My new smart habit I want to develop is to do something creative every day.  Either spend time every day designing something new, or working on creative projects.  I find this difficult to do with the medication, but I'm beginning to think it may be a combination of things.  Using my Litebook has helped a lot this week.  I am thinking a lot clearer, and that helps.  I am also sleeping better. 

Dropping my calcium pills gives me a better quality sleep and better concentration.  Though my doctor surely doesn't want to hear that!  I'm sure they are interacting with my other medication somehow.  I'm going to try and compensate by switching to fortified rice milk and other means of acquiring calcium naturally.

Another thing that helps is to go to a cafe for tea with my idea journal and a magazine like "Quilting Arts" to stimulate my creative juices.  At the cafe I have no distractions and nothing to do but write down or draw design ideas. 

When I don't want to go to the cafe, I will use my afternoon tea break to design and plan new projects.

The goal is to have books of ideas by the end of the year!...And hopefully lots of finished projects.

This week I had a check in with both my exercise specialist and nutritionist. Both are provided by the health care system to deal with the side effects of the medication I'm on. I struggle a lot with weight gain and appetite issues. As mentioned in a previous post, I've gained 50 lbs. with the medication. My goal at this point is not so much to lose weight, though that would be nice, as to be the healthiest I can be at the weight I'm at.

I always shy away from being weighed in their offices, instead preferring to weigh myself at home first thing in the morning in my birthday suit!LOL I'll tell you right now, clothes weigh at least 5 lbs. Shoes are another 2 or 3. Sometimes more, depending on whether you're wearing hiking boots or not!

This spring I was doing well. Then Mom died and I spent a month at Dad's. I put on 5-10 lbs. I lost 5 when I came home. Then went east and put on 5-10 lbs. Well, that adds up to a lot of extra pounds! I was weighing in at 178 lbs. when I got home. I felt very fat and bloated. So I've been trying to get my diet under control and get into the habit of exercising.

The problem with exercise is your body gets used to whatever level you're at, and then you have to change what you do to lose more weight or get more fit. I've seen some pretty overweight people who are among the strongest and most flexible I know...and I'm not talking Sumi wrestlers. It's a question of figuring out how to trick your body into revving up it's metabolism. I'm still working on it.

So my nutritionist today asked the $64 million dollar question “What are your plans for exercise coming up to winter?” Duh. I don't know. Haven't thought about it. She has a good point. Time to think about it.

After fumbling around awhile, I decided I'd be doing more exercise videos. Paul and I have a car conflict in winter. He likes to take it to work, understandably. I like to drive it around to various meetings with friends, shopping, and to the gym. However, there is something fundamentally wrong with driving to the gym for me. Kind of an oxymoron or something. I don't know. I always feel guilty driving to the gym. I mean, do I really need a gym? We live 6-8 blocks from the gym. But when it's -30F and the wind is blowing, that car sure looks good, as does exercising indoors. And that's what it's like for most of January here. I like the gym because there are other people there to connect with, and better equipment. But it isn't a necessity.

Anyway, so I'm thinking exercise videos to spell off the gym.

This is the first time I've had my own private area in the house, so I thought I'd see if I had room to do exercises in my retreat room. I plopped in a balance ball video today. I had barely enough room. Have to de-clutter some stuff on the floor and I might just be able to do it.

Really though, the best place for exercise is in the room with the computer. I can plop in a DVD, stretch a mat on the floor (if I had one) and do my exercises. Only one problem. My exercise collection is mostly video - very little DVD.

So today I got on-line and checked out some yoga DVDs to put on my Christmas wish list. I doubt I can wait that long, but we'll see. I have some good videos I'd like to have in DVD format. Now might be the time to change over.

So my smart habit to develop is at least 30 minutes of daily exercise. My goal is to lose another 3 lbs. by January 1^st. And to buy three more exercise DVDs by Christmastime.

The smart habit I am working on is to do some Bible reading daily.  I've actually been working on this since I broke my foot.  Some days are better than others.  You'd think that being laid up I would have lots of time.  Seems no matter whether I'm up or down, I have plenty to keep me busy. 

I normally do Bible study during tea time in the afternoon, but I haven't been getting my tea since I've broken my foot.  Noone home to bring it to me and I haven't been going downstairs to get it.  Talk about being a creature of habit!  I brought my Bible study material up to the bedroom to work on, but couldn't decide which book to do!  Hmmm...  Still, I did get some Bible study in while laid up - just not as much as usual.

Now I am a bit better and making it between floors okay on my own, I am making tea.  Yesterday I braved carrying it down the basement stairs one-handed, on a tray, and managed.  It's a challenge, but I can do it!  Next thing to do is set up a tea centre down in the basement in my retreat room.  Then I don't have to worry about trays on the stairs.

At any rate, my current Bible study is from "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World" by Joanna Weaver.  I am not finding I'm relating much to it, but perhaps I should!  I got a chuckle when I first picked it up.  It was that weekend of the BBQ for 12.  Remember that?!  It certainly applied that weekend!  I was a verifiable "Martha" running around trying to organize things and make them "perfect" (as if anything ever could be perfect). 

So this week I'm working through the book and spending some time with God daily over it, and just looking at God's word in general and spending time with Him daily. 

Okay folks.  I know some people who can chug coffee and caffeine drinks till the cows come home and not have any side effects.  Unfortunately I'm not one of them.  I just finished reading "Caffeine Blues" by Stephen Cherniski.  It struck a chord with me.  So my smart habit I want to develop is to replace caffeine with other drinks...ie. water and decaffeinated herbal teas.