Whose legs are these anyway?

Day three of my goal to work out daily at least 30 minutes a day.  I wasted time this morning, trying to get the television set up to allow my "game".  I was furious at myself when I finally got it working, so I pushed myself to work harder to make up for not getting started on time.   I am working on the "Biggest Loser Challenge" Wii game.  I set myself a goal of working out for 12 weeks.  I have a lot of work to do in that time--get the exercise in and then I can move on to eating better.

I am now getting up earlier--that alarm is going to kill me at some point, I feel certain.  I don't want to get up any earlier than when my alarm usually goes off, but I did.  I have to admit that I pressed the snooze button once this morning, but got up after that.  I'm going to have to condition myself to get up that early.  It'll take a bit of practice.  I can do it though.

I worked my lower body yesterday and today, I worked my upper body.  My legs HURT!!  I'm not sure why...I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but still, my legs are super sore.   I guess it's because I moved!  Guess I will have to keep moving so that I can get past the pain.  LOL!

My best "subject" so far is the squats today and the "slip" (think of it as a duck and punch thing).  Oh, the pain!  Cannot wait until tomorrow's workout....oh wait!!  I don't have a workout tomorrow.  It's supposed to be an "off" day, but I'm going to take it and run with it.

So...sore legs, check!  Working out five times a week...heading there.

Goal setting

I don't make "resolutions" because I tend to make excuses NOT to keep them.  Friday night, I went to the game store with my son and picked up two games for the Wii for myself.  I got a Biggest Loser Challenge game and a My Fitness Coach game.  Yesterday morning, I decided that the BLC game would be better, so I pulled it out and attacked it. I set myself a goal, with the game, of working out 5 days a week, for 30 minutes at a time.  Yesterday was day 1.  Today was day 2.

I am sore, but feel great, all things considered.  I'm going to set my alarm earlier than on normal so that I can put in a thirty minute workout daily.  I've decided that I'm tired of being obese.  I'm tired of carrying around a lot of excess on my knees.  I am trying to be a healthy example for my children but it's not been happening.  I can't provide them a healthy example if I'm not working out, losing weight and eating healthier.  

I'm keeping records of my day--my eating and exercise.  Once I get back into the habit of working out and journaling, I think I will feel much better about myself.  I feel like this is a good goal and a positive start to my year.

Tai Chi Saturday

This morning, I had a Tai Chi make up class because our last class of the cycle was canceled. I can't make the class on the 10th because of a prior commitment to Boy Scouts, so we had a make up class today.  We met at one of the local malls that is reasonably quiet.  There were two of us there.  E and I were both there to take advantage of the additional training.  
I warned Sifu (Sifu means 'teacher') that I hadn't been practicing. We went over a lot of basics and picked up from the "Four Corners" in our form and went on through "Chinese Guitar" and then to "Carry the Tiger over the Mountain".  I think the form is really neat, even without the names of the sections.  
Today, Sifu caught some mistakes I was making and corrected me. During Chinese Guitar, I have a tendency to not use my hips...actually, I have a tendency to not use them during most of the things I do, but she corrected me today.  We practiced turning until I was able to turn my complete trunk.  In Tai Chi, the entire trunk is from your neck down to just below your hips.  I have a habit of forgetting that my hips are there, so when I turn, I put stress on my knees. Today was one of those "aha!" moments.  The light came on  After E left, I talked to Sifu and we went over Four Corners to Carry the Tiger over the Mountain, and then I showed her the opening of Kee Cho Hyung Il Bu (Basic form #1).  I am actually using my hips and NOT flopping around or losing my balance.  That's what I needed to be able to do.  That form felt so much better than it's ever felt!  I was pleased with myself for that!  I don't feel like I was reaching past my knees (that's something I need to watch out for in Tai Chi) and I wasn't losing my balance.  It made me happy to see how that went together.  Tai Chi is about balance.  I'm feeling like I saw a definite correlation between Tai Chi and Tang Soo Do.  

I won't have another Tai Chi class until January 24th.  I have a Zumba class starting on the 11th and running for a month.  I'm seriously hoping that I see some weight loss sparked during that class as I'm sure it's going to be intense cardio.  If that doesn't make me lose weight, I'm going to have a discussion with one of my doctors about that.  

The results are back...

I lose my patience when it comes to waiting on word of "big" things.  I waited until Wednesday, then gave up and called my doctor's office to find out the results of my biopsy.  I found out that he had the report but hadn't read it.  I left a message for him to call me back.  That was Wednesday.  Thursday morning, they called me back and told me that the results were back and the nodule and cyst on my thyroid are benign.  I get to go back in six months for another ultrasound to monitor the thyroid and see if the nodules have changed at all.  
So, no surgery for the thyroid.  YAY!!  That's a good thing.
I also have what they call a "branchial cleft cyst", which is a birth defect that appears in "young adulthood" (I'm a 'young adult'!  LOL!!).  It's a remnant from development that is basically just a bunch of cells that didn't divide/multiply/create anything else.  It's left over from developing the various parts of the neck.  If you're interested, you can read about it here: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/382803-overview
 
I asked the doctor's assistant if we had any ideas about when he was going to do something about the cyst.  She said "I don't know."  I asked if that was still going to be removed or if he's going to monitor that.  She said again, "I really don't know."  I asked her to find out, she said she would and would call me back.  That was yesterday.  I can't understand how she wouldn't have any information about that other surgery, but she doesn't.  I may have to call the doctor again and leave a message for him.  
I am not keen on the idea of being cut into, especially in the neck, but after my MRI, he said that the cause of the swelling in my face was caused by this cyst. He said that he was going to remove it since it is apparently 4cm.   I'd really like to know if he's still planning on removing it.  I'm not sure I'm going to get information from his assistant, so I may just write a letter to him and ask him IF he's planning on removing it and if so, when.  I'd really like to have the ability to plan a vacation to Hawaii or wherever I can travel. I don't have the ability to plan at present.  I have to wait until we know if I'm going to have surgery.  

Waiting isn't my strong suit.  I'm not patient enough (just ask my kids!) to wait...and wait...and wait. 
 

Starting over

It is extremely frustrating to know that 4 years ago, I was in the best shape of my life.  I was training for my black belt recertification test and felt great.  I had been sick in '07 with Strep, lost a LOT of weight and managed to work hard and keep it off.  Fast forward to 2011 and I'm back where I started with Weight Watchers in 2004.  I'm heavier than I've been for a long time.
I'm frustrated by that.  I'm irritated with myself for gaining weight.  I haven't managed to keep off what I lost.  I want to lose.  I gained weight between last week and this week (my weigh in day for Weight Watchers is Sunday).
So...I am looking at getting myself some Nordic walking poles.  I had the opportunity to get some last week but didn't. I have been reading reviews on pedometers as well.  I am determined to get healthier this year.  I had a biopsy of my thyroid on the 29th of December and am in a holding pattern, waiting to hear about that.  I don't feel like anything's wrong, other than I am perpetually cold (my boss says I'm "old") and feel sluggish at times. 

I'm going to borrow a thought a friend has.  I'm not going to make a resolution because I will break it.  Instead, I'm going to work on setting a few goals that are attainable.  I am going to work on eating healthier food and work on getting more exercise in.  In fact, my goal is to get my walking poles and walk this weekend.
 

1/1/11

At 2:44 in the afternoon on the first afternoon of a new year, you'd think I'd be doing something.  I'm doing very little.  It's a quiet afternoon for us.  The kids are playing on their games/watching television while the hubby and I (and the cat) are watching football.  The cat has claimed my lap as his bed and has been sitting on me constantly when I've been sitting.  He's currently laying on my lap.  

We have a pot of black eye peas on the stove, simmering.  We used the bone from our Christmas ham in the peas for seasoning.  It makes good use of the extra meat that we weren't able to pick off when we put up the ham.  Black eye peas are a symbol of prosperity in the Southern part of the country.  There are a ton of recipes for them.  There are "Hopping John Peas", etc.  It's always been a tradition in my family, although my mother never told me WHY we ate black eye peas on New Years.  It wasn't until I had my own home that I realized what it was about.

Today is a great day.  The sun is out, my family is reasonably healthy and happy.  What more could a person want? 

Happy New Year!

Christmas is around the corner

It's interesting how much my attention span has drifted over the past several months.  I write when I feel like it, but I don't always write when I really think I should.  I'm a stress writer--a lot of the things I am feeling come out when I'm trying to get pent up stress out.   In that way, it's kind of like stress-eating, only I don't always write.  Eating, on the other hand...

Anyway, it's hard to believe that it's been nearly a year since we bought our house. Oldest is in high school, officially at the "big" school (that's where 10-12 attend) and youngest is in a new school himself.  He's had a lot going on this year...his class went to a place called Sky Ranch on a field trip for 3 days.  This was his first time away from home without his family.  It was quiet while he was gone.  His sister didn't have anyone to argue with, so that wasn't happening.  He came home in time to see her off to a football game, one of the few that I skipped this year.

Our football season is over now too, so we're getting ready to head into our concert season.  I will miss the scramble to get her off to school in the mornings.  She can now either ride the bus or I'll continue to take her in early.  I have to be at work at 7:30, so she gets dropped off just before 7:00 a.m., usually.  I'm very glad the school is open that early!  She does have music lessons on Wednesdays with her flute teacher, so that's a good thing.  

On the work front, I went in and talked to my manager about him promoting me to Supervisor.  I'm sure it won't happen, but at least I put it out on the table for him to think about.  I told him that I do enough in the department with training new people and the other administrative things.  I didn't whine, but presented my case and told him that I thought it would be a good thing.  He said he'd talk to our director.    I'm not going to let myself get discouraged about it.  It *was* unprecedented and I'm sure that he was surprised (just like I was) about the fact that I mentioned it to him.  Whether or not anything happens, I can be proud of the fact that I said something.  

Beyond that, not much else is going on.  We started decorating our house a week ago, while it was still warm.   I have a picture of my son going into the house, wearing shorts and walking bare-footed.  This weekend, it's too cold.  Last night we had our first freeze.  A bit late, but there it is.  Now it's officially sweater weather.  I guess I've broken the "rules" because I have been wearing sweaters for a couple of weeks now.  I don't care that the temps are in the 70s and 80s.  I like being warm.  At least I have a valid excuse now!  

In a nutshell, that's it.  Christmas is sneaking up on us.  Time to look ahead to shopping, wrapping and getting ready for the holiday.  I'm not going massively commercial this year.  My kids may get a couple of presents each, but hubby and I have decided that this house is our Christmas present.  We are going to enjoy our first Christmas.

Homecoming 2010

As a teenager, I never went to a single football game.  I didn't attend Homecoming or Proms.
I'm really excited that my daughter was asked to Homecoming by her boyfriend.  After our last home game, while we were waiting for the buses to come pick us up to take us back to the high school, the band director let the kids borrow the microphone to ask their girlfriends to Homecoming.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear my daughter's boyfriend ask her if she'd go to Homecoming with him.   I yelled down the stairs "yes she will!", then sent her down to find him.  She said yes (of course!).  It was too cute!

So, fast foward a few weeks.  We've been dress shopping, figured out (somewhat) what to do with her hair and if she wants to makeup.  Then, tonight, her boyfriend brought her mum over.  It is gorgeous!  He made it with his mother and sister's help.  The mum is just beautiful!!  I really like it!
This is what he brought her:

 It has their graduating year, their names on the ribbons, stars, band-related things, football related things, a ribbon or two for the school and it says "Sophomore" (they both are).  
I really like it.

I haven't been familiar with mums because I never received one, but holy WOW!!!  I can say that I am truly impressed.   This mum is nearly as big as my daughter.  I'm not joking!  It'll hang around her neck and will JUST barely avoid hitting her feet!   Tomorrow I'll get a picture of her with it on. 
I can't wait!!

The band is going to get to wear their mums at the football game since it's Homecoming.  I'll get to hold her mum while she's marching.  I can give it back when she gets off the field.

Here are the kids:

He plays the trumpet, she plays the flute.
This was taken in the band hall at our last home game.

Fly-by

Happiness is abundant in my home at present.  My hot water heater has been repaired for a week now (and there was MUCH rejoicing!!) and I'm no longer NOT enjoying showers!  I'm back to being happy about that.  Of course, hubby has turned the heat down on the shower (which I WILL turn back up later!), but still, it works!!  

We had a band competition last weekend that I worked at.  Our band performed Dvorak's New World Symphony.  The kids earned a 1 in Division, picked up fourth overall and the drumline earned first place.   That's a feat to be proud of.  The kids are off this weekend, except for the football game on Friday night, which is Homecoming.  Saturday night is the Homecoming dance, which my daughter is going to with her boyfriend.  The kids are having dinner at someone's house.  The parents are catering it.  I've been elected to bring a dessert and since I forgot to mention food to one of the girls' moms, I'll also provide salad.

Work has been hectic for me lately.  I'm on the verge of asking my manager and director to promote me to Assistant Supervisor or Supervisor since I'm now taking on a LOT more responsibility in my job.  I just need to sell myself to them.  I'm handling the dealer installations, monitoring the phone queues while my manager is out and making sure that people are at their desks on time.  I run the time sheets and make sure our service calls are dispatched accordingly.  I really think it's time to get together with my managers.
 

Dead hot water heater

Replacing the thermo-coupling on the hot water heater, we thought, would resolve our hot water woes, but it did not.  As soon as the water stops heating, the flame goes out.  We finally broke down and contacted our home owner's warranty company.  They're sending our information to a plumber, who will call me on Monday and schedule a time to come look at the water heater.  I HOPE it doesn't involve a new water heater!!  I haven't budgeted for that (yet).  

The warranty people sent me an email and it's going to be the same guy who came out here last month to repair the hall bathroom.  He's got to be wondering what the heck happened.  We're wondering the same thing.

Hot water

For the past couple of days, we've had a few issue with our hot water heater.  I found out on Thursday that it wasn't heating up the water to full "scald your skin" hot.  Hubby got COLD water (snicker!).  The pilot light on the heater was out, so we re-lit it.
Friday morning, part two of the hot water heater saga.  Pilot light was out again.  A friend from work came over, showed me where the thermo-coupling was and re-lit the pilot light.  About two hours after he left, the pilot light was out again.   Now we're fairly sure we're going to have to replace the thermo-coupling.  Fortunately, it seems to be a fairly straight-forward fix.  We can do it ourselves.  It's just a copper tube to screw into the control on one end and put down near the burner on the other end.  Should be about a 15 minute fix.  We can hope it is, anyway!!

Martial arts change

Last week, I attended a meeting at the "Y" to hear what the fate of my present (??) martial arts school is.  The "Y" is consolidating and they don't have room for a martial arts school there any longer.  The owner is looking at other alternatives to the Y and is trying to make the transition as painless as possible for his students.  I can honestly say that I was very impressed by his manner.  He didn't blame anyone, he laid out the facts and he told people that he's not in it for the money.  He wants to share his knowledge with people.

I went, although I haven't been to a class in months.  I've felt increasingly more and more frustrated by my lack of progress, my memory lapses on forms I KNOW I know and the fact that I was told months ago that I'd never test because I was too "fat".  Someone had also conveniently told me that I should never have entered this program as a black belt because I didn't know their ways.  I was mad, sad and annoyed and I think I let it get the best of me.   I think it was a contributing factor to my leaving the school for an extended break.  I needed to work past that.


I'm not sure I'll be welcome back to my school.  I told my instructor that I was having a crisis and that my husband wasn't sure I was learning anything. That made him (my instructor) highly annoyed and he responded to me that he was very sorry that we felt I wasn't learning and that I wasn't willing to give learning a chance at his school.  He wasn't rude about it, but I felt like he was making it clear that I insulted him and the Dans.

When I attended this meeting, only 3 of the Dans spoke to me.  The instructor was busy with the "real" people in the school.  He never acknowledged that I was there and I guess that stings a little. I just wish I could have had him put himself into MY shoes for a while.   Ah well.  I'm working on it, a little at a time.

I'm presently enrolled in Tai Chi classes.  I'm going to concentrate on that for a while.  I'm learning a 64 move form that is very soothing, very interesting and best of all...I have no need to compare myself to anyone else in where I am in the form!!!!  In my TSD classes, I found myself constantly comparing my performance to the others in the class.   In Tai Chi, I am focusing within, on my breathing.  I can tune out everything except the instructor. It's nice.
I think I owe Michele, from another blog, a word of thanks for that.  Michele suggested, through a posting about keeping in touch with your instructor if you're on a hiatus, to realize that I'm being respectful.  I DO talk to at least one Dan, so that keeps me up with the school. 


Once I get my mind rearranged around my martial arts, then we'll see where the wind blows.  Who knows?  Maybe I will find an Okinawan Kenpo teacher somewhere and I'll *really* start out fresh...


 

March-a-thon, in pictures

March-a-thon is always an impressive thing to see.  It's impressive to experience in any way and is completely awe inspiring when you see how well the band directors wrangle over 700 kids and get them from point A (the high school) to point b (the last elementary school on the route).  It's a well orchestrated gathering of parent volunteers, teachers and of course, the band themselves.

Just a gathering before the actual march.

 I am fortunate that my daughter doesn't mind that her crabby old mother comes along on this journey.   I was able to share in this experience today and had a lot of fun.
We gathered, starting at 7:30 am and fed the kids (no easy feat!).  By 8:45, the band was outside the band hall and getting out, ready to march.  
They left the band hall and marched out from behind the band hall, past our practice field and on to one of the major streets in town, which they crossed.

This is a small portion of the band, crossing the street.

 

 They got to Anderson Elementary (our first stop) by 10:00 am.  There, they got drinks as it was hot already, used the rest room and then were ready to go again. 

Arriving at Anderson Elementary.

 

 

 They marched across Main Street (I bet THAT was impressive!), then arrived in our neighborhood, at the Bethany Lakes Park for lunch.  They were *very* hot by the time they got there.  We handed out water and Gatorade, plus they ate lunch.  My son came over from the house and brought his sister lunch since she forgot to pack hers.  I took him with me when we left to go off to Lowes and Tom Thumb.  I figured it would be good for him to spend a little bit of time with me.

Arriving at Green Elementary--end of the line.

The last stop after Lowes and Tom Thumb was the Twin Creeks neighborhood.  We got to the elementary school about 45 minutes before the band did.  It gave me time to rest a little, drink my coke (I'd had water in the car on the way over to the school) and wait for the band.  I don't know what the exact temperature was today--I think it was over 100 for sure.  The forecast called for it to be 104 today.  I am in awe of those kids, marching in 100+ degree heat and playing their instruments.

Here's even more inspirational to me:

Mandi at the end of 10 miles!

March-a-thon

Today is March-a-thon, which is the fundraiser for the high school band.  My daughter is marching 10 miles, after which, she's going to a pool party.  I'm going to help set up and distribute water to our kids.
It will be enormous fun!!

I won't be taking very many pictures because I'll be ahead of the crowd, but I'll try to get one or two.

Adventures in grilling

We bought this crazy looking thing a week ago and brought it home on Saturday.  This is our "Big Green Egg", which is a combination smoker/grill.  It is made of ceramic.  The inspiration is from a Japanese cooker called a "kamado".  This is a new version of that type of cooker.  It uses charcoal in a fire ring, which is at the base of the egg.  See the metal plate at the base?  That's a vent and where you clear out the ash.  The charcoal is about at the top of that ring, about 1/4 way up.  Then you have a ring, then you have the grate.  There's also something called a "plate setter", which is ceramic as well.  You can put it in, feet down, which allows you to put things on top of it and do things like pizza, breads, etc.  If you put the plate setter in feet up, you can then put your grill on top of that, then put a drip pan underneath.  That prevents flare ups from the fire getting drippings in it AND it keeps the grill a bit cleaner.

We started out small--we made hamburgers and hot dogs in it on Saturday. I also made some chicken legs for lunches for this week. Those will last all of tomorrow as my son and daughter will likely eat 2 of them and the hubby and I are taking them for lunches.  Today, we made a roast and baked potatoes.  I don't think we'll be making potatoes any other way now.  These were just too good!  We put them on the grill for about an hour, then we wrapped them in foil and finished them baking.  The roast was incredibly juicy and not at all dry.

I am going to try my hand at roasting vegetables too.  We have an eggplant in the refrigerator which was supposed to be for ratatouille, but as we do not have bell peppers, we will just try grilling the eggplant.


Next weekend I'm going to make several things that can be cooked easily on Monday and for the rest of the week.  I'm already planning for next week. 

I'm going to

Eye surgery (again)

I had Lasik in January of 2009.   As of June, 2010, we found that my vision had deteriorated.   I went in for a follow up and they said that most likely I'd need a touch up. They had me wait a month, then come back in again.  They wanted to make sure it wasn't changing radically. It didn't change between last month and this, so I am now scheduled for a repeat surgery on the 9th of August.  Let's hope that this one is good.  I don't want to go back to glasses yet.   I lived with them for 33 years. Being without them for the past year has been so wonderful!  I love not having to fight with glasses to see distances. Plus, in martial arts, it's hard to keep them from sliding down my nose!! 

As I said, I had my follow up today.  We scheduled the surgery for the 9th. I can't go to work that day and am wondering about the following day.  They assured me that I'll be able to drive--I will have my left eye still.  I will have a contact lens in the right eye that will stay there for about a week.  I see the doctor on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.  I should have asked Dr. Boothe if I could go to Tai Chi on Monday.  I think I will go anyway--it's non impact and I don't lean over at all during the movements.   For Tang Soo Do, that's a question mark.  I am not sure if I want to go or not.  It will be "Pirate Tang Soo Do" if I do go...I'll have to talk to Master G about it.

Tai Chi wisdom

Tonight, my Tai Chi instructor said something that resonated with me.  She said that all the ideas of perfection we have are to be left behind because there is no perfection.  Her suggestion was to do the technique and if it brings you happiness, if you're smiling inside, then you did it right.   It's thought-worthy, especially in light of my determination to be 'perfect'.  I got something out of class tonight that I would never have thought I'd pick up.

In class, we did "Move around the world to the left". It is a neat technique.   When done slowly (note to self...MOVE...SLOWLY...), it is very pretty.  Some of the Forms Class students came in and worked with one of the other instructors.  They were working on the "Four Corners".  It was beautiful.   I'm glad I'm taking the time to slow down and learn the Tai Chi.  I needed to re-think and re-focus.  
I was thinking on the way home from work tonight that I needed the break I've taken from martial arts.  I'm getting re-balanced in Tai Chi.  It's about balance.  

Burn out

I'm suffering from burnout.  I have been seriously burned out from my normal martial arts classes because I have had problems with remembering my forms and I get very frustrated because I'm a perfectionist.  I demand nothing but perfection because I have this silly idea that I HAVE to be top notch.  However, you cannot be top notch if you don't practice.  If you don't practice, you can't achieve the silly ideal of perfectionism you may be carrying around in your head.  
This describes me.  I get aggravated because I don't know the Korean for my techniques.  I don't work on learning it.  I get aggravated because forms I know I should know, I forget.  I get mad at myself because I think that I "should" do something perfectly because I'm a black belt.  Then I get caught into a nasty cycle of beating myself up and yelling at myself for doing things wrong.

This led to a lot of thinking (my best friend says I live in my head too much!).  I've sent stupid emails to my instructors, telling them that I'm having issues.  I've met with the owner of the school.  He finally laid it out-I need to make a serious decision to get it together and decide what really want.  I've got a yes or no question to answer for him.   I just haven't decided what that answer will really be.   Is it in my heart to put in the hours and hours of training and beat myself up to get into top shape and attempt to work toward my second Dan?

Ultimately, I think it all boils down to that.  I had this plan when I first got my Dan that I'd be a first Dan, then two years later, I'd be a second Dan, then three years after THAT I'd earn my third Dan...so, if I was "on track" on the old "plan", I'd be a second Dan, pushing to earn my third in another year.  Well, things don't always work out the way we plan.   I'm still at first Dan.  I haven't taken my training seriously.    I blow it off more than anyone  I know.

I'm working on figuring out what I want to do.  To try to work toward that end, I enrolled in an "Introduction to Tai Chi" class through the Parks and Recreation department. I had my first class last week (7/12).  I enjoyed that class and went back last night.   I enjoyed that one as well.   I truly feel that it is helping me.  So far, I've only attended two classes, but I learned a little bit about the history of the art, plus I have learned how to "turn the ball" and "wave hands like clouds".  I am practicing the things I've learned thus far, which is a far cry from what I've been doing with my TSD.  I don't think I'm going to give up the TSD yet, but I'm thinking that for now, my concentration is going to be on healing myself (my leg still isn't right after that kick *months* ago!) and getting my mind together.  Then I can pull it together, go into class without any expectations and I'll be able to concentrate on training with out putting any stupid burdens on myself.

I love my chiropractor!!

I have been under the care of a chiropractor for many years and after much searching, and recommendations from friends, have found one who is absolutely the BEST!  He has taken care of my shoulder/neck when I was in all that pain last year and then again this year.  He has had the care of my back for over a year now. 

I went to see my chiropractor tonight since I was in so much pain, I was having issues with sitting up straight.  I needed to see my doctor for sure.  
My back was so tense, he had a hard time adjusting my spine.  I had to put my hands on my chest as I was laying face down on the table in order for him to get my spine to move.  It felt WONDERFUL!!  We talked about how to prevent the "lock up" from happening again. A lot of it involves trying to avoid stress (hahaha!!) at work.  

I'm glad I was able to get in to see my chiropractor tonight.  I'm now resting a little easier. 

Soon to be end of school

School is winding down for the kids and I've been wondering about what the summer will bring for them.  My daughter is about to be a sophomore in high school.  It just doesn't seem like she's that old!  I know she is though, because I have the DVD to prove it.  As a Band Booster, I got a DVD of the football/band season.  It is a great thing!!  I've watched it from start to finish at least once.

My son's about to head for a new school too as he starts the fifth grade.  I was worried about the state mandated testing that both kids had to undergo, but was told by his teacher that I'll get the results on Tuesday (and school is officially out on Friday!!).  He obviously didn't fail because they didn't make him go back for further testing.  I believe my daughter was the same way.

I've got the little guy signed up for football the week after school gets out.  It'll be his first taste of football.  He has been telling us that he's going to be a running back for the University of Texas Longhorns (ummm, he better earn a scholarship!!) so this will give him a small taste of the game.  If he likes it, I'll sign him up for flag football and then move him into a regular football league.  

It's hard to think that in just 5 short days (literally as my daughter will be home early every day!), school is out.  Time to figure out what the summer is going to bring for us.