Catching Up on Sunday and Some Slow Stitching and a Bit of Reading

The rain we have had most of the night has stopped for awhile though we are expected to get more rain throughout the day.  The wind has died down quite a bit so hopefully my trash cans will stay upright and in place, along with my potted plants which I just moved behind my patio wall.  We need the rain so I will just keep checking the trashcans and chair throughout the day.

This year I plan to make a few changes in my life, nothing major and mostly relating to my general well being.  After being sick from March 2020 and most of 2021 I know a few changes are necessary to keep going forward with my recovery which is slow but improving.  The heart and clogged arteries are my main focus and I want to improve my chances of avoiding any other heart surgeries, before the next problem arises.

I'm back on my daily walks, however, instead of logging the miles I am logging the time I spend walking.  Everything I have read and research over the last few months state an average of 20 minutes a day of exercise is recommended which honestly feels like nothing, when I was doing my 2 miles a day I was done in 20 minutes, often less. So this year my goal is walking 1 hour each day.  So far I am walking the 1 hour 3 to 4 days a week and shorter walks on the other days 20-30 minutes. By February I plan to be walking 1 hour daily.

Another thing I want to do this year is eat avocado it's one of the few fruits (yes, technically they're a fruit, not a veggie) that contain healthy unsaturated fats. These fats help lower undesirable LDL cholesterol when eaten in place of saturated fat. It provides nearly 20 different nutrients, many of which are considered heart-healthy, including unsaturated fat, fiber, vitamin K, vitamin E, and potassium.  

Potassium is one of those things I need to up my intake on because of the diuretics I take for my blood pressure, over the last few months I have been getting leg cramps in the thighs those dreaded charley horse muscle spasms most of us get in our calves have moved to my thigh muscles.

It may seem like a silly thing to want to do but I want to add new and different foods to my diet this year and avocado is one of  them, my daughter in law uses them in her smoothies etc. We were discussing healthy food options and different foods and I mentioned white grapefruit, which is nearly impossible to find here in Florida, the next day I stopped at Aldi for a few things; to my pleasant surprise I found white grapefruit. They are sold in bags of 2 so I bought 2 packs.  

When I lived back in NJ it was available in every supermarket and red and pink were a rare find.  Then I moved to Florida it was impossible to find, though every now and then the now closed Food Lion and  Albertson's would have it.  I once found it at a flea market fruit and veg stand.  And then nothing for years except ordering it mail order. I came across these articles in regard to white grapefruit:

https://citrusindustry.net/2019/11/06/reintroducing-white-grapefruit-u-s-market/

https://citrusindustry.net/2021/11/11/img-citrus-launches-yellos-grapefruit/

I am over the moon with my find, I will probably buy a few more packs later in the week so I can eat it daily for breakfast. It tasted just like I remembered. 

My hand embroidery piece is progressing, I am working on the second figure of the piece and using DMC 602 floss. It's a slightly darker shade of pink than the first figure, originally I had planned to use a blue on the 2nd figure and purple for the 3rd, but the more I looked at the colors together I liked the shades of pink rather than the multiple colors, the third figure will be stitched in DMC 601.

The piece is of  The Moriae, or the Greek Fates “spinners of fate” controlling the lives of humans in pieces of thread. Clotho spun the thread, Lachesis handled it, and Atropos cut the thread at the end of one's life.  I thought a fitting piece for this hand embroiderer.  I am linking my post to Kathy's Quilts here is the link https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2022/01/slow-sunday-stitching_01120247794.html

My friend sent me 10 more Love Embroidery magazines, this is the one I am reading through today.

This issue came with a felt swan kit, for subscribers in the UK each issue comes with a gift insert, for subscribers in the USA we only receive the magazine, which is fine with me there are some fun patterns in each issue.

Well let me post this and go pick up that chair outside that the wind blew over again. Then I think it's time for tea and a bit of reading before stitching.