MAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He just chewed through his harness.  Now how the heck am I supposed to take him for our walks?
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Good Morning Monday!

What a better day today!  Even yesterday ended up well!  The kids and Max and I went for a walk.  It was good to get outside!  But when I came home I layed on my bed for just a moment and woke up 2 hours later!  Now I am not a napper, but apparently I needed that!
Again we've had really bad storms mostly this morning!  I've had a great morning, though, IMing with Kathi from Ever Winding Road and learning SO MUCH!  I'm so excited to learn more and get some indepth reading - love to read!  So we're Iming and she says she has to take Stoli for a walk and asks me to join.  Mind you we're hundreds of miles away.  But I peaked out my office window and the rain stopped.  So I chanced it!  Max and I headed to the park between storms!

Although Max makes my blood boil chewing all our electronic remotes, I do love him!  And I love taking him for walks.  When I walk alone, not that I have to worry, but I never worry with Max.  He's pretty big and has a gnarly growl.
The sky was less ominous while walking, too:

And yes, that is LESS ominous!!!  We made it back without any rain.  So my walks takes approximately 30 minutes.  I will remeasure it today when I pick up the kids, but I believe the total route is just over 2 miles. 
So good spirits and good health so far today!!!!  What a Monday!

Mind Games

My knee seemed much better after the morning yesterday.  I took off my ACE wrap and went about my day as normal.  What exactly was that all about?!  Now and then I feel the "warning" jolt, but the family and I went for a walk again yesterday, although not as long, and it felt great!  No knee issues.  I'm loving being out in this cold rainy spring air!!! 
Today in church was about not worrying.  Not worrying about clothing, or food.  Not worrying about tomorrow because tomorrow will come with it's own worries.  Is that the truth, or what?  Each day seems to be a Russian Roulette of what is to come - good or bad.  My friend and the things she said still weighs heavily on my mind, which alone upsets me.  Talking with my husband last night I understood that perhaps one of the things she said may be a little true.  I feel I don't fit into my surroundings well.  When we first moved here in 1984, I definitely did not fit in, but for different reasons.  20 years later, I once again feel like I don't fit in. 
We came home from church only to find our labrador has chewed up ANOTHER XBox controller.  So that makes 2 XBox controllers and 2 Wii remotes.  And not 3 feet away lies his Nylabone...and my chewed up Shape magazine.  I'm at a loss for what to do. 
Last Sunday after church I was so happy, but this Sunday I just feel blah.  Alas, we are all about to go for a walk before more of the bad storms roll in.  It could be another concerning night.  So just as the Bible said it would, this day has come with it's own worries.  Who can think about tomorrow.

Same Ole Situation....

It seems every time (and literally , not dramatically) I start a new exercise or health program/routine, I start off getting hurt.  Now I know you can't over do things when you first begin although you feel adrenaline shooting through your veins with excitement and determination.  But you have all read my post from my walk Thursday.  How RIDICULOUS is it that ever since I went on that short, leisurely  walk, my knee has been popping, cracking, sending me a shot of pain from nowhere (only to quickly disappear) and now today it really hurts to even walk on it.  I feel like the front left part of my knee is gonna pop out.  How can that pathetic walk do ANY damage to ANY part of my body?  I dug through the closet in our bathroom filled with every sized ACE wrap you can find from my many knee surgeries and wrapped my knee thinking support will help it.  So far nothing, but apparently it's too tight cuz I can feel my blood pulsing in my leg.  ha ha ha
I need to do some searching on recooperation and strength exercises for my knee.  People have had much worse things done to their knee than my ACL tear and 5 sections of the meniscus cut out or stitched back up. 
Again, this is ridiculous! 

Taking Short Breaks From Sitting May Help Waistline and Heart

Taking Short Breaks From Sitting May Help Waistline and Heart

A friend mentioned this article to me today. As you all know, I sit all day long!!! Any desk working person does! Hope you read the article by clicking the link, but a key point is if you sit more than 4 hours a day without a break you could be risking some serious health issues down the road - and I'm not even talking about hemmoroids!
So get up and walk around! I think I may start incorporating walks to the mailbox and back once an hour just to shake things up!

Thursday

Today was another shoulder tension, neck stiff, drama, still stressful day.  I think, however, the drama is finally over.  Why do women thrive on drama?  Why do we all say we are tired of the drama and gauff when someone else is telling their drama story agreeing it's just too much.  But then turn around the second something is not perfect in our own lives and make it into drama instead facing the issue head on, discussing it like a mature women and try to find a peaceful resolution instead of whining, name calling and stomping feet like a two year old temper trantrum?
The rain started here last night with LOUD cracks of thunder and lightning wel into this morning, then into the afternoon, and to start again shortly this evening.  At 4pm I knew if I didn't get out and walk, rain or not, right then I wouldn't any exercise in again today.  So I saddled up Max in his harness, threw on my tennis shoes and semi-rain proof hoodie jacket and off I went.  It wasn't really the relaxing therapeutic walk I had hoped for.  It's been so long since I walked or exercised, instead of it feeling good, I felt all my aches and tightness.  But then as I came around the corner, this is the new that I had:

A long path, rainy, gray and it's hard to see in this photo, but at the top of this path where it's whitish gray?  That is fog.  Could this be MORE a parallel to my own path I'm starting right now?  I just loved the view and had to take a photo for My Path.  I wish I knew how to make it the background.
Once I got home it was time to make dinne.  I already knew I wanted to try Tosca Reno's Parchment Chicken but didn't want to risk the panick and refusal of the kids and hubby to eat it.  So they got fish sticks, rice and green beans and I started my chicken.  It was easy, colorful and SO TENDER and juicy!  I highly recommend it.  Of course,  I was made fun of for taking a picture of  my food, but I wanted to share it.

Tosca Reno's Parchment Chicken (click this for the recipe)

We had really bad storms last night - thunderstorm warnings, then tornado watches, then tornado warnings, so at 9:45pm we woke up the kids and hurried over to my parents house who have a nice finished basement to ride out the storm.  They weather man acted like it was to be really bad and emergent, but it blew through quickly and other than large limbs all over our yards and lack of sleep since we all slept in our bed, we're okay.  Thank God!

So the day ended with finalizing the drama, getting out and going for walk, trying and loving a new dish, and dodging some bad storms!  I'd say that is a good day!



Raindrops - -drip drip plop

I'm looking at some differnt aspect of health and trying to read everything I can  - blogs, website, books. 

I came across Tosca Reno's Blog: http://toscareno.blogspot.com/  Which looks pretty interesting.  She went from frumpy, fat, 40-something housewife, to bestselling author, fitness model, and columnist all by Eating Clean!  Knowing me, I went straight to my Nookcolor to purchase her book, but, yet again, came up disappointed that it is not on the Search for Nookbooks.  I went to the library website, and snort - we all know they rarely have a book we want.  Half.com has it shipped for $15.38, but I bought a Nookcolor so I wouldn't continue to collect stacks of books all over the house.  I'll just read her blog for now.



I've started eatting lots of salads and chicken.  I love chicken and salad, but I love my dressing, too!  Man I found a new dressing I really really love and that only has 30 calories a TBSP!!!  It's Paula Deen's Garlic Vinegarette Olive Oil Dressing.  I've yet to need to the 2 TBSP serving amount on the good sized bowl of salad I'm eating - and I'm one who likes a lot of dressing.  It's like the Seinfeld episode with the Low Fat Yogurt.  ha ha ha  I'm gonna have to send this off to the lab for verification!  But the dressing is really very very good! Despite it's called garlic, I swear it has a sweet taste!

Also I'm on a Multi-Grain Cheerio kick. I swear this cereal is so good I can't believe it's healthy for you. It has to have some sweet coating on it, cuz it's not dry and bland. And it's 110 calories perserving - 150 with skim milk.

I had every intention of getting outside yesterday.  I really just wanted to go for a walk.  I haven't done that in quite awhile.  With everything going on, I never got to go, though.  I thought, like Scarlet, I'll walk tomorrow.  Of course, now we are in the midst of a flood warning and the water is already filling in the back corner of the driveway and the yard, although on a low grade slant, as the rain comes down in sheets.  So I have to figure out if I don my KUMC rain coat and suck it up and walk or not.
I'm trying to make changes, I'm slowly starting down this new path...

Telephobia

I think I have it.  The "fear" or anxiety of talking on the phone.  Am I alone on this?  Now a phone certainly poses a necessity for things, but just to chit chat - it makes my skin crawl.  And I'm getting worse!   I totally blame IM, chats, texts, and Facebook for this.  I recently got an email that an old friend of mine's mother died.  I was clueless how to contact her, so, of course, I consulted the search on Facebook.  Sure enough found her, requested to be her "friend" and today in my email is a message from her from FB.  She was glad to hear from me, asked for my number so that we could catch up.  Immediately I felt anxiety  - would she want to talk on the phone forever, what if she calls while I'm working, what if she calls when I'm getting the kids, etc.  I cannot multi-task as well when I'm on the phone.  I can email, text, work, and let the dog out all at the same tim, but the clear connection on a phone while doing that is too much.
Hmmm,  this is sounding crazy, isn't it?  Back to my dungeon.
And since I'm just starting this blog, for those that don't already know "my dungeon" reference - I work from home and my office is 3 steps down from the rest of the house.  I put on my headphones, and tune out the world while I work.  Thus the term - my dungeon.  And the walls are grey. 

The Happiness Part

Two issues arise already today that fall into the Happiness category.  A one -sided arguement with an old friend and my son's need for speech therapy.  For the friend, I cannot seem to make them understand my thoughts and how I feel, even when I clearly tell them how I feel, they still get it wrong.   Although I don't want it to be a big issue, it is weighing heavily on me this morning morning and into my afternoon, if no other reason than emails still keep coming in.  So I'm sure it also falls into a Health issue as well - unwanted stress.  For sweet little Owen, I just hate that any mar is upon him.  Earache after earache after earache when he was 2 and then 3.  And the thought that during that time, he couldn't hear well, and so he couldn't listen well, and so he missed out on developmental processes.  That hurts as a mom.  But at least he's getting into a speech class and hopefully all of this will be resolved within a year.
As far as health - I'd like to just walk out my office door and head down my gravel driveway and go for a loooong walk to clear my head.  Unfortunately all the above mentioned has consumed my day and now it's about time for my second job, as mom and wife to start.  I don't even want my soup - and I love my soup.
One more Happiness part - I made a new friend today.  And if that isn't a good thing, I don't know what is!

Day One

I'm uncomfortable in my skin, I'm uncomfortable in my clothes.  I'm uncomfortable when I eat and I'm uncomfortable when I don't eat.  I'm uncomfortable when I exercise and again, when I do not exercise.
I've tried group support of friends and my husband, but it really just comes down to me.  What do I want to do.
And my social network seems to diminish on a weekly basis anymore.  I think of the Brooklyn chick in Saturday Night Fever with John Travolta at the cafe where she says, "I'm growin'!  No one knows how much I'm growin'!"  My thoughts and ideas don't seem to follow along with the people I used to hang out with, talk to etc.   I know that doesn't make me wrong, but not conforming to "the norm" leads you down a different path as well.
After linking up with a fellow blogger at Ever Winding Road, I realized I can start this blog all about just me to be accountable and track myself  and my thoughts and ideas as I start down My Path.....to better health and happiness.....
We saw The Wizard of Oz this weekend at the theatre with the whole family - and the kids loved it.  Right now I can't get the "Follow the yellow brick road..." song  out of my head.  Maybe that'll be my theme song, only I'll follow My Path.    Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow My Path....