The Craziest Day Ever: Prom 2013

Ever have one of those days where so many weird things happen that you think maybe it would be better to just stay home because something terrible might happen? One thing after another! And after a while it becomes comical. That was Thursday for me. Grab a cup of coffee, tea, water or vodka and have a seat.

It had already been a busy week of getting Rachel ready for her senior prom. Lots of shopping and emails and stuff like that. I was making appointments for makeup and hair. Our hair stylist had jury duty so I sent her a text and said I needed her badly on Thursday morning so she got me in at 9am.

I have a schedule in my mind for Thursday. Everything is meticulously planned. Nothing could go wrong....you would think.

The big day arrives and we leave the house around 8:20am to get her hair put up. I get a text on the way that my friend is running 15 minutes late to the salon. No problem. I'll stop at Sonic and get some breakfast for Rachel and I. As soon as I place my order I get a text saying that my friend made it on time after all and is waiting for us. Doh!

So we get our food and I "try" to start the car. Nothing! I panic. WTH?! Why today? No, no, no, no, no. This isn't happening. Fortunately for me, Chuck had a meeting cancelled so he worked from home that day otherwise he wouldn't have answered my text and I would have had to go to Plan B. Crying. Ha, I'm joking sort of. But it would have been difficult.

Chuck comes with his tool kit, I take the other car, drop Rachel off at the salon, go back to Sonic (there's something classy about working on your car at Sonic while they all watch inside and the people eating get dinner and a show), I stay with the car and Chuck goes to the auto store and gets a battery, come back and changes the battery and everything is good as new. Whew!

Rush back to get Rachel from the salon and off to pick up her date's boutonniere. It's ready and looks great! Then to pick up Chuck's prescription at the pharmacy. I go through the drive thru, put my money in the tray and just then a gust of wind comes and blows it away. $10! So I open my door just enough to squeeze out and chase after the money in the parking lot. Done! Mission accomplished.

I also need to mention that on this particular day people are driving crazy and there are several near misses. What is wrong with everyone this day?! Rachel and I are joking how it's an omen and we should stay home.

Get home and feed everyone. I don't eat because sometimes the meds still make me a little nauseous. Get Charlie together and his bag and head over to my mother-in-law's so he can spend the night and go to his piano lesson later that day. I'm on a tight schedule and everything needs to go as planned!

On the way we see a little dog running around at an intersection lost. He's going to get killed. I tell Rachel to open the door and the dog jumps in and is so happy to be rescued. What a cutie! But this is not on the itinerary! The dog lays his head on Rachel's lap and is so excited and grateful. Drop Charlie off at in-laws' then head back to the intersection where I found the dog. He has a collar but no tags. I can't keep him! I don't want any more animals.

Rachel thinks she saw him come from a certain direction towards the intersection earlier so we drive that way looking for a house where we can leave him. At least so he won't get hit and maybe he'll recognize his home. That's the idea anyway. I stop, Rachel opens her door and the dog jumps out. We leave and I look in my rearview mirror: he's running after us doing his best to try to catch up with us. Rachel and I both are feeling terrible! It's just so sad. About that time Rachel yells, "You just ran over a snake!" Oh, no! I saw something in the road but I thought it was a piece of tire tread so I straddled it. I didn't hit it.

I turn the car around and head back to the snake to help it get off the road. Unfortunately, it had already been injured earlier. Ugh, I felt terrible! Seriously?! The dog and now a snake? And a car battery? In one day? And chasing money around and avoiding accidents all morning?

Since I'm heading the direction from which I came, I'm going to see the dog again. He had found a house where someone was sitting on the front porch and was approaching so I'm hoping it was either his home or someone helped the little guy. I felt so guilty.  Then Charlie calls and wants to know if I kept him and is quite disappointed that I didn't. He was not happy with how I handled everything but what can I do?!

On to Rachel's makeup appointment. I'm pulling in the parking lot and get a text that the music studio is closed so Charlie can't get in to his piano lesson. Shortly afterwards I get a call from the music studio saying they had him marked as absent for this week. No, no, no, no!!! I had called earlier in the week to apologize for missing last week's lesson because I was adjusting to the meds and I was sleepy and slept through his lesson and totally forgot about it. I had a mental fog. We cleared up the misunderstanding but he still wasn't getting a lesson so I had to send my mother-in-law back to her house with Charlie.

The makeup stylist was running about 30 minutes behind. Not good. And I get a text from Rachel's boyfriend saying he would be at our house in 30 minutes. Not good. She wasn't even dressed yet. We're still sitting at the spa! He said it was no trouble and he didn't mind waiting. But they had dinner reservations.

Rush home. Rachel gets dressed quickly and gets her jewelry and shoes on. Her boyfriend shows up so Chuck takes them to the front to take pictures.

 She looked so pretty. I should also mention I ordered her dress a month in advance to have it custom fitted and we got it the week before prom. There was a bit of panic going on in the house.

 While they're taking pictures, I jump in the shower to get ready because Chuck and I will be chaperones. Tick tock, tick tock. Time is running out.

The kids go to a park where they were supposed to meet some friends for pictures but it was decided to change the location so they drove to the new location about 30 minutes away. Got some group pictures with friends done.

 My crazy friend Jane doing a photo bomb. She's hilarious.

 The kids go out to dinner while Chuck and I arrive at the prom location. It's set up beautifully! You can see in the back the DJ table. We were arriving early to help our friend Kyle set up as DJ. The area that's lit to the right is where a buffet is set up for the kids. There was even a lemonade fountain. And even though some of the moms asked if I was going to spike it, I told them I had promised Rachel I would be on my best behavior and would not even dance. But I lie a lot. ;)

 The tables were set so beautifully!

 The grounds had peacocks roaming and this water wall at the entrance. I want one of those! Very pretty.

 Kyle is testing his equipment and everything is going great! Then right before it's time for the kids to arrive, his mixer acts up and his computer bogs down. It's not working! And they'll be there any minute. I turn on the hotspot for my phone so he can get internet service to try to search for a solution to his problem. But cell service is sparse inside this place.

Chuck and I are going back and forth outside to use our cell phones to try to look up a solution. Some of the moms think that I'm going out to the car for a nip on some alcohol. Hahahaha! Noooo. Just trying to get cell service.

Kyle is in a panic. He finally has to resort to plan B once the kids start arriving and runs his system off itunes. It worked but he wasn't happy about the whole thing. I gave him a hug and told him to chill. Known this guy for over 25 years.

 The kids get there, dance for a while, and pause for a group picture.

 Everybody had such a good time!

 There was the Chacha slide, Cupid Shuffle, line dances, Thriller, Harlem Shake and more.

And I may have been talked in to doing the Wobble in a corner with some moms. And they may have ganged up on me to do the ChaCha Slide and Cupid Shuffle. But I did it under protest! Fortunately, Rachel thinks it's funny. And there may be pictures of all of this floating around but fortunately I haven't seen them nor do I want to see them!

At midnight the dance was over and a big group of people wanted to all go out to IHOP for breakfast. Sooo.....after helping Kyle tear down the DJ set up and load, we headed to IHOP with everyone.

By that time I'm really tired and not hungry. But I get a little something. We're all deliriously tired by the time the food comes. And everything becomes funny. Ever been like that? So lots of laughing.

Finally it's time to go home!! We get home at 2:40am and I'm so tired I have trouble falling asleep. Somehow I manage.

It was a crazy day that ended on a good note. Everyone had a blast at prom, Kyle was asked to DJ next year because the kids liked him, and everything worked out.
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Little update on meds.....
I'm now taking a Glumetza in the morning and night and doing well! This Saturday night I'll be adding an extra one at night per the doctor's instructions and see how it goes Sunday.

I'm down 3 pounds. It's not much but clothes are fitting a little differently so maybe there are some inches lost too. We'll see. I'm not stressing about it. :)

Hope you are having a great week so far and everything is running smoothly!

1 Week Meds Update

It's been a little over a week since I started taking Glumetza in the evening and my two thyroid meds in the morning. So far, so good!

I'm feeling like myself again except for stomach being not very happy in the mornings. I'm getting some energy back. Yay! So hopefully the bad initial side effects are about to pass.

I have not been very hungry at all. Usually by the evenings I'm starting to get my appetite back.

Yesterday I got a call from the doctor's office. My lab work results had come in. Things look ok overall but the doctor wants me to work up to take four Glumetza pills per day! Four! I was happy to have adjusted to one. It's a little disheartening.

I'll start adding in a pill with breakfast soon. I'll wait to adjust to that before adding another pill with dinner. Then, finally, two pills with breakfast.

I really, really don't like taking pills or any medication for that matter. But I did promise the doctor that I would try it his way for six months. I'd give it my best shot and give it a fair try. I've been fighting him on this since 2010 I think? Last visit he gave me a pretty serious talk so I figured I'd give it a shot instead of fighting him every step of the way.
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Other things going on: last night I went to the Houston Museum of Natural science to see Dr. Patrick Hunt give a lecture about Otzi the Ice Man, a 5300 year old naturally preserved mummy. Was very interesting. Tonight he'll be giving a more in depth lecture at the Health Museum and I highly recommend it if you can go.

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Rachel's final prom is this week so I've been busy getting ready for that: buying accessories, making hair and makeup appointments and fun stuff like that. That's tomorrow and since our good friend is the DJ, Chuck and I will be chaperoning the dance. Should be interesting. I'm going to prom! Hahaha!
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There's a lot coming up. Chuck has a state shooting match coming up, Rachel will be graduating in two weeks, I have a birthday coming up. I'm still 21. ;)

And tonight I'll be inn Conroe while Chuck shoots a qualifier to see where he ranks. Or something like that. I'm not exactly sure how it all works.

Busy, busy, busy time of the year.

I guess I'll check my weight on June 1 to see what's going on with that. The scale needs batteries and I've been in no rush to replace them. But all I have to do is look in the mirror to see I still have a long way to go to be at my happy weight. That's ok. I'm on track.

Wishing each and every one of you an awesome Wednesday! Wish me luck as I add an extra Glumetza to my routine this weekend. Hoping it won't be too terrible and I adjust quickly. I'm giving all of this until October (six months) to see some results. I promised the doctor I'd try and I will.

Vicksburg Trip Part 1

Yes, I said part 1. As in there's going to be more so brace yourselves. And yes, I'm making you sit through my vacation photos. Humor me and pretend you're interested and no one gets hurt. Otherwise, I may get psycho on you. Read previous post to understand why. :)

Seriously, I'm doing soooo much better! Feeling better. I think I may be able to tolerate this form of metformin. I have great hopes that this will help out. Time will tell.

Ok, vacation. Last Thursday we left on a little weekend trip to Vicksburg, MS. When Rachel was about a year and a half, we lived there for a year so I wanted her to get to see some of the places she used to visit and also see the historical sights.

First a trip to my mom's house to drop off a dog and a lizard. Because I have a small zoo. Then back on the road! She lives about an hour and a half from my house.

Charlie was excited to cross the Louisiana state line but when we did he was a little disappointed. He said it looked a lot like Texas. I'm not exactly sure what he thought it would look like.

Stop for some Cajun lunch at Hollier's Cajun Kitchen in Sulphur. That's some good eating there! We started with fried alligator.

 And a crawfish pistolette. Ohhhh, I haven't had these in so long. It's a roll stuffed with cheesy goodness then fried. Really. Hang on just a second: let's be totally honest here. This was not a low cal trip.

 Half of this monster shrimp po boy. No way we came close to finishing all this. Charlie ordered chicken fried steak. Really? We live in Texas! Get something Cajun. Oh well.

 Over the years I have developed an allergy to shrimp and lobster. Which is sad because I love them both! I am happy to announce that the past two times I've had shrimp I have not had an allergic reaction! YES!! Happy about that.

After a lunch like that we were all feeling a but lethargic. Plus the weather was drizzly. Passed over the long bridge of the Atchafalaya Basin. Nice and swampy. So many places to canoe out there. I would love to explore it.

 We make it to St Francisville, Louisiana and stop by The Myrtles plantation. This place has been featured in countless magazines and television programs and is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in the world. It's beautiful to me. Wouldn't you love to stay here?! You can! Go to the web site and check it out. I really, really want to do that.

 The grounds are incredible. There's a pond and gazebo. The little white building to the right is the carriage house restaurant.

 Ah, yes. I can see myself sitting on this porch. Sir, please bring me another mint julep.

 I did a little check-in on Facebook and a friend commented that she and her sister-in-law stayed upstairs in the main house. She didn't believe in ghosts in stuff but her sil brought an audio recording. They were taunting the two child ghosts that are supposed to live there and on the audio recording they heard kids talking about how they hide in the attic. It freaked her out so bad that she will never go back. I'm a skeptic about most things but I'd love to go and see. Wouldn't you?!

We took the scenic route starting in Natchez, MS and travelled up Natchez Trace which is a very old pathway that prehistoric animals used to travel and later Indians and later pioneers. It winds all the way from Natches to Tennessee. 444 miles and covering 10000 years of North American history.

Even though it was raining and a cold front was blowing through, we stopped at the US's second largest Native American temple mound called Emerald Mound.

 Charlie was the first to the top, of course.

 Ok, it's higher than it looks. Yeah, we got pretty damp walking around out there but it was very cool. There's Dash waiting to go.

 Back on Natches Trace we go. Cold and drizzly but such a pretty drive.

 We finally make it to the hotel in Vicksburg. Everyone gets a shower because we're all cold and wet. By that time we're tired and no one really wants to go out so I find a place that'll bring pizza to us. Mmm....pizza and some tequila after a long drive. Then it's time to pass out in a very small bed. I sure did miss my king bed. :)

The next morning is a trip to Waffle House and to the Mississippi visitor center. It's going to be a cold, windy, wet day so I adjust my itinerary accordingly. There was no way we could go to the petrified forest on this trip. There was too much to see and the weather was not cooperating. The Mighty Mississippi River and the two bridges. We used to drive across the old bridge on the right but it's closed now.

Gave the kids some choices of things to do and Rachel begged to go see some more Indian mounds in Louisiana. So off we go to Poverty Point. It's named after a plantation. Apparently the owner had fallen on some hard times.

 

 

Poverty Point Mounds are very, very old. We're talking over 3,000 years. They've uncovered many figurines. It looks like they had the same fertility goddess shapes that you see in other ancient cultures. It's fascinating how people all over the world can live in different places but have the same shaped goddess figures. Perhaps they carried the ideas with them when they migrated across the Bering Strait land bridge Beringia. You know, in ancient cultures I have the body of a goddess! :)



 There were several objects found. They even had some hardened clay pieces that still had the finger and palm prints from the people who made them all those years ago. I got a souvenir replica figurine for my little collection.

 For years, the land had been used as fields so many of the circles were plowed until flight was invented and people could finally see that there was a pattern and even a giant bird shaped mound.  The kids are on the top of the bird mound below.

 I know it doesn't look very high but those steps take a toll on the legs. Wow! We got a nice workout. This is looking from the top.

 Time to head back to Vicksburg. This time to the Old Courthouse Museum. It was built in 1858 and has housed such guests as Jefferson Davis, Teddy Roosevelt, Ulysses Grant, Booker T Washington, and William McKinley. This building has seen so much. It survived the bombings during the Civil War and a tornado and floods.

 This sash was worn by Washington and Jefferson Davis at their inaugurations.

 I found it funny that when Vicksburg held a reunion for the soldiers of the Civil War, the old men got in a fight that evening with their canes! I guess some old wounds don't heal too easily.

 Charlie checking out some bullets found on the battlefield. I've found a couple out there before too. Mini balls. And a piece of bone after a rain!

 Ever heard the term biting the bullet? Well, here is a bullet with teeth marks in it. Surgery was a lot different then. Ouch!

 Seriously? Ugh. The temptation. I won't tell if I refrained or not. You'll have to decide.

 So we're in this museum with some priceless artifacts and there's this one section devoted to pioneers and we see a big, fat cat lying in one of the museum pieces! It's an old cradle.

 Loved looking at the clothing. They had some old wedding dressed and these wedding shoes. Hmm....wonder if they would fit.

 And the courtroom. It's upstairs so they would open the windows to let a breeze flow through because southern summers are very hot! And being upstairs is even hotter.

 An original teddy bear that Teddy Roosevelt gave to a child in Vicksburg. It was about an hour north of Vicksburg that Teddy was on a bear hunt and his hunting party came up to a bear that was tied. Teddy refused to shoot it and the whole teddy bear craze started. His gun used on the hunting trip is also on display at the museum.

 Rachel in front of the well house on the courthouse grounds. She's almost 18 now.

 But when she was almost 2, my mom and I took her here and they had reenactors. This picture was taken almost at the same spot.

 They grow up so fast.

After a full day of history, it was time to get cleaned up, grab some dinner, and head back to the hotel. Day 2 had ended.



I'm curious, do you believe in ghosts? Have you had any "experiences?"

Me? I had some very odd things happen at our previous house. Very strange! But I'm still a skeptic at this point.
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Wish me luck. Friday morning Rachel and I are both getting blood work done. She's taking a fasting glucose tolerance test and I'm just getting the usual done. I guess you don't really need luck for that. Anyway...that's happening. :)

Happy Friday to you!

Run for the Hills!

Today is day two of starting up my insulin resistance and thyroid meds. I thought I'd document this in case any one else goes through something similar.

A few years ago my doctor put me on Metformin. I did not do well and it ended with me hooked up to all kinds of machines at the cardiologist's office. So my doctor decided to start me out slower by crushing up the metformin and having me take small crumbs and progressing to larger crumbs until my body was accustomed to it. The goal being to have me taking whole pills eventually.  That didn't work out either.

So I've tried to battle insulin resistance and low thyroid on my own with diet and exercise. But now my doctor seems even more insistent on getting me on these darn pills. He gave me a good long talk at our last visit and I have promised to give it my all. I will do my best.

Monday night I took my first Glumetza which is a type of metformin as I understand it. The side effects are supposed to be much less than Glucophage (metformin) and I only have to take one pill per day. Sounds good, right?

Monday night I woke up with nausea and did not sleep very well. By Tuesday morning I was feeling pretty off. I do not have the normal side effects associated with metformin. Nope. Instead I feel like I'm in a mental fog, I'm tired, upset stomach, moody, lonely, crying for no reason and pretty much an all around psycho chick. I can not begin to tell you how much I hate that feeling.

My mom reacts poorly to just about all medication. When she tried metformin she did just fine. Not any side effects at all. And she dropped weight very easily. Me? I'm scaring all of the people I love around me. There at least better be some weight loss with this! Honestly, I am not myself. And it bugs me that I can't just control it.

By Tuesday night I was pretty much a wreck. I didn't want to eat but I had a little something and took my second Glumetza pill. I had cried for no reason that day, went full psycho, and wasn't a pleasant person. I didn't even want to be around me! How can I explain to people that it's not me?

Tuesday night I hardly slept at all. My heart was pounding and I just couldn't sleep. I worried about feeling different. I worried about offending people. I woke up several times with nausea.

It's now Wednesday. I'm still dealing with feeling off balance. I don't like it one bit! But I will give this a few days to see if I adjust. Right now it's a pretty rough time for me. The whole thing makes me feel low.

I am sorry for such a downer of a post but I do want to document how I do with this and how I progress. I'm hoping I'll be back to my normal cheerful happy self within a few days. In the meantime, you may want to run for the hills and avoid this psycho chick. Haha

Oh, but the good news is that the thyroid pills don't cause any odd side effects for me. So that's something! Now to get this metformin under control.

Thanks for hanging in there with me. It'll get better soon. I'm sure of it. :)

Doctor Visit

I was way overdue for my doctor visit but I continued to put it off. I can't stand going to the gynecologist! It's not that he does anything wrong. He's a super nice guy and funny and does his best to put his patients at ease. But I feel weird paying a guy to look at me there. He never even offers to buy me a drink first.

August 2012 I received test results while I was on my way to Dallas. I had abnormal cells and they needed to retest in three months. Fast forward to April and I still hadn't gone back. I'm not sure why. Maybe I was afraid something would be wrong and if I didn't know about it then it couldn't hurt me? Who knows?!

So I went to see Dr. Wheeler last Wednesday. He looked concerned when he sat down. He said he was not happy with my weight and asked when I was going to let him treat me.

You see last time I saw him I decided to stop taking all my meds and try to control this insulin resistance, PCOS and thyroid issues with diet and exercise. Just to see if I could do it because I had such a terrible reaction to the metformin. We're talking chest pains. Bad stuff. I told him in August that if I couldn't do it my way then I would give his way a fair shot.

Well, when a doctor says you're in the top 5% of worst cases he has ever had in his practice and he is very concerned, you listen. And when he promises you that he can help with all of your problems and reverse your metabolism to what it was 20 years ago and help you lose weight, you listen.

Long story short: I'm on two thyroid meds (Levothyroxine and Liothyronine) and a new form of metformin called Glumetza that is supposed to be tolerated easier. The Glumetza is taken with my evening meal and the two thyroid meds are taken on an empty stomach early in the morning.

Last night I took my Glumetza for the first time. Since I had such a terrible time with metformin, I was concerned about what would happen with this medication. The only problems I've had so far was waking up early this morning with nausea and a headache and mental fog. I cant hardly think straight. But maybe I'm still just recovering from the weekend.

I'm hoping that this will really work like the good doctor says it will. I'm sick of gaining weight so easily. I'm sick of the issues that come along with PCOS and low thyroid. Although I'm not a fan of medicating a problem, I'm just so ready to be "normal" that I'll give it a try.

Right now I am only taking a sample of Glumetza because my insurance may/may not pay for it. Before I tackled that the doctor wanted to see how I would tolerate the meds. So far so good but it's only been one dosage. If I start developing chest pains I will cease taking it immediately and will probably be sent to the cardiologist again. We want to avoid that, yes?

I was on a mini vacation over the weekend. I wanted the kids to see some historical places so we visited a couple of Indian ceremonial mounds, Vicksburg battlefield and other place (more about that in a future post).

While standing in the cold wind near the old courthouse in Vicksburg, I see I have a voice mail. I check and it's the doctor's office with my newest test results. They ask me to call the office. Oh boy. Last time I got a call I was also on a weekend trip but the news was not good. Why didn't they just tell me on the voice mail that everything was ok? If I need to call the office then everything must NOT be ok! Oh no.

With shaking hands I dial the office. My family is already inside the courthouse museum looking around. They have no idea what's going on outside. I call the office and I get the receptionist who seems to recognize my name and puts me right through. Oh no. This really can't be good! I'm put on hold and get the nurse who tells me..........everything is normal. No more abnormal cells!! But I will need to come back every 6 months for 2 years just as a precaution.

BIG sigh of relief. When I go inside the courthouse my hands and knees were still shaking a little. I'm so glad to get that piece of good news.

So that's about it right now. I go Friday to get bloodwork done and several tests will be run. I'm taking my meds and hoping for a little miracle with those. I feel a bit like a failure for not being able to do it on my own but at this point I just want it to work!

I have a ton of pics from the vacation to share but I'll try to narrow it down to a half ton. ;)

Hope you're having a great week so far. Hopefully I'll be out of this mental fog next time I post and will have no side effects from the meds.

Suddenly Exercise

I'm trying to get myself on an exercising schedule. Once it becomes a habit it's pretty easy to maintain. You feel like you're forgetting to do something if you skip a workout. Actually setting up that habit is an entirely different case!

I did pretty good on the exercise front last week. But I tend to overdo it getting started. Guess what. You can't catch up on all of the missed exercise sessions in one day!! Yet, there I was.

My goal is to walk or bike at least 5 days per week and throw in some strength training twice a week. Maybe do some interval training once a week.

So all is going well. I'm walking and enjoying my time outdoors listening to music. You gotta have music! Tuesday was my scheduled strength training day. No problem. I'm going to start out slow because I don't want to be too sore.......is what I should have done. But nooooo.......

Tuesday morning I do my strength training reps but need something to work as a pull up bar for some of the exercises. So I do what I can at home then take off for a mile walk to the playground to use that as my gym.

 Wow, pull ups are difficult! I've never done one but I'm trying to get strong enough to eventually accomplish that little feat. And playgrounds make a pretty good gym!

Ok. All done. Little sweaty from the walk and exertion.

 I'm feeling pretty good so may as well mow the grass. It needs it pretty bad.

Starting the mower turns out to be its own workout. And apparently the power assist isn't working and the left tire is leaning in. All making for a pretty tough workout.

Then the back yard grass has gotten out of hand so it creates another good workout. The mower dies a couple of times so I have to struggle with starting it again. Yeah, work that core! Finally realize it's out of gas. Did you know a mower will not start when it's out of gas no matter how many times you pull on that darn string? True.

I'm mowing and sweating. Even go inside once to help Charlie with his math. That's right...I do it all. Then the mower dies again! I figured it got bogged down in tall grass so I keep fighting to restart it. Nope, out of gas. Again.

By this time I had been outside for hours and sweat was in my eyes and I'm covered in grass clippings. My legs were a little shaky.

So the best way to get back in to an exercise habit is not to try to do everything in one day. Did you know that? I do now!

I had trouble walking for a few days. Actually I had trouble even getting out of bed without groaning in pain.

Lesson learned: take it slow! But keep it steady.

In case you are interested, Mark Sisson at Mark's Daily Apple has a free exercising schedule and recommendations called Primal Blueprint Fitness. I'm following it and hoping to see the great results he has.

Now that I'm able to walk again, it's time to get right back on schedule. But no more trying to do it all in one day!

Activities Report

April is flying by and I haven't accomplished many of the things I wanted to do. I've got to get going!!

I did go for a run last week and a few walk which was nice. But strength training is so important. And it's not like it takes that long! Just need to do it. Maybe I'll put it on the calendar as appointment. I'll put a time for it and everything. No excuses.

The eats have been off and on. I've been good and bad. For instance, the in laws took us out this weekend to celebrate Rachel getting her driver's license. I got a fresh basil and sausage flatbread appetizer pizza. But I only had two small pieces. They're really small. So portion control. Yay me! But I also had two beers. Not so good.

There was a lot of eating out over the weekend. I'm not eating a lot but the choices haven't been the best. Last night I cooked and will be cooking for the rest of the week. I'm serving my belly an eviction notice. It's got to go!!

Clothes are fitting decently. I mean, there's always room for improvement but I'm not fretting over it too badly.

Looking for fun ways to stay active. Saturday Rachel and I went for a hike at a state park together. It was such a pretty day and I enjoyed spending time with her.

 My phone doesn't take the best pictures but we got to see a couple of alligators and several birds.

 And black bellied whistler ducks all in a row.

Mostly we just enjoyed listening to the sounds of all the song birds and feeling the sunlight.

I'm loving the longer days!!!! Spring is my time of year. I feel motivated to get out there and run and walk and bike and enjoy life.

Now....off to do that strength training. I have an appointment. :)