Make Your Own Stretch Strap

After four months of PT and nearly two years of constant pain, I have finally been cleared to exercise again. Well, running is still off the table, but at least I can swim, and walk, and hike, and move around without unbearable pain or the fear of my kneecap popping out of its socket! I am doing a very careful happy dance!

On my second to last day of PT, I was taking a close look at my stretch strap, and realized I could probably make one. The straps don't photograph particularly well, but you can see how they are used with these pictures of people much prettier than me!

Source: OPTP

Source: OPTP

I played around on PowerPoint to sketch out the plan. 

The only thing I needed to buy was the 1" webbing, which I picked up at Joann thanks to a 50% off coupon. I'm pretty short, so I knew I wanted my strap to be slightly shorter than the one I use for PT. I bought 3 yards of webbing. If you are taller, you may want to go with 3.5 yards. 

The first thing I did was fold the webbing so that the two ends met in the center above the middle point, and clip them in place with Clover Wonder Clips. If I had to make a top ten list of sewing supplies, these clips would definitely make the cut. They make binding a quilt so much easier. 

It was a good thing I really examined the strap at PT because I wouldn't have guessed that the loops are not the same size on each side. This is a really the only step that takes a little concentration. I made my loops 6.5" on one side and 6" on the other. So first I measured 6.5" from the middle, where the two ends met, and put a pin in the webbing at the 6.5" mark (or in this case, 6-3/8". I guess I bumped my ruler before taking the photo!).

Then, slide the top part of the webbing over until the pin lined up with the 6" mark. I used a wonder clip to mark the spot. 

Continue making loops until you get to the end of the webbing. Then repeat on the other side. I ended up with eight loops. If you use 4  yards of webbing, you'll end up with more. 

Now the easy part. Simply sew straight lines in the marked sections. I used a double stitch and repeated three times. These seams are secure.

It isn't fancy, but stretch straps are a very inexpensive tool to increase flexibility. Plus, they travel well, which is nice for trips when you may not being moving around as much as your body needs.

On my last day of PT, I compared my strap to the straps at the gym. As I mentioned above, my strap was about a bit smaller. As were my loops. The ones at the gym were probably 7" apart instead of 6". The other thing I noticed is that there was a label over the place where the two ends met. 

Since my meet-up point was a little messy due to me learning that a zig zag stitch didn't work particularly well, I like the idea of covering it up. Plus, it gives me an opportunity to show off a little trick I learned for using up the little pieces of iron on printable fabric.

First, I design a little label, 1" by 2" and printed it.

Now that I knew where on the paper my image would print, I taped my printable fabric to the paper, centering it on the printed image. 

Then print the image again. This time it will print on the fabric. 

You'll definitely want to place a piece of fabric over the label because apparently hot irons and webbing don't play well together, so we'll pretend that my stretch strap still looks this pretty!

Linked to:

Creativity Unleased link party * Link Party Palooza * The Party Bunch link party * Sew Can Do 

Zucchini Chips

Dill zucchini chips

Fun fact: I have a sad neglected blog that I started a few years ago when I first started cooking our meals from scratch and eating healthfully. I still use a lot of the recipes, but this blog has taken up most of our time. Since we do include recipes on this blog, I'm bringing over some of my favorite content. (And yes, these photos were taken in our old kitchen).

Pondered, Primed, Perfected is hosting a link party with fitness tips, which inspired me to find this post. It was one of the first Pinterest recipes and I have to say, it's a great alternative to potato chips when you're craving something crispy and salty. And it fits with my rule of allowing snacks as long as I make them myself. The time it takes to make chips (and other healthier snacks) often keeps me from over-indulging in junk. 

What I love about these chips is that it's easy to change up the taste depending on your craving.  Our favorites are dill (pictured above) and garlic (featured in the last photo).

Ingredients:

• 4 small zucchini or 1-2 large zucchini
• olive oil/cooking spray
• salt (or garlic salt, or dill weed, however you want to season your chips)

Instructions:

1. Clean and trim the zucchini.

2. Use a food processor (or very steady hand) to slice zucchini in thin even slices. I'd definitely recommend the smaller zucchini so you don't have to worry about seeds or trimming the sides to fit your food processor.

 3. Brush olive oil on parchment paper (spray with cooking spray. Then place the zucchini slices very close together. They should touch, but not overlap.

 4. Spray or brush with oil again and then lightly season with the flavor of your choice. I liked dill week the best. Hubs like the garlic ones. Season lightly because the flavor will intensify as the chips dehydrate.

5. Cook at 170 degrees F (as low as my oven goes) for 3-3.5 hours. The chips should be crunchy when ready. If they are still a little soft, keep checking them every 15 minutes.

 6. Enjoy!

Garlic zucchini chips

Linked to:

Better Mom * Debbie Debbie Dos * Diana Rambles * House of Hepworths * Housewife How To's * Mom 4 Real * Mums Make Lists * Pondered Primed Perfected

Tips for Healthy Living

I had grand plans to reveal my newly organized pantry and freezer, but The Crash came. Living with a traumatic brain injury means you can never take your memory, endurance, ability to communicate, etc. for granted. I had a nice run of about two weeks where I was able to organize, declutter, and decorate. 

This morning, my brain needed a break. 

It's hard to explain what it's like when I'm in crash mode. If I catch it early and give myself the rest I need, it's a moderate headache, sensitivity to light and sound, fatigue, and a foggy mind for a day or so. If I push too hard, it's a severe headache, inability to tolerate any light or sound, exhaustion, and aphasia (loss of ability to find the words you want to speak). When I get to the point where I'm easily frustrated and I don't seem to be communicating well (because I'm asked to repeat what I'm saying, or I have to re-type as sentence four times to correct typos and make it clear, or my family look at me like I'm speaking a new language), I know it's time to put myself to bed.

I've learned to listen to my body. Or, at least I'm learning. A few days ago, I made this reminder to hang on our frig. The words came from a friend's Facebook wall. Life giving advice.

Linked to Pondered Primed Perfected

Project of the day: Motivation Marbles

I followed some Pin-spiration to go along with my recent scale project, with a few modifications, of course. 

First, the inspiration:

Motivation Marbles by Hot Mess Princess

I've seen some motivational ideas where you pay yourself a dollar everything you exercise at least 30 minutes, or reach certain milestone. When I lost my weight before, I did set mini-goals, but found that I skipped most the rewards I set up (facial, mani/pedi, new clothes), because even though I like those things, I like money in the bank more. So I knew I wanted to try something different this time. I realize that I am a visual person, so I taped up a bunch of pictures of me at my low weight (pre-last TBI) in front of my treadmill, but these project goes in our closet, where I can start each day thinking about how I need to be mindful of my eating. (I'm also thinking of putting a full length mirror on my pantry freezer.)

This was a pretty cheap projects as I had everything I needed on hand:

• 2 containers
• bag of marbles (one for each pound you want to lose)
• letter stickers

The first thing I had to do was remove the labels and underlying sticky residue on the bottles.

I remembered that I had some rather old de-solv-it in a box I had started to unpack. I'm thinking it's at least six years old.

It worked like a charm. (Good to know, since I save most glass containers, and wasn't sure how to get rid of the residue).

Next, count out the number of marbles needed. Some people use a different color for every milestone. I didn't read about that idea until after I decided to use all green ones.

Put all the marbles in one container. This was the demoralizing part of the project.

Then, I realized that my containers were way too big, which made me feel better again. So I found a couple pasta jars and cleared off the residue.

Maybe other people have really good memories and can remember how many marbles are in each jar. I can't, so I made this little chart to put in the "lost" jar.

I also included a pen so I wouldn't have to look for one each week.

I switched letters after I saw these, which are slightly larger than the other ones.

I love sticky letters. Apply to the jars and place in a prominent place. Mine are in the closet next to my clothes.

Until my health stabilizes again, my fitness goals are rather modest, but these jars will help me remember the big picture and hopefully motivate me toward that day when I can really exercise hard again.

Linked to:
Pondered Primed Perfected