New 52: Weeks 1 ~ 5

My friend Lynnette, an avid scrapper, is doing a project to try one new thing a week for a year.  When I first heard about it I was a tad intimidated; but then she explained that they don't have to be big things so I thought it might be fun. So here are my first few things:

Week One 

  This was supposed to be snowshoeing, but January 2013 in Bayfield Ontario simply did not treat us to enough snow for that, so it turned into a winter walk in the woods something I haven't done since I was a child so I guess that counts.

Week Two

  Have decided to cut back on "white" foods (more on that later), bread, rice, pasta so that means trying new recipes and in this case also a new food.  Baby bok choy with brocolli and roasted red pepper chicken and pine nuts. Turned out not badly, could be a little spicier for my taste.

Week Three

  Took a nature walk near Varna, about a 10 minute drive from here. There are quite a few of these small conservation areas nearby. As it was the longest option, and unlike the sign description,  not in the least difficult, we did the Mavis Trail. There was slight drizzle, so we had the place to ourselves and it was great to get outdoors in weather that would normally see us staying in.

Week Four

   Early in December I did a glucose tolerance test that I failed (11.7 after 2 hours) and the scary word
Diabetes was brought up by my doctor.  Shudder! First line of defence is lifestyle changes (aka diet & exercise) failing that, I will be looking at meds. No thanks! So far have lost 13 pounds and feeling a lot more energetic with fewer carbs in my day.  My friend Gord had an extra blood glucose monitor so he lent it to me and I have learned to stab myself in the finger and test a little drop of blood. This is a reading from 2 hours after a breakfast of Red River Cereal.

  

Week Five

  No picture this week as the new thing is this blog! Took me a while to come up with a title,  had the ipod on shuffle and this song by Amos Garrett came up and 'Bingo' there was my title. This blog is about 'life in my shoes'... I expect there will be quite a few pictures of birds and wildlife, the new house we're building south of Grand Bend once construction gets started, some political rants, and just whatever strikes my fancy.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh8yVFpuOiA