Friday, February 28, 2014

Trying To Be a Friend in Need

We recently became friends with a 90+ year old couple from our bonsai club.  Like us, their two children live on the mainland.  Like me, she's not able to drive.  Well... I can drive, but only if there are no left turns and within a 1 mile radius.

We got a call from Mrs. K a few days ago asking if we could take them to the doctor in Honolulu.  Mr. K had taken a nasty fall and ended up in the emergency room.  This was a follow-up visit.

At the last minute, I told Art we should bring mom's travel wheelchair just in case.  He stuck it in the trunk of the car.

It was a good thing because Mr. K had a spinal compression fraction and was in quite a bit of pain.

Art dropped us off and went to park the car.  I took Mr. and Mrs. K into the Medical Arts building.

Since I was pushing the wheelchair into the room to have his vitals taken, I somehow became the caretaker.  The doctor came in right away and I asked if I could call his wife.  The doctor said, "No, she can't help."

I was irritated by this and didn't much care for his attitude.  Mrs. K is very capable and has a better sense of direction than I do.  Her memory is probably better too.

The doctor admonished that the best thing to do for older people in the first place is to modify the home for fall protection.  I was slow in realizing that he must have thought I was his daughter.

After picking up their medication we dropped them off at their house and checked out his bed which was a new one and very high off the ground.  He's much shorter than I am so I could see how a fall would injure him.  We took the bed frame off which dropped the bed by 8 inches or so.  I imagine keeping the bed frame and replacing the box spring with a bunkie board would have been even better, but an added cost.

My own mom is in wonderful shape right now and we're very thankful for that.  She was glad that we could help our new friends and said she was grateful that my brother, Dennis and we are here with her.

I wondered to myself what our lives will be like in another 20+ years.  It left me worrying.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Regifting the Love

Every so often my cousin gets left over flowers that had been rejected by florists for one reason or another.  He gives them to his mom who then offers some of them to mom (her sister).  Mom then tells us to go and pick them up.

Luckily we were at the farmers market today so we had some veggies to spare that we could bring over to share.

I was surprised at the two huge bouquets she gave me and was needless to say quite thrilled.  I couldn't wait to get home to arrange them.  As soon as I walked in with them mom's eyes glowed with delight and her smile stretched from ear to ear.  I put them next to the sink and started to sort through them and find perfect vases.

"I must give some to Wini," she said happily.  "She gave us that delicious soup yesterday."

I was feeling a little unhappy about mom suddenly wanting to give the flowers away.

She came back nearly hopping in delight. "Wini loved the flowers!  She was so happy to get them!" said mom.  "I think I'll bring some across the street.  You know she used to teach flower arranging.  She'll love having some too.  I need to pick the BEST blooms."

Sigh....  I saw more flowers disappearing.


Eventually mom returned and called auntie to tell her how many people were now happy after receiving the flowers.

I put the remainder of the flowers into three vases.

You know what?

There was still a lot left and we're even happier for the joy that was shared with others.

It's true.

The joy of giving was definitely as good as that of receiving.

Sending you all lots of love everybody!

POSTSCRIPT:  Mom had given away the best, freshest flowers and left us with the more tired ones.  I usually have some left over fertilizer packets that florists tuck in with bouquets, but didn't have any left.  I did, however have some 7-Up so I added a little to the water and was surprised to find how perked up and gorgeous the flowers were the following morning.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Another Fast Food Flop

We were spending so much time going back and forth to Tripler Hospital last week, and we had to pick up fast food at the Commissary.  We tried to be as healthy as possible.

When we saw this on the menu of Subway at two for $6.00 we decided to try it.  We got the veggie flatizza figuring it would be healthier.


It came in what looked like a pizza box, but the flatizza was not all that large.  It was more like an appetizer.

The filling was very skimpy and the crust was HARD!  I finally gave up on eating the parts that had no sauce on it to soften it.

This is another fast food that we won't be ordering again.

POSTSCRIPT:  

Yesterday Art tried the Subway salad and he said that was much, much better.

He's been researching all the fast food offerings and decided that the Subway salad was the healthiest thing at the food court.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Satsuma Progress

We planted our Satsuma tangerine tree last year in March.


It's grown quite a bit.  In fact, it's taller than I am.  Now I'd like to try bending the branches a bit to guide them toward a more graceful style.  I'm thinking of using some bonsai wire to gently force the branches into the shape I'd like it to form.  The Neem oil seems to be working to keep the bugs off the tree.

No flowers, no fruit yet.

Keeping my fingers crossed, maybe next year.

Monday, February 24, 2014

E-Card Making it Easy

We were a bit (OK... a lot) late remembering to send a Valentine card to our granddaughter in Illinois earlier this month.  It's true that we're quite forgetful about holidays.

Then we remembered some fun e-cards we'd received before and how we sent them for free too.

Well, it's very hard to find free e-cards anymore so we gave in and subscribed to Hallmark.  It's only $12. a year and so convenient.


I sent three of them to KC on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.   She loved them although Tif said she got tired of hearing the song "Cutie, cutie pie" over and over and over again.

Aha!  I see St. Patrick's Day is next.  I can't wait!

Friday, February 21, 2014

Your Favorite Trip

People often ask us what our favorite trip has been from all the places we've been to.  This is really, really difficult.  Every place has been extra special.

For sheer beauty, New Zealand comes to mind first.  We love Australia, too.



History and drama was everywhere in Egypt and Jordan.

We loved walking on the Great Wall in China.



I don't think many people know just what an amazing country Turkey is.  There's so much Christian history there as well.





Japan is very special, of course, because it is my mother's home country.

I fell in love with the Beatles and Jane Austen so it was incredible to be in England.

We love Canadians.   Canada is one of our favorite places to visit.

Keukenhof Tulip Gardens in the Netherlands was just incredible!

Who cannot love Rome?  Florence?

And Paris?   I'm still remembering the food there!  I couldn't believe we were able to see so many of the masterpieces at the Louvre.

Actually I'm remembering the food everywhere.

It's too hard to choose.

I can't even list all the incredible places there are to see in the U.S. 

And there are still so many interesting places we have yet to see in the world.  I haven't even been to Florida yet!

What were your favorite places to visit?   What did you like about it?

Thursday, February 20, 2014

OK... That's Enough Snow!

My daughter, Tif in Illinois sent me some text photos that finally did actually amaze me. 

I've seen lots of snow in the Chicagoland area when we lived there, but I must say, this is a LOT.


Yes, this photo was pretty astonishing, but the next photos really made me open my eyes wide.


This is a view of the driveway.  How did they ever toss the snow up so high? 

Tif said her friend, Andy did come by and help with their snow blower, but she went out later and really cleaned it up.  Andy saw her doing it and asked why she was being so meticulous.

We then got the text from Tif saying, "Thanks A LOT, Dad!  It's all your fault that I'm so anal about shoveling snow."

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Loving the Losers Too

We've been watching the Olympics and though we're thrilled when we see an athlete medal in their sport, what we've really loved is seeing when an athlete who was expected to win loses and does so graciously with such dignity and poise.

Shaun White (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Shaun White was expected to win the snowboarding Halfpipe event, but he came in 4th.  He had to feel crushed and yet he went over to congratulate the Gold medal winner who was snowboarding for Russia and said, "I need a hug."

Nike is giving silver jackets to the winners with a secret message on the inside that says, "This is  your moment." 

I wish they'd give a jacket to everybody else who participated with a message that says something like, "We're proud of you."

I  know I'm so very proud of all the athletes from around the world.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

2014 Great Aloha Run/Walk #6

I went to bed early at 9:30 because I knew I'd have to get up at 3:45 to get ready to leave by 5:00 to get to the Aloha Stadium where we'd be boarding a shuttle to the Aloha Tower starting line in downtown Honolulu.

Unfortunately I woke up at midnight and couldn't get back to sleep.  I finally gave up at 3:00 and started preparing for the morning ahead.


Art woke up and checked the weather map.  All those green colored rain indicators did not bode well for our walk.  I packed my rain poncho.

We picked up our friends, Dave and Diane's daughter, Kristin who is also a teacher and headed out toward our adventure.


That space ship looking building is the Aloha Stadium.  The queue to the boarding point stretched forever, but the shuttle buses lining up on the left came in a steady stream.



We arrived at the Aloha Tower well before the 7:00 start time.

The rain did not deter anyone from coming.  I've never seen it so crowded.

We couldn't even see the military jog by at the beginning.

The Star Spangled Banner was sung followed by Hawaii's anthem, Hawaii Pono'i.

No rain.

So far so good.


The starting shot boomed out and the crowd surged forward.

We saw a few costumes on the way.

There were quite a number of people encouraging us along the way and we hadn't even walked two miles yet.

We saw a sign saying that this was the 30th Great Aloha Run.  The 8.1 mile GAR funds a lot of important charity organizations in Hawaii.

It started to drizzle.



Just as it started to rain a little more heavily we came to the viaduct.

My rain poncho got to be a little too warm.

It was great to be sheltered from the rain.
When we got to the four mile half way point we felt pretty confident that we'd be able to finish.  Kristin said her back ached a bit.  The back of my knees were hurting a little.  I'm glad I took a couple of Motrin before I left the house.

Art was perfectly fine, just disappointed that he couldn't run.  He almost bounced with energy.  Normally, he'd already have been done with the race by now.


When we saw the 7 mile marker, we were ecstatic!


And then....
There it was!

The Aloha Stadium!

It was still drizzling a bit, but we never had the downpour that we were worried about.

The cloudy skies probably made it a more comfortable walk.



The astonishing thing is we didn't need to use the bathroom during the entire race.

There were lots of port-a-potties, but we never used them.  We were hoping that would cut our time considerably.

Last year our walk time was
2:48:32.

Art's run time last year was
01:15:36.

This year our walk time was
2:35:55.



We went to collect our Finisher bananas, treats, water, t-shirts, etc.


There was such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.    We found our car and headed home where we all took naps.

 Yahoo!

Monday, February 17, 2014

2014 Great Aloha Run Expo


This will be my 6th Great Aloha Run (GAR).  Well... I never run.  I'll be walking and for the first time Art will be walking with me.  It is 8.15 miles from Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium.  Joining us will be our dear friend Kristin who walked with us last year.


This is a photo from last year.  Kristin's dad, Dave as well as my brother, Dennis walked with us then.











Here is my lucky shirt.  I've worn it every year.  It's proving not so lucky since there's an 80% chance of rain today.




We went to the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu yesterday to pick up our race packets (bibs, timing tags for our shoes, discount coupons, etc.)

There were all kinds of booths with different, mostly sports related items for sale.

Kaiser Permanente (Health Plan) had booths set up to test your reflexes, balance, food and sun protection knowledge, etc.

We decided to check our BMI (Body Mass Index).

There was this little machine you held on to which is supposed to measure your body fat.



What a shock to find that Art's BMI showed he was over the "acceptable ranges."  I knew I might be... BUT Art?!?  How is that possible?  I can tell you he doesn't have an ounce of fat to spare.  Where the heck is that fat hiding?

When we did the reaction time, he scored a Good.  I scored a Fair.  That didn't surprise me.


I'm quite nervous about the GAR this time.

I didn't love getting up at 3:30 in the morning and won't love waiting in the rain and cold (at Aloha Stadium) for the shuttle to come and take us to the starting gate at Aloha Tower.  I'm not going to love worrying about my knees hurting or whether my energy will hold out.

Then again, I've gone through this trepidation every year since 2009 and things have turned out happily.  I'll let you know tomorrow what happened.  Please keep your fingers crossed.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Things We Hold On To

I was looking into our bathroom drawer and found this bar of soap that our son, Jon brought back from Ireland.  He'd lived there for a while working on organic farms and brought back some soap he'd learned to make.


He was looking forward to us  using it.  We intended to.  We really did, but somehow couldn't.  Every time we opened the drawer, we saw the soap and it reminded us of our son who we rarely see.  In fact, he's probably in Bangladesh right now.... maybe.

Anyway, the blue handmade paper wrapping was deteriorating and it was time for us to use it.  The soap is wonderful.  It's smooth, smells fresh and lathers beautifully.  Every time I use it, I think of Jon and as it melts away after each use, I think of him traveling farther and farther away.

When we moved to Hawaii from Illinois in 2008, we had to sift through 35 years of possessions and then donate, sell, give away what we would not need in Hawaii.  It was very, very difficult.


I remembered seeing Tif's toddler sandals and Jon's little shoes which I could never throw away.  Tif used those sandals until they nearly fell off her feet.  Jon used those rather expensive shoes as brakes when he rode his Big Wheel tricycle so it has holes on the front. I took quite a few of these photos before planning to throw them away.  Or did I?

Well... if I had such trouble with these shoes, you can see why I had problems with the soap.

What are some things you LOVE and just can't throw away?

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Almost Back to Normal

Art had his angiogram last week Tuesday and on Wednesday after we removed the bandage, found that his arm had turned an alarming red.  Then it turned purple which really freaked me out.

We went back to the cardiologist on Thursday, and she advised us to put some warm compresses on it, alternating with an ace bandage.  She also told us to expect his bruise to turn into a rainbow of other colors.



We went back this Tuesday and the color was improving.

However, there was a small knot at the puncture site that was painful when pressed.  She sent us to a vascular doctor to have an ultrasound done on it.  It turned out to be normal and he told us that it would just take time to heal completely.


I've been using a soft reusable gel heating and cooling compress that I microwave for just 40 seconds.  Then I wrap an ace bandage around the entire thing for 20 minutes to hold it in place.

After 20 minutes I take off the heated compress and just use the ace bandage lightly around the arm.


That first photo does not show his arm at its worst.  It did get a whole lot more purple and swollen before it improved.

His arm never did turn into all those colors we were promised.  It just slowly faded bit by bit.  The white arrow points to where the puncture was.  There's a little mound there at the puncture site, but it looks otherwise normal.

Art says I've been a good nurse.  I'm just grateful I've got DrumMajor giving me advice anytime I need it and a whole cadre of bloggers out there who can add their experiences.  I never have to feel like I'm alone dealing with these nerve wracking times.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

I Love My New Wallet!

OK... yes... I know.  This might sound like a crazy thing to get excited about.

I keep my wallets for years, even for  decades.  I keep them until they fall apart.  I've always bought the same sort of wallet.

That's why when the last one I had fell apart I asked for and received this one. 

It was the same design as my previous purses, but something about it just didn't work.  The leather felt stiff and it felt heavier.

I was shopping with my daughter, Tiffany in Illinois last year and told her about my wallet problem.

She asked if I considered getting a longer wallet that would be easier to find in my backpack.

I told her I didn't want a longer one because it was bound to be even heavier.

Still... it made me wonder.

I've looked at wallets everywhere and they were all wrong.  Too gaudy.  Too metal brackety.  Not enough credit card spaces.  No coin area.  Too heavy.  Too stiff.  Too fat.  Too many doo hickeys that could fall off.


Then I saw this one by chance when I wasn't even looking.  It's light and the leather is supple.  There's lots of spaces for cash and coin; more than ample space for cards of every kind, even coupons.  I love the color which I can see in the dark recesses of my backpack.  I can grab it easily and it feels good to hold in my hand.

Well... that's that!  I hope it lasts for at least a couple of decades.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Dermatology Visit

As I've gotten older, weird things have begun happening to my skin.

I've developed a dark spot on the left side of my face.  And on my right side I developed a wart like growth under my eye which I kept staring at.    The growth was tiny, but as I stared at it for years, it grew.

As for that dark spot on the left side, the funny thing is mom and my brother also have it.

I mentioned the growth under my eye to my nurse practitioner and she sent me to Dermatology.


A really fabulous Physician's Assistant diagnosed it as a seborrheic keratoses.  Apparently we can get this as we reach menopause and older.

"Shall we shave it off and get it biopsied?" she asked.

"OK."  Seemed like a great idea since I had a habit of picking on it every so often and worried that it was something sinister.

Then the nurse came in with a needle.

"Ummm.... I need an injection?  On my face?" I wondered if it was too late to change my mind.

"Just a little lidocaine," she said with a smile.  "There will just be a pinch and a little burn."

"Is this like the discomfort they told me I'd experience with my first childbirth?" I asked.

She laughed.

Actually my nurse was absolutely excellent.  It really was just a little pinch or three and a little burn, but perfectly tolerable.  I almost laughed when she said, "Don't move now."


Once I was numbed, my P.A. (physician's assistant) returned and performed a curettage.  She merely scooped the offending lump off with a little scalpel or whatever you call it.  The fellow watching was an intern.  It was over in a trice.  Vaseline and a band aid was applied.


I have to keep it covered in the daytime for four days.  I think I'll invest in some silicone patches so that the scarring won't be too great.  I tend to develop keloids.  I used the silicone patches when I had my thyroids removed and they worked like magic.

I was asked if I wanted the large brown patch on the left side removed with liquid nitrogen but I decided against it.  It's my link to mom and my brother so I don't mind keeping it. 

The PA did mention that there is a lot of skin cancer and skin damage in Hawaii because of our strong sunlight. Aha!  More reason to look into pretty sun hats and parasols.


Monday, February 10, 2014

Olympic Fashion

Art and I had fun watching the Opening ceremonies of the Olympics.  Although it's hard to beat China who is now probably the gold standard of opening ceremonies, we thought Russia did quite well.  I'm sorry I gave up on reading War and Peace though because it would have helped me understand the ballet more.

Art and I differed in our opinions of the Olympic fashion of all the athletes.



There were a lot of white outfits.  That made sense to me since it is the winter Olympics.

Art approved of the stylish, conservative outfits.



The gray and blue outfits were fine.

Art really liked France.

I should have known.  He usually likes more macho colors with simple styling.

I liked Sweden's off center zipper.

I'm sorry I didn't take photos of the earlier countries.  It didn't occur to me that I could do a post on Olympic fashion until after the half way point.



The Russians decided to cover all basis.

They had red, white and blue outfits.


Art didn't care for the American outfits.  He felt it was too loud and in your face.  Ever practical, he felt they wouldn't be able to wear the coats once they left the Olympic Village.

Me?  I rather liked it.  I love the cheerful confidence of it.  It made me smile. I'll bet they'll all be wearing their outfits when they get home.  I'll bet they'll wear it 50 years from now and that their grandchildren will wear it too.

What do you think?

Friday, February 7, 2014

Man vs. Wife

Wednesday afternoon, we removed the bandages where the catheter was stuck into Art's arm for the angiogram.  It had been 24 hours.  It looked like this.


There were some hard areas so Art thought it would be a good idea to massage it a bit.  It seemed to soften the tissue.  OK... fine.

By Wednesday evening and Thursday morning it looked like this.


I had Art call the cardiology unit at Tripler to ask if this was normal, and this is the very calm message I heard him leave on the recording.

"Hello, I have a question about some bruising I have on my arm after the angiogram I received.  I'd like some advice about what sort of treatment I should be doing."

What!?!  Here's the message I would have left:

"Hello, my husband had an angiogram and now his whole forearm is purplish red and swollen!!!! Is this normal? It looks horrible!!!!  Should I call 911 since that's the only number that's given to us on the surgery exit sheet?  WHAT SHOULD WE DO?  It's scary! Arrrrghhhh!"

Well... we'll see what they say when they return the call.  I'm going to try and answer it first.

POSTSCRIPT:


Eventually the arm looked like this and I was freaking out.  Tripler had not called back after an hour so I e-mailed my medical consultant, DrumMajor who told me to go and have it checked out at Tripler.  She also gave us lots of other fantastic advice.

We went right away to the cardiologist's unit and she saw us pretty quickly.  She spent lots of time with us looking for infection at the entrance wound, swelling, temperature of arm, pain, etc.

She advised us to put warm compresses on it to dissipate the bruising and then alternate an hour or so of ace bandaging.  She did reassure us that massaging the hard areas was a good thing to do to spread out the blood under the skin.  She said icing it yesterday was also good to do.  Thank goodness.

Art is sleeping now.   He said he doesn't have to worry because I worry enough for both of us.

I think I'll go take a nap too.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

BIA: Building Industry Association Home Show

We attended the Honolulu Building Industry Association home show the last weekend of January.  It's not exactly my favorite exhibition to attend, but Art loves it.  Since my cousin, Arnold is also a do-it-yourselfer we invited him to go along too.  The tickets were $2 for seniors so it was a lovely bargain. Besides, Arnold treated us.

Art wanted to get some estimates from roofers to apply a white, reflective silicone roof covering on one part of our roof.   We're also considering a solar attic fan and a better RUST-PROOF screen door.


These home shows are the place to go to talk to lots of different companies.  We  had two roofers come to give an estimate a year or two ago (not from the home show) and they never followed through after the initial visit.  We think it's because the job was too small.

All the roofers we talked to at the show said no job was too small, so we'll see what happens after they come to do their inspection.  We'll get the estimates and check with BBB to make sure they are on the up and up and then make our decision.  Keeping our fingers crossed.

Art also found a door that might work and has a 10 year guarantee.  Not cheap, but with all the rust problems we've had with our doors, we're desperate. 

I saw some nice bathroom renovations which got me smiling, but Art focused me back to the roof and door.  Ah well...

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Angiogram Over at Last!

I didn't get nightmares the night before this time.  I was a lot calmer now that I knew what to expect.

It was raining again throughout the night just like last week.  This time, we were more organized and told my brother, Dennis that we would pick him up and then go to Tripler Army Hospital.  He could drive us home after the procedure and my nephew, Cody could pick him up.  This was one less worry since I hated the idea of Dennis riding his motorcycle to our house.


We arrived at Tripler at 7:40 AM. 

Unlike the week before, there wasn't a crowd of people in the waiting rooms.  Art was able to get checked in and changed into his hospital gown ahead of schedule.


We waited at the check-in waiting room, and then went into the pre-op waiting room.  We were now farther along than last week and hopeful that everything would proceed smoothly.  All of the staff were very jovial and helpful.

The cafeteria was closed at 9:30 so Dennis and I grabbed a quick little muffin and mocha breakfast at Starbucks after seeing Art off into the surgical wing.

We then went to the in-surgery waiting area.  There were some sleeping family members of other patients in the darkened room wrapped in blankets and trying to sleep.

I'd brought a stack of magazines and the newspaper for Dennis to read.

I used the waiting time to send a steady stream of text messages and photos to our daughter in Chicago and son overseas who were waiting for word about their dad.  Don't you love technology?

Soon the cardiologist returned with news that she'd done the angiogram through his arm instead of the groin which would enable a faster, easier recovery.

She apprised us of what was learned from the angiogram and said she would prefer Art not do any long distance competitive runs anymore.  She suggested leisurely jogs of not more than 3 miles and mostly brisk walking.  She laughed saying that she doesn't usually have to tell a patient to slow down.  Mostly, she's trying to get people off the couches.

Art thought this wrist equipment was pretty cool.  It has some sort of balloon thing in it to provide pressure to stop the bleeding from the puncture site.

After about an hour, we were able to leave the hospital.  It was about 1:30 so Art was pretty famished since he wasn't able to eat or drink anything since the night before.

Strict instructions were given not to carry anything heavier than a gallon of milk and to take it easy for a week.  We'll see the cardiologist next week for a follow-up.


Dennis drove us to the Golden Wheel restaurant in Aiea where we had a lovely lunch and headed home to our house where my nephew, Cody was able to pick Dennis up.  Needless to say, we are all relieved to have this rainy day over with.
 
Art is disappointed that he won't be able to do another marathon, but he chuckled when he saw Tiffany's text message.

"Totally bummed about the running, but Jon and I will have to keep it up on his behalf."

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Another Sort of Bright Idea

I got the following e-mail with a link to a Target ad from my daughter, Tiffany.

"Did you see the above vest in your Target ad?  It’s eligible for in store pick up.  I think you just order it online and request in store pick up."

 It was a regularly priced $39 weighted 10 lb. vest on sale for $32 at Target.  I was hesitant to order it with all the credit card problems they're having so Tif offered to order it for me since she shops there all the time anyway.  I expected it to take a week to get to Hawaii, but within a couple of hours we got an e-mail that it was ready for pick-up.  When we picked it up we saw the reason why.

It was opened.  Someone else must have bought it, not liked it and returned it.


I tried it and soon discovered why.  My shoulders started to hurt.  We put towels under the shoulder straps to try to soften the pressure.  It wasn't enough.  Art tried walking with it and had the same reaction.

I need to have more weight bearing exercise for my osteoporosis so I was determined to make this work.  The shocking thing for me was how heavy 10 pounds is.  It's really heavy to wear.  If you lose 10 pounds while dieting, that's a LOT.  If you have 10 pounds of extra weight, I can see how it can impact your knees although your bones would be getting a good work out.


I decided to try making a pad for my our shoulders. I sewed a prototype first.  Then I used a heavier material in a more masculine color so that Art wouldn't object to using it.



Since Art is looking for ways to add to his exercising routine he'll be able to use this vest also.  That's why I told him I was buying the vest for both of us.

I also told him the lovely purple color is quite macho too. 

He's a little dubious.
Seeeeee...

If Hulk can wear purple, why not Art?