holy no updating, batman
I could have sworn I've updated at least a few times this year, but LJ informs me my last update was last year, the day after my dad died. It's certainly been a crazy almost year. Mom was pretty lost for a long time, as taking care of dad had been her world for a couple of years. She's finally getting into a better mindset, taking care of her own health and getting out more. I've got her coming over to my place a few days a week to take care of Cooper at lunch, as well as taking him back to her place one day a week for the afternoon. The last couple of months, that's been Wednesdays, as I joined a training program to walk a half marathon and we meet Wednesday nights for one of our two weekly group walks. The other walk was Saturday mornings, so Coop just slept while I walked. The half marathon is this Sunday and it should be a good day. Nice cool weather with no rain. I know I can do the distance, as we've already walked that far during training, but I still have the jitters about it. I'm now on vacation thru Monday so I can clean, do laundry, pick up race packet, shop, and a bunch more other things I haven't gotten done during the three months of crazy training schedule.
I wasn't planning to do the program again until next summer, as this next session runs into December and the joints don't do well in under 40 weather. But, I was asked to be a mentor (basically do the training program as a helper to help the participants with techniques and tips, and also make sure someone is always walking with a mentor in case any problems crop up). Happily they're ok with me maybe not making it to all the walks and this is for the 5K program, so the longest walks will be just over 3 miles. That's only about 45 minutes for me, so easy after the 2 or 3 plus hour walks we've been doing on Saturdays. I won't be free as a bird on Saturdays like I was looking forward to, but I can deal with that time commitment :) My yard will be very happy, as I've totally neglected it this year. Saturday has always been my yard day and I've spent the summer walking, then napping. No yard work has really happened since my vacation week after Memorial Day when I do all my spring planting. The weather was so hot, I didn't even get all that done, including my mulching (mulch is all still sitting in my driveway waiting to be put down...ugh!)
In health update news, the arthritis is still staying mostly in remission. I will probably always wake up stiff, sore and achy everyday, but it goes away much quicker and isn't very bad. The only bad thing is liver test results, which have been fluctuating like crazy since last December. I was taken off my heavier pain pills and tylenol and it seemed to help, then went back up. I only take one med still that could be affecting it, but it's the maintenance arthritis med, so the doc really doesn't want to touch that. So now I get to take monthly blood tests, so we can track it over time and he can hopefully figure out what's going on.
Weight loss wise, I've gained back about 10 pounds since December, so not happy about that. Adding carbs back into my diet set me back and I am struggling to get that back under control. Still down 150 pounds from day of surgery weight of 325. I need to lose about 20 to get down to where I'd like to be. If it doesn't happen, I'm ok where I am, but I know if I can just kick the carb habit, I can do it. This was me (white hat) and my coach a few weeks ago, after we finished our 13.4 mile training walk.
and finally, fannish wise, I'm still mostly into Marvel/Avengers, Losers, Harry Potter, Stargate Atlantis, and Hawaii 5-0. I only got into H50 recently but I'm loving the fic. The show can be totally cheesy, but I love that, so it works for me. :) I gave up my extended cable, so really only watch home improvement and PBS on tv. I downloaded H50 and also worked my way through watching most of the Midsomer Murders after I downloaded those, though I haven't read fic for it.
Hopefully it won't be another 11 months until I post again...this got way too long.
I wasn't planning to do the program again until next summer, as this next session runs into December and the joints don't do well in under 40 weather. But, I was asked to be a mentor (basically do the training program as a helper to help the participants with techniques and tips, and also make sure someone is always walking with a mentor in case any problems crop up). Happily they're ok with me maybe not making it to all the walks and this is for the 5K program, so the longest walks will be just over 3 miles. That's only about 45 minutes for me, so easy after the 2 or 3 plus hour walks we've been doing on Saturdays. I won't be free as a bird on Saturdays like I was looking forward to, but I can deal with that time commitment :) My yard will be very happy, as I've totally neglected it this year. Saturday has always been my yard day and I've spent the summer walking, then napping. No yard work has really happened since my vacation week after Memorial Day when I do all my spring planting. The weather was so hot, I didn't even get all that done, including my mulching (mulch is all still sitting in my driveway waiting to be put down...ugh!)
In health update news, the arthritis is still staying mostly in remission. I will probably always wake up stiff, sore and achy everyday, but it goes away much quicker and isn't very bad. The only bad thing is liver test results, which have been fluctuating like crazy since last December. I was taken off my heavier pain pills and tylenol and it seemed to help, then went back up. I only take one med still that could be affecting it, but it's the maintenance arthritis med, so the doc really doesn't want to touch that. So now I get to take monthly blood tests, so we can track it over time and he can hopefully figure out what's going on.
Weight loss wise, I've gained back about 10 pounds since December, so not happy about that. Adding carbs back into my diet set me back and I am struggling to get that back under control. Still down 150 pounds from day of surgery weight of 325. I need to lose about 20 to get down to where I'd like to be. If it doesn't happen, I'm ok where I am, but I know if I can just kick the carb habit, I can do it. This was me (white hat) and my coach a few weeks ago, after we finished our 13.4 mile training walk.
and finally, fannish wise, I'm still mostly into Marvel/Avengers, Losers, Harry Potter, Stargate Atlantis, and Hawaii 5-0. I only got into H50 recently but I'm loving the fic. The show can be totally cheesy, but I love that, so it works for me. :) I gave up my extended cable, so really only watch home improvement and PBS on tv. I downloaded H50 and also worked my way through watching most of the Midsomer Murders after I downloaded those, though I haven't read fic for it.
Hopefully it won't be another 11 months until I post again...this got way too long.