The Two Whos

Over the winter, Cece has been fortunate to have taken 2 different dream vacations.  You can read about the second vacation on Stepping Beyond and the first vacation  will be detailed here!  She did all this without getting too hot or too cold.

You may remember that Cece went boot shopping with her friend Stephanie.  Actually they got a bit distracted by the stiletto heels!

They were really shopping for warm boots!  Steph was going to Norway to follow her dream to see the Northern Lights.  She got Cece all excited about this trip!  As they  shopped, Steph told Cece about the lights and how she was going to take a cruise on a working cruise liner that would stop at 32 ports and let the local workers on and off.  She was going to  adventure and take sight seeing trips.  She hoped to see a Viking ship!

Cece asked Stephanie if she had several evening gowns as she knew that there was formal dress on most cruises.  But, Stephanie assured her that at 30 below zero there was no need for a strapless gown…but a down parka that went “down to Frigid” was already on order!

Those of you that know Cece, know that she is always cold and would no more go on a cruise into ” 30 below land”  than  get a hole in the head.  So, she supported Steph on her adventure and asked her if she thought her camera would still work at those frigid temps!

Steph and Cece texted and emailed a few times during her trip and about a day after she got back, they met in the Flying Star for dinner and show and tell.  Well,  Stephanie had about 1,000 photos on her Apple laptop  fand she was able to detail each of the 32 ports that she went to.  Cece was fascinated and loved to hear all the stories and tall tales about her trip.  The photos she took of the Northern Lights were spectacular!  WOW!  So awesome.    Cece watched and watched as Stephanie went through each town.  Cece was speechless and listened to her tour.

Later that evening, when Cece was home, she thought WOW she had never thought of going to Norway, but it was so cool!    She went to sleep.  That night,in her dreams, she boarded the cruise liner and cruised through Norway.  She stopped at the 32 various ports and saw the Viking ship, the ice sculptures,  Northern Lights,. the pitch black sky with green light energy pulsing through the sky.  She was in awe!

When she woke up after a full nights sleep, she called Stephanie and told her she went to Norway in her dream!  She was exhausted from her whirl wind  cruise.  …but she was happy that she was so warm in her bed and did not need the sub zero down parka or the thermal boots to enjoy her trip into her dreamland!

Well, I wonder what her next Dream vacation will be like?    Check Stepping Beyond to find out!

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

If you were doing a crossword puzzle and the clue was sodium…it is likely the answer would be salt.  Salt or sodium chloride  is the  solution for the  New Dietary Guidelines too!  These  Guidelines  come out  from the USDA every 5 years.

The  new USDA guidelines are not surprising.  They tell us to eat less and eat more fruits and vegetables.  But what is surprising is that they are suggesting that for anyone over age 51,  or for those who are  African-American or for those who have  high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease (CKD) that they cut their sodium content down to 1500 mgs of salt.  2400 mgs is one teaspoon of salt. This they say will reduce the number of people who need kidney replacement therapy.

Surprise! “ Excess sodium is a leading cause of fluid retention and unhealthy fluid balance. It can also exacerbate high blood pressure by placing an additional burden on the heart. Nutritionists claim that people in the United States consume as much as five times the daily recommended amount of sodium in their diet. While many people have put down the salt shaker, it takes more to cut sodium significantly. Many common foods have high sodium content, and some of them may surprise you.”

Five times the daily recommended amount of sodium?  How can this be?  That would amount to 12,000 mgs of salt per day or 5 tsp of salt.  How can we get that much salt?  Well, anything you eat that is processed…meaning anything that comes out of a box, a jar or a can contains salt. “Salt (sodium chloride) serves a number of purposes. It helps prevent spoiling by inhibiting the growth of bacteria, yeast and mold. Salt also brings out the flavors in food. For example, salt accentuates the sweetness in cakes and cookies. Salt also helps disguise metallic or chemical aftertastes in products such as soft drinks. In addition, salt reduces the perception of dryness in foods such as crackers and pretzels.”

Let’s say that you were trying to eat out fast food and wanted to eat out “healthy.”    You could choose  a tender grill chicken and a salad with Newmans lowfat Italian dressing and a small coke.   You would be eating almost 2,300 mgs of salt just in one meal.   Or if you wanted to eat not so healthy, how about having a baconator, small fries and a 12 oz coke?  That would be over 2600 mgs of salt.  Remember, this is one meal.  We are not counting breakfast, snacks, beverages and dinner in the mix.

So you can see that it will be pretty easy to eat way more sodium than the 1500 mgs that is suggested per day if you choose to eat fast food.  Now let’s look at some other processed food ( all are 3.5 oz. of the stated food)  wheat flakes 1000 mgs; processed cheese 1189 mgs;  crackers 1100 mgs,;  pancakes  425 mgs;  popcorn 1940;  canned ham 1100 mgs;  salad dressing 700-1300 mgs;  hot dogs 1100 mg;  bologna 1300mgs;  tuna 800 mgs.  WOW !  What a lot of sodium.   1 TBS  Soy sauce is 920 mgs;  1/4 cup bread crumbs,240mgs; 1/2 c beans 240 mgs. and 10 potato chips have 240 mgs  of sodium.

How will it be possible to cut our sodium levels to 1500 mgs. per day?  The only answer that can be seen is  to cook everything from scratch.  Use no processed foods…nothing from a can, box or jar. Is this realistic?  We think not.  We are a fast food generation and we do everything on the run.    Also fast food is cheaper than buying fresh.  In this economy people are scrimping on things that are more expensive.Fast foods  happen to be layered and loaded with salt, sugar and fat  to make them more palatable.

What are your thoughts on these recommendations?  Do you see other ways to cut sodium intake without cooking everything from scratch?  Why not try eating 1500 mgs of sodium for a day and see how it goes? Read labels and keep track of what you are eating. Then come and let us know what you think.

Here is a resource to take a look at that summarizes the new guidelines.

“Bye for Now” From The Two Whos

The Saturday Morning Rendezvous will be a place to stop in and meet up on a weekend morning. Have a cup of tea or coffee, a special breakfast, and relax and catch up from the week’s fast pace. The Two Whos will focus Saturday’s content on physical wellness , food and fitness of all types. Come back and rendezvous with us! See you next Saturday! Thanks for visiting

Yun ran into a man she has loved for 5 years .  She ran into him in a coffee shop after not seeing him for over a year.   Even though she was late for her lunch with her friends, she stood there in the sun talking to him for a long time…. admiring his gentle smile and soaking in his smoothing words.

Cece loves this same man too! She writes:

“She arrived at the Open Space and glory be..there he was!  He is an older gentleman and used to be a professional cyclist.  You  might know that  he is the leader of the Cement Factory Spin that Cece and Yun attend each January!  He had with him, his friend Jim…who also was a professional cyclist….and thus… the dynamic duo was born!  They behaved like Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon! Cece is still lamenting that she did not bring her camera, because there were many missed opportunities…for great pics along the way…and she is still laughing at their pranks and jokes…..but she digresses!”

He is our dear friend Tom Hendricks.   He and his wife are leaving NM  and  relocating  to Colorado to be near their children and grand children.

Tom is the kind of man that you just have  to love.  He is genuinely kind and generous, tall and slender, handsome and helpful…  Tom is in his 70s, but men and  women of all ages are drawn to him.  The Whos both met Tom through Team in training.  Yun had a Team in Training  mentee three years ago.   The first day she met Tom, she confided to Yun that she’d marry Tom in a second if he were not already married.

When Yun was hosting her first fund raising party for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, Tom came alone because his wife was sick with Lymphoma. He donated $200 on behalf of his wife for a plate of Yun’s rice and some stir fries.  Then , after Yun’s bicycle accident, it was Tom who nursed back her confidence while  riding down the hills again.

There are people in our lives  who you just  love.  It does not matter  what they look like,  how old are they, what their life situations are….   You just love them because they remind you of what being a human means.  They remind us of what it feels like to be around a humanly human being.   They radiate the human spirit of kindness, trueness, tenderness and lightheartedness.  They make you feel like being a human, worthy, fun and connected.

When you feel that you are drawn towards someone  for no apparent reason….. maybe….just maybe….. their true humanness arouses and connects with  the humanness in you.

“Bye for Now” from the Two Whos

After Cece did her early morning shopping in the cold balmy winter’s chill, she was leaving the parking lot and saw a sign, “Register for Spring!”

What a thought!  She bets that if people could just sign up and put their name on a list, she could get so many people on the list, that spring had to arrive early!

Well, maybe not, but here is a wonderful animation that will bring that spring warmth into your heart.  Once on the site, click and drag your mouse and see the fantastic spring bounty!

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

We are not sure what your  tendencies are when it comes to justifications and logical arguments to back up lies.  The Two Whos have found out that such justifications are truly an art form..It is called the  art of self deception and cheating…the  art of self -lying, and the art of always being right.

One day, a friend told a story to the Two Whos, that  left them exasperated.

On a no school day,the kids wanted to go bowling with their schoolmate Sarah in the afternoon.  So, the mother  calls up the father to see if she can pick up her daughter around noon.  The man says: “The court order says the exchange is at  5:00pm.  Do you want to change court order?  Do you want to go back to court to change the court order?”    “No, no.”  Our friend backs off from the trouble.  The man is right, the court order is the court order….but she was hoping for a bit of give and take here as it would benefit their child.

5:00pm comes around.  There is no sign of her daughter.  Our friend calls: “Where is XXX?”   The man: “Oh, I dropped her to bowl with her friend Sarah’s  family at noon,.  I  thought they’d come straight to your house after that since Sarah lives near you and you have invited them over for dinner.  I am thinking the flow and fun is more important than holding to 5:00pm. Don’t you agree?”  The friend has to agree that kids having fun is more important than sticking to the court order.  This makes great sense, and the man is right again…. except,

Something is fishy, but she could not understand why.  Apparently, whatever decision the man makes, he has all the ‘good’ reasons that she can not disagree with.  But if one pays close attention, the reasons are always to make him appear “right”.  He uses threats of court to get her to back down.  Then he excludes her from the original plan and then he drops the child off so he looks good…all the while easing the mother out of their original plan.

Yun’s  advice to the friend?  None!  If she chooses to debate, she will lose.  There is no way to debate with someone  who applies different ‘reasonable’ rules as they see fit.   It is like  trying to catch a slimy fish…  So, run as fast as you can from people like this.

It is Yun’s  belief that living is much less fearful and much more relaxed when we do not manipulate others.  Head games, cheating and lying are never the best way. Whatever happened to negotiating rather than passive aggressive maneuvering?  Things are often not  pleasant  or workable when it comes to divorce.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos.