ActNow BC Activity Challenge Week 1

Here are the stats for Team T.A.L.C. (5 members) Week 1 Nov. 18-24
NOTE: Steps are not total steps in a day but actual exercise steps.

Total Team Steps: 80,997
Total Team KM: 62
Team Average: 16,199
Most steps: Claire! Way to go with 31,589 exercise steps!
My Steps: 6019 O.K. so she blew me out of the water! I'll get you next time Claire! LOL

The BC ActNow Challenge counts all steps in a day, but the person that is heading it up in my community has changed it to actual exercise steps. It's a real pain because I have to remember to put the pedometer on all the time when I go for a walk or do other exercises. Oh well!

The following is some info that I thought you might be interested in. It was taken from the ActNow BC website.

There are lots of great, easy ways to be active that don’t involve classes or special equipment. Walking, shopping, gardening, housework… these are just a few examples of how you can build healthy activities into your daily routine.

10,000 Steps
Most people walk 4,000 - 6,000 steps in an average workday. Boosting that to 10,000 steps a day (about 8 kilometres) can promote better health – but it might be too much for some of us.
For example, healthy older adults are advised to walk about 6,000 - 8,500 steps per day, while people with disabilities and chronic diseases might be more comfortable walking 3,500 - 5,000 steps per day. For a more frail, elderly or chronically ill adult, the number of recommended steps depends on how they feel. These are only guidelines: every step counts!

To make it easier to count your steps, use a pedometer. Pedometers are small, easy-to-use devices that clip to your waistband and count the number of steps you take. They are great motivational tools that help you track your progress.

Add more steps to your day
For short trips, leave the car at home and walk instead.
Mow the lawn.
Work in the garden.
Park farther away rather than looking for the closest spot.
Walk some or all of the way to work.
Walk the kids to school.
Get off the bus a stop early and walk the rest of the way.
Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
Go for a walking lunch break with your co-workers.
Use the 'green gym' – parks and green spaces where you live.
Walk the dog instead of letting it out in the back yard.
Put away the remote controls and get up to change the TV or radio channel.

So I guess my 6019 exercise steps plus all the steps I do in a average day of cleaning the house etc... might bring me close to the 10,000 mark. I should put my pedometer on all day and see if it does. :-) Hope this info helps and gets you motivated to start counting your steps in a day. Happy Walking!!! :-)

Click here for more posts about ActNow BC Activity Challenge

ActNow BC Activity Challenge

Our community has joined the ActNow BC Activity Challenge. There is an individual and group category. I though it would be fun to be in a group and asked my friend Anita if she wanted to join me and she said yes. We asked a couple of our other friends and formed Team T.A.L.C consisting of five friends, Tanya, Anita, Lisa (Me the leader), Lori and Clair. We have completed our first week and are off to the races on our second week. All the team names and progress will be put in the paper once a month. I will keep you posted on how we rank every month against other teams and how we did for the week. The challenge goes to April 2008. I am waiting for one more member to give me her steps then I will post our team averages in steps and KM for this past week. What I am hoping to get out of this challenge is to shed some extra lbs. and become a healthier person. Wining would be good too! Really good! LOL. Wish me luck! :-)

Pay It Forward!

I was reading a friends blog and wanted to join in the fun and "Pay It Forward". This is a Pay It Forward Exchange and is based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. This is how it will work, I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I will make a gift to be sent out in the next couple of months. I will try to swing it before Christmas and if I don't I will do it in January. What YOU have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. If you don't have a blog that's o.k. just find 3 people to give a hand made gift to and explain to them about the PIF Exchange. Leave a comment and help me to "Pay It Forward!"

Finally got a picture!

I finally got a picture to go with my earlier post. My husband was so upset over how he turned out. He said he did not get a chance to smile, they snapped the picture so fast. Pictured left to right: My husband, his grandmother, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, my mother-in-law.

Splashers

Ever wonder what that little bar was for across the top of an old wash table? Or did you assume it was to hang a hand towel on, like I always assumed. This week I finally found out what that little bar was really for. All was reviled to me in a magazine called Quilters Home (more about the mag. after this). At the turn of the 19th century needle work darned almost everything in the home. Cloths called "over towels" or mangle cloths" were used to throw over unsightly dirty laundry, to covering hair brushes and combs on the vanity, silverware, food, clothes and anything else that could be ruined from flying ash and coal residue. Along with everything else needing protection, wall paper needed to be protected too. The needle work cloths that protected these beautiful walls were called splashers. Most splasher's were rectangular shaped with three finished sides and normally adorned in red or blue needle work. Splashers were either attached directly to the walls or slid onto a rod on the back of a wash table to protect the walls from soap and water. In a day when kitchens did not have tile back splashes like today thy needed something to protect their fancy wall paper from "splashes". They first served a purpose to protect, and second added to home decor. There were very "en vogue".

Apparently splashers are hard to find in good condition because they were washed all the time.
The following is a quot from Ann Hazelwood in the Quilters Home magazine Nov/Dec issue. "Finding splashers to purchase and collect is a challenge, but that's like a green light to most of us historical textile lovers. The hunt is half the fun. Because of their origin in more populated areas in the 1880's and 1890's, splashers are easier to find on the East coast."

O.K. about the magazine. A friend of mine in Ontario Canada told me I needed to get this magazine because it was great and that she read it from cover to cover. It's "For the new generation of quilters"and has more than just quilting. I looked, and looked, and looked for 3 months in every store that carried magazines and no one had it. Not even Wal-mart! I thought Wal-mart had everything. Not so! I gave up on my quest to find it. One day I was at my local grocery store that has a little 3'x4' foot magazine rack. I had picked something up and turned around when my eyes fell on the words "Quilters Home". I was shocked! This little store was the last place I would have expected to find it. I told the lady at the check out about my experience trying to find this magazine and she told me they don't pick the magazines, the company just sends what ever to them. I guess I am not guarantied they will have the next issue but that is the first place I am going to look come December. If all else fails Quilters Home just became available for mail order in October. Nancy you were right, it's a great read!

I found this article very interesting, I very much like history, genealogy and preserving the past. I love to learn about my ancestors and about the world they lived in, which is very different from my own. Tell me what you think about splashers! Do you collect them? If so how did you come about them? I would love to hear your stories!

For more info on splashers get Mark Lipinski's Quitlers Home November/December issue.

Meeting The Prime Minister of Canada

I was waiting to post this with a picture, but who knows how long it will take to get the picture. My husband met Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada this week. He along with my mother-in-law and her mom were invited to a Conservative Party event on Monday. It was by invitation only. My husband said it was a great speech and that Stephen Harper was very friendly and personable. Prime Minister Harper commented on my husbands name because it was the same as his and told him a personal family store that happend years ago. I had known about this event but could not say anything because it was high security. Then earlier the day of the event news came on the radio saying they had unconfirmed reports that the Prime Minister was going to be in the area. Then a while later they come on saying it has been confirmed that he was going to be here. "The word was out!" So needless to say after that I called my mom and told her. LOL. I said "Steve topped you mom!" LOL :-). She laughed. She met Ed McMahon a couple of weeks earlier. I will post a picture when I get one.

Heeeeeere's Ed!

Just had to share this cute picture my mom just sent me of herself and Ed McMahon sitting in his limo. She met him last week when he was in town doing a show called "Ed McMahon: Memories of the Tonight Show" He coined the phrase "Heeeeeere's Johnny" on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.