Saturday, June 21, 2014

Update

Has it really been four weeks since I posted an update? Hmmm. That might be an indication that it's time to retire the blog...

My foot is doing better, but I'm still hesitant to try running on itl. I will be doing an experiment with three different insoles to see if that helps. It's worth mentioning that I've walked quite a bit on my foot recently without the addition of an insole.  I can tell it's not 100% back to normal, and I want to give my feet some extra support.
  • An older pair of Sole Softec moldable inserts - I've had these for awhile and they were in another pair of shoes.  They are fairly rigid and have been heat molded to my feet. I've tried walking with these inserts in my kinvaras.  My foot felt okay, but my my hips began bothering me a bit.  This might have something to do with the fact that I molded these to a different pair of shoes with higher drop than the ones that I'm currently using?  Not sure.  Anyway, it's just one data point so far.
  • Sole Softec
  • A new pair of Superfeet berry inserts - I have these on order because they were cheaper online than in the stores locally.  Seem to have very high ratings.  Should arrive on Monday.  I'll replace the Softec inserts with these when they arrive so that I can test them out.
    Superfeet Berry
  • A new pair of Sof Sole Airr Orthotic inserts - These are also on order.  About half the price of the superfeet insoles. I plan to put these into a second pair of Kinvaras when they arrive. 
Sof Sole Airr Orthotic


Much as I hate to admit it, I'm starting to think that it actually may be time to hang up the running shoes for good and move on to something lower impact. My knee isn't all that happy even with the walking, so as soon as my foot isn't causing problems, my knee will likely begin to act up.  Sigh.

Walking isn't so bad as long as I have company.  Luckily, I have a couple of enthusiastic walking partners that have yet to turn me down even once.


Thursday, May 29, 2014

Hoopin'

So, I guess I lied.  I haven't recommitted to my yoga challenge.  I seem to have a mental block right now since I know I'm not going to hit my goal.  I'll start up again in June.  I think.

But this doesn't mean that all is lost from a fitness perspective.  My fitness hula hoop has been stashed right next to the yoga mat, and while I haven't grabbed the mat, I have grabbed the hula hoop.

The hoop that I have is 42" in diameter and weighs about 2 lbs.  I bought it from Canyon Hoops several years ago. I've been thinking of getting a 40" hoop which would probably be a better fit for me, but I'm going to see if I stick with it before I invest more $ in another hoop.  Interestingly, I discovered that this company recently merged with Body Hoops which has a studio in Santa Fe (about an hour away).

It turns out that there are a bunch of exercises you can do with a hula hoop, but I've stuck with basic waist hooping to get back into it.   It is a lot easier for me to do do counter clockwise hooping than clockwise hooping.  I've got a killer bruise on my right leg from trying to master the clockwise hoop motion. Ouch. But I think I have it sorted out now.

Have you ever done fitness hooping?

Friday, May 23, 2014

Friday Five


  • FOOT:  I cancelled my podiatry appt and they were supposed to call to reschedule, but I haven't heard from them.  I think I'm just going to skip that.  Too much going on at once and that just doesn't seem important enough. My foot is healing. I've had two people comment that they noticed that I'm walking without limping. That's progress!!!!!  And it's mostly because it doesn't really hurt right now.  YAY!
  • MOUTH:  I survived the bone graft procedure yesterday afternoon.  Whew!  So glad that's over.  It was a brilliant move to schedule this before a long weekend.  I can already tell that my recovery from this one will be much easier/faster than the last surgery.  I have been able to manage during the day today with ibuprofen vs. prescription pain meds (but I expect to need the heavy duty stuff for night again) and I'm much more functional today than I was the day after last time. I just need to give this time to heal...and then the final step...and this whole ordeal will be over in 6-8 weeks, I think.
  • DEALING WITH CHANGE:  It strikes me that more has been changing in my life all at once than I'm able to comfortably process. My mom died in Jan. My running came to a sudden end a few weeks ago when I fractured and/or sprained my foot. My son graduated from college last weekend. And I've been told that my job is about to change significantly at work. It's all been out of my control and quite honestly that's not a situation that I like to be in. I told husband the other day that "I don't know what to do" because my leaning is to "do something" to try to regain a sense of normalcy. I've decided instead to try my best to be more of an objective observer and see what shakes out...
  • PERSONAL YOGA CHALLENGE:  I was doing so well toward my goal for the month until we left for California. I got out of the habit and didn't pick it back up when we got home. I'm recommitting to this starting tomorrow, though!  
  • NO RACES ON THE HORIZON:  I haven't had a single race this year and there is nothing for me on the horizon.  Wow.  That's different!  Another example of dealing with change.  Anyway, I think I'm okay with this right now. But I need to figure out how to stay fit and healthy. I think strength training will be making a return to my regular routine. Maybe swimming as well.  And when my foot gets better, I want to get back out on my bike.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Reflections after Berkeley Commencement Weekend

two wonderful young adults
Husband, Daughter, & I flew to California on Thursday for a long weekend celebration of Son's Berkeley Engineering Commencement.  We spent Thursday evening in Berkeley, Friday afternoon in San Francisco, Saturday afternoon doing a driving tour of the South Bay area, Sunday back in Berkeley for Engineering commencement ceremony, and then flew home Monday morning.
a rare mother son photo opportunity

I opted to leave the orthopedic shoe/boot at home, because I couldn't imagine doing as much walking as I knew was planned with it on.  That may or may not have been a wise decision.  I can say with certainty that we walked way more than my foot was happy with on Friday while we were in San Francisco.  But it was worth it to see the area of town where he hopes to live.  I was happy that we opted for a driving tour the next day though, my foot needed a rest.

he sees us! center with blue shirt
after the ceremony
Having a child graduate from college is a surreal experience. It's also clear how much has changed over these past four years.  He's grown more and more independent during each year of college. Four years ago he left home as an ambitious 18 year old to go to school out of state without really knowing what was in store for him.  Now he's a confident young adult with an impressive college degree, some internship experience under his belt, and a job on the horizon.  I'm mostly incredibly proud, but somehow, this also makes me sad.  As a parent, it seems that in the blink of an eye everything changes.
attempt at family photo

He'll be coming home for a few weeks before leaving again to go live his life as an independent man.  He has some travel planned this summer, including a trip to Europe. Then he's off to join the ranks of corporate America with a full time job in silicon valley.

one more shot of the recent grad
It's worth mentioning that Daughter isn't far behind him.  She's been taking classes during summer semester and is on target to graduate at the end of next summer, just over 3 years in.  She hopes to continue on for a masters degree after that.

I'm extremely proud of her as well, and am having a hard time getting my head around the idea that by the end of next summer, it is likely that they will BOTH be college graduates.  How did this happen?  Where does the time go?

So I guess Husband & I will continue the mental transition to empty nest. My immediate focus is on getting my foot healed (right or wrong, i cancelled my podiatry appt), and getting through this next oral surgery (Thursday, yikes!). I'm still debating whether or not to take a class this summer or wait until fall. Life goes on even as it changes...


Friday, May 9, 2014

Foot and Mouth

So actually, these are two separate issues and I didn't actually stick my foot in my mouth even figuratively, although I do find this image amusing.

Foot:  Still sore.  I was told to go back in if it was still sore after a week. It is and I did.  Apparently has developed "quite a hematoma," or so says the urgent care doc who saw me today.  Did not get another x-ray. He said that if the x-ray shows a micro-fracture, it means 3 more weeks in the shoe/boot.  If it doesn't, just wear the shoe until it stops hurting, which still is likely to be 3 more weeks.  He didn't think it was all that critical to know if it was a fracture or not since the treatment is essentially the same.  He did, however, suggest that I see a podiatrist mostly because I'm a runner and he thinks custom orthotics might be necessary in the long term. So I left with a referral to podiatry and the shoe/boot still on my foot.

Scheduling with podiatry ended up being way more difficult than it should have been. For whatever reason, they have zero flexibility if you say that you can only come in during the afternoon.  It's first thing in the morning on the next available day, or they look at some other day. What.the.heck?!?!.  So, I have an appt for first thing in the morning on Tuesday the 20th, because that was the first morning that was both open and worked for me.  I guess it's a good thing it's not urgent since he was only sending me for a long term solution (orthotic) vs. healing/treatment of whatever is going on right now.  Good golly.

Mouth:  So as it turns out I will in fact be having another round of oral surgery. This time a bone graft to try to rebuild a small section in my jawbone. It's scheduled for the 22nd (just two days after the podiatry appt.  lucky me). I'm none too pleased about the prospects of another surgery, but after having two separate consultation appts, I do think it's the right thing to do in the long run, so surgery it is. If I have this all figured out correctly, I have a total of 5 more appointments until this whole ordeal is fully behind me. That's assuming everything goes as planned with this next surgery and the pontic adjustment afterwards.  I am *really* hoping that this one goes better than the last, there are no complications, and recovery goes smoothly.  I'm ready for this to all be over!!

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Enjoying What I Can

The swelling in my foot is down, but it still hurts. I suspect that I'll be heading off for another x-ray on Friday.  Running is off the table at least until whatever is going on in my foot is resolved.

I don't want to be wallowing in self-pity over what I can't accomplish right now, so I'm choosing to focus on what I can do.  Here are some of the things that come to mind that I can still do with this foot problem that make me happy:
    Gardening:  Over the past few days, I've put in most of the plants for my garden.  I also tried planing asparagus several weeks ago, but I may have messed that up because of my need to recover from oral surgery.  If the asparagus doesn't come up in a few more weeks, I may dig that out and try again.  I also still need to put in seeds for soybeans (something new to try) and green beans.  Otherwise, my garden is mostly in and ready for tending.  I bought a new set of windchimes and had Husband put them up in the shade structure near the garden.  I love being out in the garden and hearing the chimes.  The veggie garden is definitely one of my happy places.

    Yoga:  I did well with my yoga goals last month.  While I wouldn't say that I'm crazy about yoga, I am noticing that my flexibility is improving and I generally feel calmer after doing it than before.  So I want to increase my yoga practice by roughly one day per week.  My goal last month was 15 times in the month, so this brings it up to 19 times.  That's about 4.5 times per week.  It's a strange number, but it means doing it roughly every other day with one set of 3 days in a row each week or twice one day per week.  Something like that. Very doable and something that I think will make me happy if I achieve it.

    Regular Dog Walking:  I had been in the habit of walking my dogs almost every day.  This fell to the wayside with the oral surgery recovery and then the problem with my foot.  I intend to get back to this because it's good for me, it's good for the dogs, and it's good for my relationship with the dogs. As the weather gets warmer, it's important to make sure I walk them in the morning so they don't burn their paws.  I'm going to need to figure out how to balance this with my yoga practice, but regular dog walking needs to become a mainstay in my daily routine again.  I just need to be careful not to walk too far, and make sure my foot isn't feeling worse as a result of the walks.  The good things about dogs is that while they love long walks, they are also happy with just about any distance and any time of day.  Every walk to them is a great walk.  I am going to try to adopt that same mindset.

    Friday, May 2, 2014

    April in Review & May Look-ahead

    Numbers

    • 15 yoga sessions
    • 29.9 miles running
    • 14.3 miles fitness running
    • 5 full days recovery from oral surgery before easing back into life
    • 3 Isotopes games (woohoo!!)

    Thoughts

    • Beyond the numbers or anything shared on the blog, April was a rough month and I'm glad to have it behind me.
    • I did, however, achieve my goal of yoga every-other-day on average.  Yay.

    Plans

    • Finish spring semester graduate class
    • Register for summer session graduate class
    • Travel to see Son graduate from UC Berkeley in middle of month!
    • I am registered for Sunday's half marathon at run for the zoo.  I've known since my knee started bothering me again, that the half marathon wasn't going to happen.  Was planning to switch to the 5K. However, that's clearly not going to happen (see below)  
    Latest Injury
    • Was out for a planned 6 mile run and started experiencing pain in my right foot. Ended up walking after 3.5 miles.  Took off my shoe and noticed significant swelling.  Iced it.  Still wasn't feeling better in the afternoon, so went to urgent care.  Doc suspects a fracture in the 5th metatarsal, even though it isn't showing in the x-ray.  If still hurting in a week, I'm supposed to get a new x-ray (week old fracture of this nature likely to show up better).  Otherwise, maybe it's just a sprain. In any event, running off the table entirely for now. *Sigh*

    Friday, April 25, 2014

    Motivation

    Recovery was a bit more involved and slow than I had hoped, but I'm back in action again!  I've run a few times this week for a total of just over 9 miles combined, and I've done a bit of yoga. Time to look forward and carry on.

    There have been a lot of talk about Meb winning Boston (yay!) as well as some Bandits caught wearing someone's bib number (boo!).  What there hasn't been nearly enough talk about, in my opinion, was the final Boston finish for Team Hoyt.  At age 74, Dick now has too many health issues to continue running marathons, but they wanted this one last Boston finish anyway.  What an amazing and inspirational father-son team! I'm sure the Boston Marathon won't be the same without them.

    Their journey over the years has been pretty spectacular.  If you aren't familiar with it, I encourage watching this video from their website that highlights one of their six ironman finishes (wow).



    If that won't motivate you to look past your circumstances and start to focus on what you CAN accomplish, I don't know what will. Have a good weekend everyone!

    Tuesday, April 15, 2014

    blogging under the influence again

    Today was oral surgery day. I'm too wobbly to walk unassisted because the anesthesia is not fully out of my system, but I'm still numb and not yet the heavy duty pain meds, so i think I can piece together a somewhat coherent post.

    The details are a little foggy, but I know I ended up with more bone loss in my jaw than the reconstructive dentist anticipated so what was supposed to be the permanent bridge was put in only temporarily for now.  In a few weeks, he'll remove it and take a new impression post healing so that the lab can alter it to work better with the jaw for a better fit. Once he's happy with the fit, it will go in permanently.  That means at least three more dental appts for this: post operative check up, bridge removal and the old temporary put back in, and then temp removed and the new permanent installed. Those last two will require being medicated again. Ugh.

    I've been instructed not to brush my teeth until the post op checkup on Monday. Also to be on all liquid diet until then. Blah. Husband has instructions for changing my gauze and medication as well as details on how/what I'm supposed to eat. I was also instructed not to talk (for how long, not sure).

    I think this is going to really hurt once the numbing goes away. Already hurts when I lay my head down, so I'm sitting up for now.

    Here's what I'm thinking.  Not happy that it didn't go ideally, but glad there haven't been any complications so far. I knew all along that there was something bad happening in my jaw causing problems, I'm just hoping they got everything out that needed to go so that once this is healed and the bridge is fine tuned, the problems that I've been having that led to this are finally resolved for good.

    Also, it's pretty cool that the fake tooth in the center of the bridge was created to go partway down into the root socket. It's kind of a half way solution between a bridge and an implant. I think the point is to promote healing around it in such a way to prevent future issues in my jaw and keep my gums healthy

    Friday, April 11, 2014

    six miles, all smiles

    Yesterday I went 3 miles super easy and my knee seemed okay.

    This morning, I went six miles. The only issue was at the end; I was running hard to finish and maybe that want such a good idea.  Otherwise, our was a successful run. Yay!

    I think I'm going to go for six again tomorrow and see what my knee thinks about that.

    [Updated:  Well, my knee wasn't so happy about the repeat performance.  I'm thinking about not even downgrading to the 10K at the run for the zoo.  Maybe the 1 mile fun run or the non-competitive 5K run/walk.  More on that later...]

    Tuesday, April 8, 2014

    Quick Yoga Update

    Yeah, so my dogs are better at yoga than I am (and also seem more enthused), but so far I'm sticking with it.  My goal was 15 yoga sessions this month, roughly every other day. It's the 8th and I'm at 5 sessions so far. Definitely on track.

    Sometimes I enjoy it more than others. I always enjoy the warm down and short shavasana.  So if nothing else, I've been ending on a positive note each time.

    Sunday, April 6, 2014

    Yoga Practice


    I'm not exactly the poster child for yoga. I've blogged in the past about being yoga-challenged. I know it's good for me, but I suck at it.

    Well, right now I really don't want to obsess about my knee and whether I can or cannot run a half-marathon. So I'm going to try changing focus a bit, in an attempt to really work at getting/staying healthy.

    To do that, I decided to truly give yoga a try this month, in the privacy of my own home, that is.

    A few years ago I got a DVD set of Kate Potter Namaste yoga. The style is Vinyasa flow. You may have seen her on tv at one time.  that at one time was on tv, but now is not.  Each DVD set has thirteen ~23-min episodes (it was 30 min on TV, but it's shorter without commercials). That is short enough to fit into my busy day, but long enough to feel like it's making an impact. And there's enough different sessions so to keep it fresh and mix things up.  Plus I ordered season 2, another 13 episodes. Each session has the following format: warm-up, vinyasa flow sequence, cool-down, short savasana.

    Why yoga?  Well, I know there are many benefits to yoga including increased flexibility, reduced stress, & better sleep.  Those three alone are enough to motivate me right now to really give this a try.

    My goal is for my personal yoga practice to include at least 15 yoga sessions this month (roughly 1 every other day).  It's the 6th, and so far I have completed 3, so I'm on track.

    The only thing getting in my way is myself.  I'm committed to give this a try without judgment until the end of the month.  And then decide if I want to keep with it, increase frequency, try something different, or whatever.

    Saturday, April 5, 2014

    March Summary

    Numbers
    • 7 days in Puerta Vallarta
    • a 25th Anniversary
    • 32.9 miles running
    • 32.4 miles fitness walking
    • 1 session yoga
    • 1 successful 9.5 mile run
    • 1 less-than-successful 9.0 mile run (knee pain)
    Thoughts
    • It's looking like I may be inquiring about whether my planned half-marathon registration can be downgraded to 10K. Drat!
    • Trying to stay positive.  Running is about staying healthy, not about running certain distances.  Right?
    Plans
    • Figure out whether the 13.1 is going to be a Go or No-Go
    • Survive Oral Surgery
    • Get serious about yoga practice
    • Keep moving..

    Saturday, March 29, 2014

    Half Marathon Training: Good/Bad/Ugly

    Good:

    • Having a Training Plan: I put together a schedule to get me to a spring half marathon back in December and have working through it since Jan
    • Picking a Target Race: I was eyeing three different races at the beginning of this endeavor and I managed to choose the target race and get registered about month ago.
    • Galloway Running: Generally speaking, the Galloway method has been working really well for me.
    • Long Run Success:  I successfully completed both an 8 & 9.5 mile runs without issue
    • Beach Running:  I ran twice on the beach during vacation.  Yay!
    Bad:
    • Schedule Nightmare: Having some trouble getting my mid-week runs completed consistently.  Juggling my home/work/school commitments isn't leaving me a very good window for mid-week running right now.
    Ugly:
    • Return of Knee Pain: Knee pain re-surfaced at mile 6.5 of my long run this weekend.  Had to walk the remaining 2.5 miles back to my car.  Was actually supposed to run farther than the 9.0 miles that this adds up to, so I didn't even get the full mileage in. 
    The knee pain return was a surprise.  It hadn't bothered me at all up to that point, and it was a big problem during the long run and for the rest of the day. Still a bit sore now. It might be related to not getting in the mid-week runs consistently and still trying for the long run. Or it might be that my knee simply isn't going hold up for a half marathon.  I am going to rest it the rest of this weekend, and then try some short runs next week to see where I'm at with this. Needless to say, it's discouraging...

    Monday, March 24, 2014

    Back

    Spent the past week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  Did some running.  Did some relaxing.  Did some eating. Did some shopping. Did some yoga. Did some sightseeing.

    I'm back home now, but work and school are keeping me too busy for a proper post. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, in that case here's the equivalent of 6000 words to tide you over until things settle down for me and I can post again.







    Saturday, March 15, 2014

    Short Update

    Husband & I signed up for the Run for the Zoo half marathon.  WooHoo!!

    Yesterday, I completed my long run of 9.5 miles.  My legs are a bit tight and it was tiring, but otherwise I feel pretty good.  Yay!

    Next week is a cut back week, the week after that I'm scheduled for an 11 mile long run.  It's getting real...

    Monday, March 10, 2014

    Monday Miscellany


    • I'm currently working on a group project for my graduate class. Let me just say this, if I've learned nothing else in my class so far, I've at least learned that I highly dislike team-based academic projects.  Apparently I'm not the only one.  Most people that I've talked to seem to have the same opinion. 
    • Husband & I are now officially signed up for the Run for the Zoo Half-Marathon.  WooHoo!
    • I seem to be one of the only ones who feels this way, but I love DST.  In fact, I think my body has been on DST for several weeks and now the clock has caught up with me.  I had been getting up at 5am (I don't need to be up until 6) and have been sleeping in the evenings.  Now I'm feeling like everything is the way it is supposed to be. The best is yet to come:  it's now light enough after work to make evening running a possibility!!  If only I didn't have that stinking class sucking up several evenings a week...
    • Got tickets for the 2014 home opener  for my beloved minor league baseball team, the Isotopes.  So incredibly excited, you probably wouldn't believe it. I'm a huge fan and we frequently attend games. The 7 months between the end of the minor league season and the beginning in the fall is painful.
    • Less than 500 calendar days before I hit the rule of 75. Not that I'm counting down or anything...
    • At the moment, I'm on the fence about whether I will continue this graduate program or not. I'm finding it to be incredibly intrusive on my personal life and I'm not sure that I'm getting enough value out of it for my career development.  The plan is to take another class this summer, but at this point I feel it's a coin toss as to whether I will continue on or not.  On a positive note, so far I'm getting good grades.  I feel like I'm a decent student, but maybe this isn't the right program for me?  I'm just not happy about how much I'm actually learning.  There is a whole lot in my current class that I already know. 
    • My last few runs were pretty good.  One was 7.4 miles easy.  The other was 2 miles of intervals with hill work. Schedule calls for a 9.5 mile long run this coming weekend. I'm looking forward to it!

    Friday, March 7, 2014

    Feb Summary

    Numbers

    • 0 outside cycling
    • 30min bike trainer
    • 37.1 running
    • 21.2 fitness walking
    • 1 memorial service for Mom
    • 1 race decision made
    • 1 oral surgery scheduled
    • 1 vacation planned
    • 1 new Grandneice born!
    • 1 more birthday survived
    • 2 pedometers replaced!  I'm on #3!
    • 4 tix purchased for an outdoor concert in late May
    • Several assignments completed for class
    • 0 races completed
    Thoughts
    • February never shapes up the way I completely want it to, but I'm happy enough that I'm getting outside running fairly regularly again now.
    Plans
    • Register for Run for Zoo half marathon now that it's officially the spring half that I'm targeting.
    • Keep up with school!
    • Enjoy upcoming 25th wedding anniversary and vacation.
    • Keep training for half marathon. 
    • Commit to doing yoga at least once a week during the month.
    • Try not to stress too much about oral surgery/dental work.


    Tuesday, March 4, 2014

    Tuesday Tidbits

    I wanted to summarize my Feb, but that needs to wait because I don't have that info handy at the moment but wanted to share some of my recent thoughts

    I'm afraid to step on the scale. I had been doing really well and was getting close to my desired "race weight" but then my eating habits basically took a nose dive for the worst.  Sigh.

    I killed my old pedometer by accidentally putting it through the laundry. Got a new one and about 10 days later the led segments in the hundreds and thousands places stopped working.  What.The.Heck?!?!  So now I need yet another one.

    Decision has been made regarding which half marathon I'm doing. Oral surgeon took the Albuquerque Half is off the table because of necessary recovery time.  So I will sign up for the Run for the Zoo half which is two weeks later.



    I suck at yoga. Yes, I know it's not a competition sport but I seriously suck at it. I am not very flexible, or patient, or able to focus when I'm doing it.  I know it is supposed to help calm you down, but it ends up stressing me out.  Except for that deep relaxation bit at the end.  I can do that.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who struggles with yoga.  

    Friday, February 28, 2014

    Friday Five

    1) School is kicking my butt.  I am so glad I dropped the second class, it's hard enough to keep up with life and one single graduate class. You name it, I'm behind in it. My opinion swings from one end to another lately about whether taking classes is even a good use of my time or not.  Sometimes I think the benefit isn't worth the sacrifice.  At other times, I think maybe I should pursue a Masters Degree rather than just a professional certificate.  In reality, I just need to take it one step at a time.  Right now, I need to focus on getting through this class successfully and figuring out how to juggle my life priorities.

    2) My training plan called for a long run of 8 miles for this weekend.  I did it this morning. 8.1 miles was my total distance employing a 3:00 run - 0:45 walk interval from beginning to end.  My knee feels good.  I think this means the half is on!  However, I don't think I'm going to be able to do the Albuquerque Half because that's the week I'm scheduled for oral surgery. I have a consultation with the surgeon on Monday, will see what he says about recovery. Worst case, that just means I will plan on doing the half at the run for the zoo two weeks later.

    3) It's been a full calendar month today since my mom died.  Yesterday I was going through old phone messages and happened across one from her.  A few weeks ago, hearing her voice would have made me cry. But yesterday it made me smile. I still miss talking to her, but I think I'm starting to move past the overwhelming grief phase. Happy memories are beginning to emerge again. In the words of  Dr. Seuss "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

    4) Don't hate me, but our weather has been quite pleasant lately with several days with highs around 60.  I think I might wear sandals today because Daughter and I are supposed to get pedicures.  I don't quite know why the nasty polar vortex hasn't managed to dip down far enough to affect us in central New Mexico, but I'm not complaining.

    5) I'm just about to head out to drop off my car for 50,000 mile service plus a repair.  The driver side read window has decided that it doesn't want to be rolled up.  This is the problem with electronic everything - when the electronics act up, you can't do simple things like roll up your window.  I guess it's a good thing that our weather has been pleasant.  Image driving a car with a window down in nasty winter weather.  No thank you!  I hope they are able to resolve it today.

    Have a good weekend everyone!!