It's MORNING!

Okay! I said it's morning, not MOANING! Do your stretching, wriggling and rolling to get some blood in those extremities. Once you feel somewhat awake, roll to one side and lift the higher leg towards the ceiling, not high enough to hurt, but up and down as many times as feels comfortable. 5 reps is a good start. Now try to lift your lower leg to the ceiling as well, 5 times. Can you do it? (Baby steps)
Roll to your other side and repeat. Increase reps by 1 to 5 a day. After over a year I am still only doing 25 to 30 depending how strong I feel and I never *push* myself.
Once you have completed the first dead in bed exercise go ahead and try 1. Just one situp. I place my heels just off the bed and straight legged, I concentrate on holding my tummy muscles firm and pull up to a sit. Let me know how you do.

What inspires YOU to move first thing in the morning?

Could it be to pet a faithful friend?

Second Verse from "The Dead in Bed Exercise Movement", started by ME!

Now that you have your fingers moving and are making up arm movements for hula dancing, do the same with your toes, then ankles, imagine you are a ballerina, a swimmer, POSE! Imagine you are waking up your whole body digit by digit, joint by joint, limb by limb. Don't *fling* any body part about lest you wrench a knee say......just keep on keeping on with a gentle, consistant wriggling and stretching then roll, back and forth, to and fro. You get the picture, before any reps of any movements you must get *some* kind of fluidity in those muscles. How often I myself have "lurched" about on leg muscles that feel like dry twigs. Next begins the *real* exercises from Dead in Bed. Get up for it, practice the forementioned, I *promise* it will help! I am living proof!

By the way, if you are one of the very few fibromyalgians have... that wierd thing that feels like a worm in your ear, itching, I have no cure. Boyoh Boy! I tried some stuff like ahem, vinigar drops, oh well. Just knowing that it goes away might help. It does. Eventually.

Acid, Oil and Vinigar, 3 things you need to ingest every day!

Acid, no no not LSD , we are talking ascorbic acid here. Always, the best source is to have citrus trees growing in your backyard, but in case you don't...an orange every day, a grapefruit, fresh squeezed lemonade, limes squeezed in your coronas, no no, just joking, beer is not good, well, beer *is* good, alcohol is not recommended!
If fresh citrus is not available canned fruit is great and easy to fix. When I travel I buy however many days I'll be on the road's worth of assorted canned fruit. My goodness! There are so many canned combinations, even more refreshing when packed in an icy cooler! And then there are tomatoes, a gazillion varieties these days but none better than a fresh picked Big Boy off your garden plant! Canned tomatoes can still pack a punch of goodness.
Where I live, in L.A. (Lower Alabama) right now, satsuma trees are bent over with the weight of the fruit, right in time for Flu season! (perish the thought!)

Oil, I am not talking Crisco here (sorry Crisco!). I am one of the lucky ones whose grammas (both) force fed them castor and/or fish oil by the tablespoonful when I was a youngun'. Bleeaaaccckkk! For 50 years I hated anchovies! Mom and Dad would have the pizza guy put anchovies on HALF the pizza, and that always ruined my pizza night. Fortunately my kids did not have to endure that. We made up our own pizzas, spinich, red onion and ricotta, BBQ chicken pizza, recipes to follow...

Back to the fish oil. In the last 2 years after living a half a century hating anchovies I have begun to crave them. I will eat them like vitamins, 1/2 a tin of *Reese* cute little anchovie fillets rolled around capers EVERY day, with or without the caeser salad. That's my favorite! For those of you who disdain 'chovies there are other ways to get this valuable nutrient. I recommend eating fish, especially red salmon and tuna. If you have an iron skillet, simply apply seasonings and fry on medium high 4 minutes, flip for another 4 and it's lovely. (that's for about a 1 inch thick filet) Fish oil capsules, pretty simple and painless...I personally recommend taking these with food or milk to prevent later day fishy burpings. ( I take the big ones, 1000 mg. *Spring Valley Omega 3 Fish Oil* readily available at any Walmart.) For those who can't fish OR cook, try canned herring on crackers, sardines on crusty bread, or albacor tuna from a can with some lime squeezed on along with a dash of pepper. This will help your mind and body, at least according to *my* mind and body! I am no doctor but I have had 5 children natural via childbirth and that's something most of *them* haven't done!

Vinigar, the mysterious fermented liquid, like gold it is, Texas tea, almost! Later on I will bring you facts and fables about vinigar but for now just DOIT!
1 tbsp of cider vinigar per day is a good place to start. Throw a little vinigar in your pot of greens or fried cabbage. If you hate vinigar and cooking eat Pickles, my very very favorite is Aunt Wanda's pickled beets. Vinigar and olive oil sprayed or sprinkled on salads is great. AND good news, pickles are not fattening!

Dead in Bed, Exercise 1

Note the fingers making signs. This was my very first exercise.
I am not pretty. I am real and don't really give a hoot to *being* pretty. I do imagine I am growing old gracefully. I have no one to impress, my eyes will sag, my lips will narrow, breasts will fall...what the hay, who needs 'em!
I have the whole bed to myself since Sweetheart left for Afghanistan, except for the critters that creep up at night, dogs...cats...
Cats...Bear, I'll have to get my daughter to photo that!

My first sit up after 25 years!

Prior to October 2008, I had the MOST difficult time getting out of bed. Of course I always did but it took some TIME. My Sweetheart arose in the dark most often getting ready for work, and before he left he would bring me coffee in a thermal mug. Some days it would be an hour before I could clutch that mug safely to bring it to my lips. (*tip=thermal mug keeps it warm)

One morning October 2008, he was in the shower and the sun was shining in the windows and I felt good and I was musing back to when I was a situp champ and I did one. Struggled out 1 situp. My love comes around with coffee and I said "guess what! I did a situp". He said..."well maybe you should stop there until tomorrow". That was oddly inspiring. Before too many months passed I had 50 situps in the bag easily. I never pushed. My OWN exercise program is a slow one. Honest to God, it was SLOW. About 5 months after that first situp I had begun to develop an exercise routine IN BED, before I got up, before the weight of me was forced upon my sad feet and joints. The benefits of MY slow in bed exercise routine are bountiful. It didn't hurt me. I am not selling anything. I am not a medical practictioner and have no expert advice except for my own, which is just to say, this is my experience, so ask your doctor before doing anything dangerous, like 1 situp.

Turtle Steps

I am not a computer whiz (yet!) so give me some time to get this BLOG up and running smoothly. I can't sit for too long a spell or you know what happens.......oh yeahhhh the dreaded pirate *stiffness* scampers in and commandeers the body! How to avoid it? Get it up and MOVING!