Trampoline exercise to ease chronic pain & stiffness

2020-12-052020-12-05willo Would this solve your problem? Tags: 44 inch, 550, 550f, 550fi, accessory, activity, aggravate, arthritis, autoimmune, autoimmune disease, below, bounce, bouncing, bungee, challenge, chronic, chronic pain, cords, cost, Costco, Costco.com, COVID-19, cube timer, Datexx, depth, diameter, easy, exercise, family, fit, fitness, Fitness Together, fold, frame, fun, gentle, gently, get up, handle, handlebar, health, hear, height, how to, illness, immune system, included, joint, joint pain, joy, Jump, jumping, JumpSport, kids, living room, lymph, lymphatic, minutes, model, moderate, move, movement, moving, noise, pain, pandemic, personal trainer, physical, physical therapy, pilates, PT, pulse, RA, rebound, rebounder, rebounding, replacement, rheumatoid arthritis, safe, safety, sedentary, sensitive, set up, sofa, sound, space, specs, Sport, spring, squeak, stiffen, stiffness, storage, surface, TimeCube, timer, Tin Man, tips, trampoline, upstairs, user, value, vigorous, walk, water based, weigh, weight, width, Wizard of Oz, yoga 3 Comments

A mini trampoline probably won’t solve your chronic pain issues. My JumpSport 550fi rebounder* has not cured my autoimmune disease, nor did I expect it to. What it has done is offer me is an opportunity to rise up from my seat and move in a way that doesn’t aggravate my sensitive joints. Hardback library book on JumpSport fitness trampoline to show relative size

JumpSport 550fi specs

I ordered my fitness trampoline from Costco.com and received it in mid-July, 2020. I believe the JumpSport 550fi model sold by Costco is simply the manufacturer’s 550f model with the optional Handlebar accessory included.

Here are the specs if you’re interested in the same rebounder I have: JumpSport 550f/fi specs including price, size, weight

Costco online store product page for JumpSport 550fi trampoline

fitness model not included with purchase

JumpSport 550fi mini trampoline user manual

My JumpSport 550fi came with two workout DVDs and a one year subscription for additional streaming content. The former was at an intensity too high for someone with my health issues, and I never attempted to access the latter. Watching the instructor led exercises on the disc was helpful for getting ideas about how I might adapt moves to my own level, however.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m “bouncing my way to fitness,” but I am getting up off my backside and moving vigorously more often than I did without the trampoline. When even common, everyday tasks present you with physical challenges, this feels like a big win!

Recent studies suggest that even very sedentary people gain massive improvements in health and longevity from fairly small amounts of exercise. My personal goal is to always—every day, no matter how bad I feel—get my blood pumping on purpose for at least ten† minutes. During pandemic lockdown, my fitness trampoline has become a key component in achieving that.

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Hot water bottles to warm up 2020’s chilly COVID socializing & studies

2020-11-152020-11-15willo Would this solve your problem? Tags: 100 oz, 130, 2 L, 2 liter, 2 litre, 2.25 L, 2.25 liter, 2.25 litre, 80 oz, 90 oz, acrylic, advice, al fresco, allergy, Amazon.com, ambient, appropriately, arthritis, autoimmune, autumn, balloons, bed, blanket, blow up, boiler, bottle, bulky, burn, burst, buy, buying, cap, capacity, cat, chill, chilly, class, clothes, clothing, cold, comfort, comfortable, compare, comparison, cookie cat, cooler, cover, COVID, COVID-19, CV-DCC, degrade, deteriorate, diameter, dining, dots, drugstore, dry, easy to fill, eating, electric, explode, eyesight, fall, Fashy, fill, fleece, flexible, foul weather gear, fox, gear, gift, grey, health, healthy, heat, heating pad, heavy, Hometop, hot, hot water bottle, how long, how to, Igloo, insulated, keep, large, latex, layer, leak, lid, lunch bag, lunch sack, lunchbox, material, microwave, Mr Strong, New England, outdoor, outdoors, outlet, outside, packaging, pandemic, Peter Pan, pharmacy, pink, plastic, pour, power, purple, PVC, Pyrex Portables, RA, red, reheat, review, rice pillow, rigid, rubber, safe, safety, school, sedentary, shake, shaky, silicone, sit, size, socialize, socializing, stiff, still, stopper, storage, store, studying, tap water, temperature, thermal, tuck, type, upside down, UV, volume, warm, warm bag, warmth, water, wattage, wear, wear out, weather, weigh, weight, where to, which, which one, white, winter, Xboun, Zojirushi 2 Comments

It’s 2020, autumn, and the pandemic did not miraculously resolve after the election. For those of us who believe in science and value the health of others, the only safe way to socialize these days is to take our meetings outdoors.

Red autumn plant by fence - 1 I suffer more from the cold since developing an autoimmune disease, but November in New England isn’t traditionally known for sedentary al fresco activities. Even hale and hearty young people become uncomfortable sitting still as the mercury drops much below room* temperature.

And, of course, we got weather like this in October!

The first step to staying comfortable outdoors is wearing appropriate clothing. It is always wise to bring at least one layer† more than one thinks is necessary for extended jaunts on cool days. Wear a cap, and bring your gloves, too, of course. But if the sun sets, or the temperature drops below 60º F or so, the amount of clothing required—or the need for expensive, highly specialized gear in which you may not wish to invest—can become burdensome.

teal softshell rain

Why I use hot water bottles at home and outdoors

I send my child to outdoor classes—and welcome visitors to our yard for socially distanced visits—with a cheap, simple, classic, soothingly warm hot water bottle. Adding a source of radiating heat beneath a blanket or tucked into a jacket can add hours of comfort for anyone, and, as a bonus, it also helps ease pain for those of us with arthritis.

Unlike a heating pad, you aren’t tied to an electrical outlet with a hot water bottle. And, while I also use microwaveable “warm bags” —which I’ve heard friends call “rice sacks,” “heat pillows,” and also “heating pads”— the grain filled type weigh just as much, yet cool down relatively quickly compared with the long sustained warmth of water with its very high specific heat capacity.

Red rubber hot water bottle on bed

My history with hot water bottles

Before I married my husband, I’d never even seen a hot water bottle in real life. I knew what they were from old novels and cartoons, but hadn’t noticed they were still sold in stores.

Quaint and old-fashioned hot water bottles may be, but I’ve become a convert. I’ve found them readily available in major chains and tiny Main Street Mom & Pop drug stores across America. Ask the pharmacist—or the oldest person on staff—at your local shop, and you will probably get what you need.

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Campsite or quarantine: solar oven & thermal cooker for safe & easy outdoor meals

2020-08-30willo Travel, Would this solve your problem? Tags: 5.5 L, adapt, almond, alternative, arthritis, bake, batch cooking, beans, biscuit, black beans, blackout, brew, brownout, burn, cake, camp, Camp kitchen, Camping, cast iron, chronic pain, Classic Buttermilk Biscuit, cleaning, click, compare, cookbook, cookie dough, cooking, cost, COVID-19, Crock-Pot, dishwasher, Double Chocolate, easy, egg, emergency, energy, experiment, family, family camping, family travel, fill, fire, fish sticks, foil, food, food storage, freeze, freezer, frozen, frozen food, full, function, gluten free, GoSun, GoSun Sport, hand wash, handle, hate cooking, hate to cook, healthy, heat wave, home, hot dog, Immaculate, insulated, kebab, kelly kettle, lazy, Le Creuset, leftovers, lid, liquid, liquids, logo, lunch, mix, non-electric, Outdoor gear, outdoors, outside, overcook, parchment, parenting, pot, pot holder, potato, power, power outage, Prepared Pantry, preparedness, prepper, Pro Pack Kit, propane, quality, quarantine, RA, recipe, REI, review, road trip, roasted, safe, Saratoga Jack, Saratoga Jack's, saute, savings, scrub, shelter in place, silicone, size, slow cooker, solar, solar oven, soup, Sport, stain, stainless, stainless steel, stew, storage, storm kettle, sufficient, sun oven, temperature, thermal, thermal cooker, Thermos, Thrive Market, Travel, tray, trivet, utilities, utility bill, vegetables, volume, washing, weight, wonder oven 6 Comments

Whether you’re spending more time at home to avoid COVID-19 infection or taking advantage of the inherent social distancing of tent camping in the wilderness, it’s summer in the U.S.A., it’s hot outside, but we still need to eat.

I’m a lazy cook who has hungry kids to feed every damn day, but our utility bills skyrocketed due to the whole household being home 24/7 as we sheltered in place.

You can try to record a TED talk from your home office with your windows open to save energy, but the attempt almost guarantees a neighbor will pull out a leaf blower before you nail your performance. Ask my husband how I know!

Solo, I might subsist on cold cereal and the occasional spoonful of peanut butter, but my standards for parenting are a little higher than those for self care. I want to feed my family healthy meals consisting of whole foods sourced from readily identifiable ingredients found in nature, but I don’t want to spend too much time slaving over a hot stove to do so.

I want easy, healthy solutions to mealtime that won’t give me heat stroke.

At our first home, we installed a full size barbecue grill in the backyard. It was conveniently plumbed into the natural gas line and just a few steps from the kitchen, so my husband grilled often, especially on those hot, sunny days when I didn’t want to cook.

Full disclosure: I almost never actually wanted to cook, but I mind it less when the weather is moderate to cold.

Our current home has a very different layout, however, with a second floor kitchen. We love its attached balcony with peek-a-boo peeps of the sea, but it is too narrow for a large grill plus the modern composite decking seems unsuitable for that kind of heat even if I was willing to shimmy past a scorching surface. DH will lug out a tabletop propane model once in a summer’s while if we’re craving burgers, but it’s not a setup that induces me to try my hand at grilling.

Saratoga Jacks 5.5 L Thermal Cooker sitting on deck

Saratoga Jacks Thermal Cooker

GoSun Sport solar oven

I looked for outdoor cooking solutions that mimic my preferred methods for making meals in the kitchen: an oven and a slow cooker. I chose the GoSun solar oven (Sport model) and a Saratoga Jacks Stainless Steel Thermal Cooker. Continue reading →

Dyson “space gun” encourages reluctant sons to vacuum

2020-05-252020-05-25willo Would this solve your problem? Tags: A9, accessories, animal, Animal Plus, assigned, assignment, attachments, battery, boy, charge, charging, chart, child, children, choose, chore, chores, clean, compare, convenience, convenient, CordZero, Coronavirus, Costco, COVID-19, crumbs, dirt, Dyson, effort, equality, family, female, filth, floor, food, frustration, gender, help, home, housework, job, kid, kids, kitchen, LG, light, lockdown, male, maneuverability, mess, model, mom, mud, pandemic, parenting, pollen, quarantine, reach, rechargeable, share, shelter in place, son, space gun, spill, split, stick, sweep, task, teach, technology, tile, tool, track in, trigger, V8, vac, vacuum, weapon, weight, women's work, work 4 Comments

My kids have had chores since they were little. Getting them to do their share of the housework has taken major effort on my part for just as long. In this era of sheltering at home to flatten the Coronavirus curve, however, we’ve faced some the same frustrations as many others.

Here’s my biggest one: Mom is the only one who notices most of the messes, but this mom is neither willing nor able to tackle each and every spot of filth by herself!

My solution? I bought a “space gun.”

Okay, so this is actually the body of a Dyson stick vacuum, not a futuristic weapon. Here are the rest of its parts.

I’d unpacked the new cleaning tool upon arrival, carrying it into the kitchen to charge at a convenient outlet. When my older son walked in and saw it on the counter, he exclaimed, “Hey, what’s with the space gun?!?”

“Hey, what’s with the space gun?!?”

My son made a beeline for the new vacuum. He couldn’t resist picking it up and pulling the big, red trigger. That’s exactly the reaction I was hoping for.

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A Tale of 3 Trousers: Lightweight kids’ pants for carry-on family travel

2020-02-272020-02-27willo Would this solve your problem? Tags: 10, 12, articulated, bag, boy, capsule wardrobe, carry on, child, children, color, Columbia, Columbia Sportswear, comfort, convertible, crotch, decent, dinner, draw string, drawstring, dress up, dressy, DWR, family, family camping, family travel, fiber, fibre, formal, friendly, gray, grey, gusset, gusseted, hang, hanging, hem, hiking, Hobo Traveler, kid, knee, KUHL, leg, lightweight, loop, luggage, man made, medium, mesh, Mountainmaker, neutral, nylon, outdoors, packing, packing list, pants, pocket, pull on, quick dry, rain, REI, reinforced, Renegade, ripstop, seam, security, sew in, Silver Ridge, size, slim, straight, style, suitcase, summer, synthetic, tag, Travel, trouser, trousers, Velcro, volume, waist, waistband, warm, weather, weight, wet, zip off, zipper Leave a comment

I have yet to find any company marketing lightweight, quick dry, travel friendly clothing for kids. Can I be the only parent who prefers to fly light?

Children’s relatively small clothes do pack up more easily than those of a big and tall man, but choosing wisely makes a noticeable difference in the total volume and weight of luggage for a family of four or more.

In my experience, many kids also get dirtier than adult travelers. The ability to wash a garment in a sink and have it dry overnight is vital for happy travels with my own sons.

Today, I’ll compare three pairs of lightweight trousers marketed for boys in Medium an American child’s size 10-12. My criteria for this search included:

lightweight fabric suitable for summer travel
neutral color that can be dressed up or down
quick dry fiber suitable for hotel sink laundering.

With apparently no one setting out to design “travel clothing” for children, the best approximation I’ve found for the lower body is “hiking pants.” Many options on the market were excluded for my purposes because the outdoor companies really love “convertible” trousers† with zip-off lower legs.

Zippered knees never pass for dressy in my opinion.

Kühl Renegade

REI Mountainmaker

Columbia Silver Ridge

I ended up with the following specific styles, ordered from REI and Amazon.com at the prevailing retail prices of mid-May 2019. And all are still being sold as of February 2020.

KÜHL Renegade Pants – Boys’ , size Medium, color Koal
REI Co-op Mountainmaker Pants – Boys’, size Medium, color Asphalt
Columbia Boys’ Silver Ridge Pull On Pant, size Medium, color Grill

Links go to the manufacturers’ own listings for the first and third pairs that aren’t store brands regardless of where I purchased my pairs.

First, the good news. If I had been in a hurry and purchased just one pair, any of these dark grey trousers would work for my son as daily wear pants that could pass as “decent” clothing to wear out to dinner on vacation. Note: I wouldn’t have him wear these to a wedding or a truly elegant occasion unless we’d had a drastic wardrobe catastrophe and had no time to shop for proper formal wear.

As one would hope from quality hiking clothing made by well-known brands, all are sturdy, well-sewn, and free of obvious defects.

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Trampoline exercise to ease chronic pain & stiffness

JumpSport 550fi specs

A Tale of 3 Trousers: Lightweight kids’ pants for carry-on family travel