We're Faster Wednesday

[DeeClutter]

Woohoo! I see a big difference in how fast things come up and how quickly I can post. Thought it was just me -as evidently several of us did.

Now, is there something in your daily household chores or your life that you can make faster? Not that I think we need to speed through everything, but I'm sure there are things that I dally at that could be done in much less time.

I had a hard time getting to sleep last night after I did some work on here. But then I slept well. Woke up at 6:35 and had to get up because my leg was starting to cramp. I walked around our rooms until I got to 6,000 steps last night and I'm sure that's why. Will try to up that number over more of the day today.

DD finished her power point for church for Sunday. I'm a bit nervous about remembering just what to do with it. She'll be gone this weekend (she & dsonil are going to the beach tomorrow night through Sunday). At least the pastor will be back and hopefully can walk me through the beginning before church.

Next Tuesday I'm going to school with dd to help run the book fair. The gal who does it has to be gone a 1/2 day and asked if I'd come do it for her. Going in early so she can refresh me.

Talked to dh very briefly last night. He sounded so tired. I'm sure he's trying to get all the loose ends tied up before tomorrow night. Not sure yet what time his surgery is on Friday. He may end up having to spend the night at DS-A's. DS will go with him to the hospital and is taking him back to his house later in the day.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

No more changes to the boards will be made until I get up early some morning and no-one is around.

That could be a long time.

Went to bed at midnight last night. Still woke up at 6:20, though but stayed in bed until 8.

The bed is made, the non-dishwasher dishes from dinner are washed up and I'm going to start dinner in the crock pot now. My turn to cook.

Lucylee: you mentioned the WillowCurve earlier this week. I looked into it and it appears to be an expensive placebo trigger. But that got me reading about scientifically proven knee pain reducers. There are three: physio exercises, lose weight and NSAIDs. All of which are (sort-of) within my control. I'm annoyed that seemingly the more physio I do the worse the pain gets but I'm not steady with the physio, for instance I missed yesterday. Bought some Voltaren Emugel (since Voltaren ingested or topical on my eye works reliably for me) and got some relief but I'm unsure of how much ibuprofen I can take when I'm using it. I just used it last night, no ibuprofen, but my sleep record isn't a help since the wrist band fell off at some point in the night!

Losing weight is the key here. I'm putting 200lbs of extra pressure on my knees with each step. I have 50 pounds to lose. But when I'm in pain, I comfort eat. Plus it hurts to move around in the kitchen which has dh taking us out to eat each night which adds to the unnecessary calories. I'm in tears whenever I think of my situation. And after two weeks in the hospital on liquid diet only and losing no weight each time, I feel like there's nothing I can do to lose weight. The only bright spot in this is I have money to throw at the problem if I can figure out what I need to do. I'm tempted to try hypnosis since this is an emotional issue.

I'm thinking of taking off the fitbit. It seems to work at making me more depressed - I was doing 10K steps on average a day for Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb and am now struggling to manage 7K. Yesterday I barely made 3K. As well, biking isn't being measured at all (not even activity minutes) and, of course, swimming doesn't register so when you add all that up, it is offering only negative feedback, not positive.

[helia]

((Kathryn)) I'm so sorry about your knee, and the whole situation. I absolutely concur - losing weight is really really hard! If the fitbit is making you feel depressed about your situation, yes, maybe you should get rid of it. ((HUGS))

Thinking of your dh and his surgery Friday, Dee. That must be a stressor for you too.

Also thinking of ((Twins and family)) and (((Moses))).

I am VERY happy to have a free morning today. This is the only day this week I have a free large chunk of time. Tomorrow, is moms group and I'll have 30 - 40 minutes at home between 8:25 a.m. and 6 pm. Friday, I'm subbing at the school, so I'll be out of the house from 9:15 a.m (to go to WW) until 6 pm. Anyhow, I'll need to use my morning to run some errands. I'm also hoping to try walking to work for my exercise today. I'm estimating it will take me 1 hour - 1 hour 15 minutes. I'll aim to leave at noon. The weather is beautiful today, so it should be a nice day for a long walk. I'll have my backpack full of books with me, so that will make it a bit more strenuous.

Currently, I have done some of the a.m. routine: had a QT, s2sed and done self-care, checked emails and web sites, sent a couple emails (small group and checking w/ my supervisor re: something I thought I'd forgotten to do), a lol is twirling, top rack of dw is unloaded. Before I run errands, I will try to make a couple DPC. Dd16 needs a check up at the Pedi; she is WA"Y overdue. Plus, she's having some back pain which I'd like to get checked out. She has mild scoliosis. I'm not happy that she marches with the bass drum, even though she has the smallest one. Drum line practice starts up again next week? And Maia is losing hair on her side, so I'd like to get that checked out.

BTW, the bulgogi (Korean beef) was very well-received last night! I used 2 lbs. of sliced ribeye. The 4 of us ate most of it. There's only a small/half a serving left. I'll put that on my main dish repertoire. Prep time wasn't too bad.

Next:
- switch laundry
- call vet
- call pedi
- finish unloading dw
- errands: B and N for graduation card for my mentee
- TJ for more shrimp and possibly naan, if they have it, for the Thursday crew. Dh is cooking his Indian curry recipe - with shrimp this time.
- library
- print out (1) photo of gift ordered for mentee that hasn't arrived yet. It is coming from the UK. (2) Vocabulary sentences for BRW class

Later:
- noon, leave for work
- Star bucks for gift certificate for mentee
- last minute prep for payroll (final exams start today - so not much to prep)
- class, 1:40 - 3:30
- meet with mentee 4 - 5:30-ish; it ends up being more like 6 pm
- dinner: leftovers for the girls and me. Dh will be out with a work dinner.
- grading; the writing section of the final is today so I'll have 15 paragraphs to grade. All grades are due Thursday at 10 pm. I'll have a reading exam, a listening exam, and 11 spoken interviews, which I'll record so I can analyze the speech more accurately, added to the grading pile tomorrow.

[DeeClutter]

I hear you on the 'losing weight' issue, Kathryn. Seems no matter how little I eat (though I know I'm not exercising enough) I play around with the same 2# repeatedly. I am very, very slowly inching downward and I supposed I should be happy with that. But of course I want to lose that 50# all at once. Trying to space out my steps today. I'm kind of 'dragging' today so tried to take a short nap in the recliner -didn't work.

Panicked for a bit as my mouse all of a sudden stopped working and I had disabled the onboard mouse. Was getting ready to make a w mart run for new AAA batteries. Looked in DD's "junk" drawer and found a whole package! I'll replace them when I buy myself a pack. Didn't seem possible the batteries could have died as soon as they did, but maybe I've had them in longer than I thought.

Think while dd/dsonil are gone (Thursday night - Sunday afternoon) I'll try to get the back screened porch cleaned. That's one job dh and I never tackled all winter and it dearly needs it. Maybe if I get it done (or as much as I am able to do), DD and I can sit out there once in a while. We like sitting on the front porch after the sun gets around, but then the mosquitoes start bothering about 5 o'clock. I am so terribly sensitive to any bite that I have to be mighty careful. When I make my w mart run going to pick up a pair of gardening gloves for 'dirty' work here -and that would be the porch by now. Lots of pollen and dust to get rid of.

There's about 3 smaller trash cans that aluminum cans get tossed in. Almost think I'm going to get a larger can and put those out in the garage. A larger can would take a trash bag. Dh is usually the one who flattens these cans and puts them up in the shop until there's enough to recycle. Dsonil is absolutely the worst at recycling anything. I can pretty much guarantee that when we're gone over the summer that EVERYTHING will simply go in the trash. DD is going to encourage him to at least take the rolling trash can to the curb each week -especially during the summer heat. Good luck with that.

Think dsonil's boss couldn't tell the truth if his life depended on it. One of the guys told dsonil yesterday that the boss told him he needed him to do more as "N" is RETIRING. His new job -6 miles away- starts on Wednesday. Not sure what that is going to mean for me (and dh when he's here) as dsonil is working 12 hour nights (7-7); 3 days on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 3 days off etc. The problem will be that he spends his snoozing time in the recliner which is in the living room. That's going to make it very difficult for us to do anything in the 'great room'. Hoping they figure it out -I can't be gone all day, every day. I actually like being home more days than not. I was told that he would sleep through anything, but I would still feel very uncomfortable working, doing dishes, or anything else we might do. Things will work out, I'm sure. But in the meantime I find concern about it, while being glad he has the promising job.

Yes, Helia, think I am stressed somewhat about dh's surgery -with me not being there. I don't like this at all, though dh absolutely refuses to let me come home yet. Think part of that is I'm probably (at least in the back of my mind) thinking "what will people think of me not being there?" There, I said it -that does bother me. I do know if he has to have his knee replaced that he will wait until after I get home. Oops that just reminded me that I told dh last night I'd call his cardiologist's office to give them the correct dosage he's taking of the metalozone -it is 5mg not 20 as I had written on his list. Dh said he never got time to call them yesterday and I offered to do it today -he readily accepted that offer.

[Twins' Mom]

Yes, Kathryn, I'm with you on the weight issues. My weight has crept up and my steps gone way down since ddogs aren't being walked much. Macs got a short walk on Monday but on Sunday we went out and he just laid down in the neighbor's yard to enjoy their greener grass. Didn't want to walk, didn't even want to get up, but I finally brought him around to our back yard and he wanted in instead of enjoying our grass.

Vet suggested yesterday we try a lower dose of Tramadol with Moses as the whimpering could be exacerbated by the Tramadol - and we actually had a better night. Slept from around 10:30 to 5 a.m., I think, then Moses needed meds and didn't settle back down so I slept on the couch - off and on - until around 7 a.m. Dvet is off today and actually things w Moe seem a little better today.

I am getting a pedicure at 11, then am going with dneighbor ladies to a tea room this afternoon. Thinking I might take my own car instead of carpooling and then stop by nearby farmers market afterward. In between I need to get some groceries and run a few errands. Dh has an evening meeting.

Looking toward the weekend I made a restaurant reservation for Sat night in ATL after ds' graduation. We're also inviting long time ATL friends to join us. I still need to find a dog sitter - dd suggested her friend who has dog sat for us before so I'll ck with her....

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Dinner is started. Washer is almost done (I let the load soak for an hour.) I'm just finishing up breakfast now.

Dh is on his conference call.

I've invited ds for dinner since I'll be having a lasagna instead of the ribs I'm making for dh. Portion control and easier on my system since it is lower fat. I need to get to the store to buy a salad, though. Probably will bike it. One of the problems with biking is I have to get up the ramp from the underground garage so am immediately biking uphill from a stop (in order to let the door open.) Will try walking up since I feel the riding up hurts my knees and could be the reason biking is bad for them.

[DeeClutter]

Good luck in finding a dog sitter, Twins. Hard to believe your ds is graduating already -weren't the twins just in 8th grade for goodness sake? Tells how many years we've been hanging out here in this village.

Hope the walking the bike out helps your knees, Kathryn. These years are anything but "golden"!

[Elizabeth]

Good morning everyone! Congratulate me, I managed to resist the call of computer Scrabble last night. I did get to bed later than I wanted, but that is because I was getting stuff done instead of goofing off. Tonight's main task is to get my will scanned, burned to DVDs, with a copy filed at my house, and a copy sent to my parents.

Any SHEs in the DENVER area? I will be vacationing out there for a week this summer with DD13.

Kathryn: Would a rolling office chair make it less painful to get around the kitchen? That is what I used when I broke my foot.

[Harmony]

You can add me to the list of people with sore knees. I'm sure if I was power walking or jogging every day it would be worse. When I use the elliptical, I feel it directly above the knee, but it's not so much that there are sharp pains. DH's knees are terrible. I wonder what's in his future. (Dee).

I've been out and about running errands for DH. Had to lift a very heavy box of nails from the floor to load in car. If it's been a couple feet off the floor it wouldn't have been so bad, but this was right down there... and I was praying my back would take the strain - which it did thank goodness - and if my legs were stronger I could have stooped and raised with thigh muscles. Old age ain't for sissies.

While I was out I took donation bins and big frames to GW and I also dropped library book in the bin. Now that I'm home I need to get started at my desk which is piled up.

Hope you find someone in Denver, Elizabeth!
We had thundershowers last night. The storm blew through then came back up the state. We've been so dry you can't much tell we had all that rain.

Gotta go..

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Elizabeth: the office chair is a good idea. Not only that, we have a rolling drafting chair already in the kitchen, it is the third chair (for ds) at our bar tables in there. Never thought of using it. I'll try that later today.

I keep going back and forth on keeping the wheelchair. Weeks like this, it is a no-brainer - yes, I will need it soon, so may as well keep it and not give it away. I'm not using it but I'm getting close.