s every day, I am sweating an awful lot more when I walk than I was in April or May. (I'm also continuing to drink 64 oz. of water per day to make up for that.)

Has my stomach been shrinking?
It's a strange place indeed to find myself, but I've actually had zero temptation to snack lately. I watched my co-workers gorge themselves on tres leches cake yesterday and it didn't even cross my mind to have a taste. Hit one of the bars last night for happy hour and drank a diet soda (which is rare in and of itself for me). Didn't have the remotest interest in sampling all the appetizers that were being shared around the table. It wigs me out a bit to think of the quantity of food I used to eat. Even just a month ago when I was still eating peanut butter cups for dessert after dinner. There are a few minor changes I've been making lately --- buying skim milk instead of 1%, using two sugars in my morning coffee instead of three. That kind of thing. Maybe these little changes are making a difference.

Am I working out with more intensity?
I'm not sure. I can tell you that I'm beginning to look forward to my walks these days. (Could you have imagined me saying that three months ago?) I've even felt impelled this morning to break into a jog a couple of times. Crazy! One of the limbering and stretching exercises that I do each day is a leg lift in bed first thing in the morning. I do it just five times each morning - and what I noticed a few days ago is that while my back used to really do the work, my abdomen has taken over. I can actually feel some strength in my core which I never in a million years thought I'd feel again. I had open abdominal surgery several times during my late twenties. Cut open from stem to stern. Sliced right through that abdominal wall. I never thought I'd be able to rebuild any kind of strength or power in that area.

Or could it just be that crush?
Yep, you heard it here first. Little Miss Jitterbug has a good old-fashioned, butterflies-in-the-tummy, weak-in-the-knees kind of crush! He's a man who works in the same building as I do, though he's in a different department. Probably a few years younger than me, but he's got a 3,000-watt smile, the kind of curls they write songs about, and - from the few conversations we've had - seems like a super sweet person. *swoon* Nothing will probably come of this, but it's been a looooooooooooooong time since I even had a crush on somebody... so I'll take whatever loss of appetite comes along with it for as long as it lasts!

Now how 'bout that bedroom. I've got some housework to do! I'll check in later this weekend to share my adventures in bathing.

New Routines

Did you ever notice that as soon as people find out you're regularly walking, they come out of the woodwork to try and make you their walking buddy?

First, a co-worker asks me if she can match me up with a friend of hers who needs a walking buddy. Then another person I know through work tries to get me to commit to a walking relationship. I hope I don't come off as impolite, but I'd really rather walk by myself. Let's face it. Sometimes walking with another person can speed you up --- sometimes it can slow you down. The people I pass when I'm walking are almost always in pairs. And the last thing I want to do is to have to rush to the park to sit around and wait for somebody who might be late showing up - and then might show up toting a kid or two. Complete with strollers. I've got business to take care of!

I gathered up all my courage Monday evening and went into the rec center to purchase a membership and take my first indoor walk on the walking track. The rec center may be located just a few steps away from the park where I've been walking on the weekends --- but it's a whole new world in there! It's louder for starts. The walking track is built around a basketball court with racquetball courts nearby. There's lots of testosterone in the air as most of the people using the basketball court are young men in the 15-25 age range. I've only been there twice, but I'd say there's a more competitive feeling indoors than there is with the folks using the outdoor track. (It's actually the first time I've wanted to check my rear view in the mirror to see whether those new exercise pants are flattering or not!) The track is pretty small, so I can easily do 30 laps in a 60-minute walk. Thank goodness for that iPod. I'd perish without it! I'll still have a chance to walk outdoors one day a week. The rec center is closed on Sundays.

As for snacks, I'm doing remarkably better at the only-fruits-or-vegetables thing than I thought I would. Of course, it helps that nectarines are in season here. I picked up some beautiful, small nectarines last weekend at one of the natural foods stores. They've got a great selection of produce and I was in quest of some parsnips for my vintage dinner - but the nectarines caught my eye. Have you seen how big the fruits are in some of the supermarkets these days? They must be breeding super-sized fruits for super-sized customers. And bigger isn't always better. I'm a nectarine nut, so imagine my excitement when I saw these massive nectarines at the supermarket last summer. Ack! They were mealy and bland and never got to that lovely soft stage where the fruit just melts in your mouth. Anyway, I've been having one nectarine every day at about 3:00 in the afternoon. That's it for snacks. This weekend will probably be more challenging than my weekdays have been, but I'm feeling ready to face the enemy.

Here's the menu for my vintage dinner last Sunday:

Parsley Buttered Potatoes
Pan-fried Parsnips
Molded Salad of Cranberry Sauce (canned), Celery and Apples
Butterscotch Pudding with Nuts

I haven't had Parsnips in years. In fact, I remember being slightly traumatized the last time I ate them. It's been a long time, though, so I figured I ought to give them another shot. They have a spicy, celery-type scent as you're working with them, but once cooked they were pretty bland. Didn't taste like much of anything. What I've heard since then is that Parsnips are tastiest in the fall when they're fresh from the soil. Alas, my first attempt at a non-gelatin Molded Salad was a dismal failure. I tried just heating up a can of the jellied cranberry sauce, adding the celery and apples, and putting the concoction in the fridge to chill - but it never quite set. I'm going to track down some of the agar a couple of my readers mentioned and try that next time.

It's Thursday evening, which means that it's time to clean my bedroom. The first order of business will be the daily chores recommended by America's Housekeeping Book (1945). This will be my new weekly routine for the bedroom:

Open windows top and bottom for free circulation of air.

Remove all bed covers; stretch over end of bed, or over chairs, off the floor. Remove soiled bed linen; place near door to be taken out. Place mattress pad over chair near window to air.

Bring in cleaning equipment: carpet sweeper or vacuum cleaner (according to need), dust mop, dust cloth, damp cloth. Bring in fresh bed linens.

Turn mattress top to bottom one week, and end to end the next week. Make bed.

Dust high objects if necessary (mantels, high shelves, window frames and sills, tops of bookcases, etc.).

Dust radiators covers if necessary.

Brush upholstery if necessary. Straighten covers. Plump up pillows.

Dust furniture and low objects if necessary.

Dust exposed wood flooring with dust mop if necessary. Use carpet sweeper or vacuum cleaner on rugs or carpets.

Polish or wash accessories and return to place with other objects removed during cleaning.

Final touches: Straighten draperies, shades, curtains, etc. Take out cleaning equipment and waste basket. Bring back clean ash trays, accessories, flowers and waste basket. Close windows if desired.

I'm kicking off my new monthly chores (recommended in 1945 as weekly chores) by making my bedroom the featured room this week. So here are the extra chores I'll also be doing in there tonight. Brushing walls is a whole new thing for me this week. More on that in another post...

Collect lamp bases, bric-a-brac and dressing table fittings that need polishing or washing, and dresser scarves to be laundered.

Brush walls when necessary. Dust high mouldings, door frames, window shades and Venetian blinds when necessary. Brush draperies (or use brush attachment of vacuum cleaner). Dust mirrors, pictures, lighting fixtures, lamps, woodwork; wash any of these articles if necessary.

Dust radiators (covers and coils) or registers; clean thoroughly when necessary. Brush baseboard or use brush attachment of vacuum cleaner. Dust book shelves and books as necessary. Wash windows when necessary.

Remove cushions from upholstered furniture. Use brush attachment of vacuum cleaner on furniture (getting into all crevices) and cushions. Replace cushions.

Rub wood surfaces of furniture to polish; apply wax or polish when necessary. Polish metal hardware if necessary. Wash glass table tops.

Use vacuum cleaner for cleaning of rugs and carpets.

The evening is short and I've got a bed to strip. Time to shed my dress and get to work!

And a Word about Exercise

I was just looking back over some older posts --- way back to when I first started my vintage fitness routine. It may seem like a lifetime - it's actually been just seven weeks - but there have been some positive changes during those seven weeks and not all of them on the scale.

At two weeks, I felt a new spring in my step.

At four weeks, I felt like an old broken-down woman.

At seven weeks, I'm no longer dreading my walks. I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to them yet, but they're definitely not the torture they used to be... That probably has a lot to do with the stretching I've been doing after my walks, the water I've been drinking on a daily basis, and that blessed iPod. Having something to keep my mind occupied has made such a difference! No longer am I stuck going over my lengthy mental to-do lists and worrying about this or that. I can listen to new radio, vintage radio, music. It's been such a help - especially during my new fifth lap around the track on my weekend walks.

I bought some new exercise pants yesterday. It's getting hot enough even at 6:30 in the morning that I needed something lighter to wear. They're stretchy and black and flare out a bit at the knees. In fact, they're probably the most fitted item I've worn in public in years. I felt a wee bit self-conscious in them this morning, but that soon gave way to relief that I felt so much cooler than I had the day before in track pants!

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Antoinette Donnelly wrote an article on reducing in October 1940 and stresses how important walking (and water!) can be to the woman who needs to lose any pesky weight gained during summer vacation:

Walk almost as much every day as you did when you were tripping along over mountain roads, through shady woods, along the ocean front. If you can walk all the way, or part way to your office, or if after your evening meal you have to say good-by to family or friends who don't feel like joining you for your evening "constitutional," do it! Walk briskly and take longer than usual steps. A loafing walk does not do you much good.

Include in your diet bran, figs, prunes, fruits with their skins, and use mineral oil to make salad dressings. Drink plenty of water, all you comfortably can. Make it a habit to chew your food slowly so you will not eat so much. Don't eat between meals. If you feel hungry, drink unsweetened fruit juice. Stay away from alcoholic drinks, for there is nothing that puts on pounds quite so quickly. Don't be tempted by the delicious hors d'oeuvres, for they're full of calories.

Miss Donnelly's advice about leaving reluctant family and friends behind is just as valid today as it was in 1940. (I'm not so sure about the mineral oil!) We can't always wait for the people we'd like to exercise with to have the same motivation as we do at the same time. Sometimes you just have to go it alone.

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.

"Lady, Better Lose Those Hips!"

I wish I could tell you that my workouts leave me energized and full of pep, but they don't. At two weeks, I was feeling a new spring in my step. At four weeks, I'm just feeling all broken down. My lower back aches. My left knee feels a little sore. And I had forgotten just how painful 100-degree weather can be. Going outdoors at noon these days feels like climbing inside an oven. (Those lunchtime walks are going to have to shift indoors next week!) I'm hanging in there because I'm seeing results, but the last week has not been easy. I keep wishing I'll get to this magical point when I look forward to my walks. When I can't wait to get out there and move! Nope, still torture.

There are a few things I've begun doing to try and make these walks a little easier on my body. I have been remembering to wear a baseball cap - even at 7:00 in the morning on the weekends - so at least I don't have to worry any longer about getting my scalp or forehead sunburned. I purchased some SPF 55 sunblock this weekend to protect my neck and arms, particularly on those mid-day walks. My knees and back would probably appreciate my bringing some socks and sneakers to work for the week so those lunchtime workouts can be a little easier on my joints. And I've been putting it off, but I really should be doing some stretching after my walks.

Yesterday, I did some looking about online for tips on stretching. What a surprise to learn that you're not supposed to stretch before a walk! Apparently, you can really injure yourself by stretching cold muscles like that. You're supposed to warm the muscles by walking at an easy pace for awhile before speeding up to a brisk pace. The ideal walk should end by doing another stretch at an easy pace, then some simple stretches for the legs, lower back, and shoulders. I'm no personal trainer, so I'll just refer you to one of many interesting websites on this subject. I tried the first three stretches myself after my walk this morning:

http://www.helium.com/items/455379-best-stretches-before-walking-for-exercise

Alas, I haven't been able to find much in the way of vintage advice on post-walk stretching. Lots of advice on stretching for better posture - and lots and lots of "limbering" exercises - but nothing specific to flexing and relaxing the muscles used in a good, brisk walk. 1940s beauty experts acknowledged that walking was an effective way to trim the figure, but they didn't treat it quite as scientifically as they did most things. Betty Clark had a few recommendations in a women's page article titled "Lady, Better Lose Those Hips!" (St. Petersburg Times, September 24, 1943):

Walking, which is the best hip-slimmer known, is pretty difficult to do by the mile when time is at a premium, especially today - unless you are fortunate enough to walk to and from your daily work. This doesn’t mean strolling. Walking, to be effective, should be at a brisk, steady pace.

It is wise to exercise in the morning upon arising. Otherwise, you may find yourself too tired for exertion in the evening.

In a 1940 column, Miss Clark advised wearing sensible shoes when walking for sport --- and, by all means, put some "knee action" into your walk "for the sake of grace"! Helen Follett, another beauty expert of the era, wrote in 1940:

The thigh bulge comes to women who sit at their desks, typewriters or sewing tables all day. They don't get enough exercise to keep the muscles strong. Fibers grow slack, adipose tissue builds up. Squatting exercises are helpful, so is high kicking. Walking at a brisk pace is recommended.

Something that's been troubling me lately is that so many of my shirts are ending up with grease stains. Just one stain per shirt (always in the chest area), but it's enough to make them unsuitable for anything but wearing at home. I'm not sure why I don't notice it when it happens, but by the time I do - usually at the ironing board - it's too late. The shirt has been through the wash, and the stain is set. And it's not that I've been doing that much cooking with hot oil. I'm not sure why I'm ending up with all the grease stains. I guess it's just that I'm cooking more in general. Even scrambling eggs or making an omelet means I'm working over spattering grease. Several shirts later, it's finally occurred to me that there's a reason women used to wear those full aprons with the placket covering the chest. They weren't just for looks! And the half aprons that I usually wear don't do the job. From now on, it's full aprons for me... I've got two of them, and I'm looking for a place in my kitchen where I can keep them within arms' reach. No excuses. I can't afford to keep buying new shirts!!!

It's Sunday, which means it's time for another 1945 dinner. Here's my menu for tonight:

Parsley Potatoes

Baked Broccoli

Lettuce and Tomato Salad

Coconut Blanc Mange

Cherry Sauce

From everything I've heard about Blanc Mange, I'm a little creeped out. I think I'll make as small a batch of dessert tonight as possible!

One Foot in Front of the Other

I've always wished I could snap my fingers, find myself with the figure I'd like to have, and get on with life. There are more important things to think about, you know? That's impossible, of course, but that's never stopped me from wishing I could make it so... As I was walking today - had to get those 30 minutes in - it occurred to me that as nice as that kind of magic would be, it wouldn't equip me in any way to maintain the weight loss. I'd snap back to where I am now in no time. Just like with the housework. Even if I could magically have a spotless house overnight, I wouldn't be able to keep it clean if I hadn't learned how to keep house. There's no way around the learning process.

That's the thought that kept me putting one foot in front of the other today. My walks may be the long way 'round to a great figure, but for now 5 walks per week x 30 minutes = 150 minutes = the minimum weekly aerobic exercise recommended for a healthy adult (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans).

Once upon a time, walking was more a matter of daily function than it was a special kind of workout women needed to fit into their lives. I always think of the 1940s as an era when long rambles through the countryside or the park were popular weekend entertainment. Of course, walking was part of the workaday routine for just about everybody. Whenever possible, women walked to do their marketing, to pay a call on the next farm down the road, to make one appointment or another. If the distance was too far for city dwellers or suburbanites, they'd walk to a point where they could pick up a bus or streetcar. Cars were around, but they were used much more sparingly as the war continued. Many ended up on blocks when the last set of tires gave out and - for those with cars still in working order - gas rationing and the ban on pleasure driving must have made any kind of unnecessary automobile travel seem unpatriotic. Walking most places was a way of life, so a regular low-impact aerobic workout came along quite naturally with getting from point A to point B.

Living in a city with public transportation, there are certainly some very environmentally friendly ways that I could make less use of my car. My workplace is just a walk, bus ride, and walk away from home. The grocery store where I do my shopping on Wednesday evenings is just a short walk from where I live. My eye doctor and dentist, even my bank, are quite close to home as well. If I was ready to make some radical changes in that direction, walking could definitely serve a somewhat more functional role in my daily routine.

In practically every other place where I've lived as an adult, though, this wouldn't have been at all possible. This urban sprawl we've visited upon our landscape has left us so far from every place else we need to be that walking isn't even an option. Instead we commute. We drive great distances to work and to play, to shop and to worship --- even to get to a gym, a track, or a yoga studio where we can get the exercise that used to be a more functional part of our everyday lives. Full circle in a distorted kind of way.

So this is how I find myself here, in 2009, stretching to find ways to fit a walk into my life. Trying to find the thirty minutes needed to schedule a walk and planning a drive to the park in order to get some exercise on the weekends. I will do what has to be done in order to lose this weight, but it's appropriate, I think, to stop and reflect on how we've changed. (Maybe even to lay out some plans for the future.) How backwards this way of life would have seemed to my '40s counterpart! Going to such lengths just to walk.