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Today is Sunday. Sunday we do an 8 to 8.5 mile walk (usually to Walmart) and back through the park… past the donut shop (Yeah!!!!) and back home. Today was overcast (actually it tried really hard to rain… even if … Continue reading
Walked to the grocery store today. 
5 miles there and back (even got 87 cent a pint blackberries for the walk home). It was a great walk. I SO miss western PA in October… because I miss fall leaves… but I really love central Texas in April. The bluebonnets are breathtaking… and because of the rain they are even more beautiful than usual.
People here are really great to watch, too. Everyone gets their pictures taken in the flowers. People… dogs… pictures and pictures and pictures of the posies. These are a few of mine.
I signed up for 10000 steps (work is encouraging wellness… visa-ve Yoga… 10000 steps… even giving us a discounted rate on Weight Watchers) and today was a good day… made my 10000 steps. Tomorrow is the Walk to Walmart (for scripts) and that is a nine mile walk…. more flower pictures…
I love spring.
I love colors.
I love days when I don’t feel like I got hit by a truck.
Posted in Fitness, Journalling
Okay, I will admit, I’m probably taking this yoga thing to extremes… well… maybe not extremes, but way further than anyone thought I would… eventually I’m going to (if it KILLS me) be as good as the guy with the amazingly long hair or the guy who drinks his tea out of a stainless steel cup (you KNOW who you are!!!). I want to be able to be as flexible as they are. It may take years and I may never actually get there… but that is my dream.
I’ve been looking at the “art” of breathing and it is really cool (and it works… )… AND it is best practiced laying down with your head (and knees if it is more comfortable) on a pillow. What could be better… Yoga where you don’t actually have to move!
It is relearning how to breathe deeply, the way you breathe when you are little.
Breathe not only into your chest… all the way into your stomach… deeeeeeeeeply…. the goal (stupid as it sounds in today’s society) is to make your stomach look like you are pregnant…. chest stick out… stomach stick out… slowly in…. slowly out… relax your whole body and just think about breathing…
put one hand on your stomach… one hand on your chest…
make the stomach one rise first…. then your chest….
it really feels good when you breathe like this… relaxed…
who knew breathing could feel good!!!
I don’t usually take the money to buy new books from the regular book store. I have gotten three, I think, in the last year… One on RA, one on Epilepsy and the one that Larry bought me last night.
Yoga for Arthritis The Complete Guide…
Yeah… let’s face it, I’m hooked… I had to smile during the last class at her saying that “this pose” (can’t remember for the life of me now… but I have the audio of it so I should be able to figure it out… ) will get the synovial fluid moving. I actually laughed at the comment… that is WHY I’m there… to try to get the synovial fluid moving… I got an early birthday present last night when he got me this book… I really like that
1. it tells me how to modify to meet the arthritis needs and what props I can use until (if ever) I can do them without the props… and most of the props are… a towel… the wall… a chair… nothing wild…
2. it tells me under what conditions NOT to do the poses
3. it tells me the purpose of the pose
4. it tells me how to avoid pitfalls (things like… remembering to breathe, open up your shoulders, start slowly… all kinds of things I would probably ignore if I weren’t deliberately reading them…
I absolutely love the chapter on the wrists and hands…
Ever since I fell roller blading (WEAR WRIST GUARDS for anyone who doesn’t know) and broke my arm (radius compound, ulna greenstick… pretty sure that is what started this mess… ten years ago) and my right wrist not working at all right… my wrists and hands have given me issues. Sometimes better, sometimes worse… Rheumy told me that is why RA settled there so well… it likes boo-boo places like that…
ANYWAY… I love the book… I think I’m going to modify some of the poses and work up my own ideas on them… see where I can make them hurt less when I do them.
Sitting here now, enjoying the reading, the practice and the wonderful smelling breeze coming in through the windows…
Posted in rheumatoid arthritis, UP day, yoga
It has been an amazingly long and reasonably bad week… but the ending isn’t SO bad (except for the computer part)
Monday was supposed to be work from home day… and my laptop crashed… Hurry up and bath quick, get dressed and haul my butt into work… laptop toast… fixed by Wednesday at the latest. Okay… cool beans… pager duty starts Thursday so that isn’t bad. Figured by the way I felt I was coming down with a UTI and was trying to stay mellow and drink lots of water and lots of green tea and cranberry juice…
Tuesday… didn’t feel quite right in the morning but that isn’t overly unusual…. face it… I wake up every day feeling just a little off. Went to work… actually made some progress… Lunch time I was feeling crappier and decided (rather than LISTEN to my body… duh) to ride the stationary bike at the gym… NOT a great idea… shower… feeling worse and worse… back to work… by 1:30 EVERYTHING hurt. Welcome to an infection with an auto-immune disease. LORD this was awful. It felt like someone had beaten the crap out of me with a baseball bat…. repeatedly… everywhere. Packed up and went to the car (where I slept in the parking garage for about an hour) and drove home… where I went to sleep and slept until the night got full of raised voices and unhappy people… REALLY didn’t feel like diffusing an argument but I’m really really really glad I did. I’m also not glad I did because I could have done without some of what I found out… but… hey… you take the good with the bad. I understand WAY more now than I did before and I think it will end up being a better thing. The nicest thing was… I got my laptop back from the help desk so I had it in case I needed it.
Wednesday… woke up throwing up… great… worked from home (on the back porch) so I didn’t have to get up and RUN to the bathroom every half hour… A trip to the store for easter candy (I’m so glad I have weird kids who still… at 15 and 18… want to find baskets and hunt eggs… and dye eggs…) and back to work. It felt so good working on the back porch and I get so much more done when there are fewer interruptions. I know that isn’t logical (supposed to get more done when they can watch you work) but it is (in my case, at least, true… I get more done because I can put in a concentrated effort and I actually end up working longer AND smarter when I can do it my way… but I’m not a type A or anything… )
Thursday… get the pager… OH BOY!!! eesh…. and Yoga class. Yoga is SO helping me. I absolutely love the lady that runs BeaLoveYoga and I want them to keep allowing us to have class at lunch time. It helps so much… especially when I don’t have to get in the car and haul my butt half way across town (or worse) to attend a class….
Friday was SUPPOSED to be a work from home day… computer crashed again… great… in to work to do my clone (sometimes I love E-Business suite… sometimes not so much). BUT I got the clone done on time and even ahead of schedule and my computer was back by 1. I figured I was set for the weekend of pager duty. DON’T ever assume computers are going to work. Skinny butt went out with his friends and got back late late. Making sure he was okay (THIS kid SO can’t drive safely… even on a good day… he scares me)… finding out that 10 MTX sucks and trying to stop the world from spinning.
Saturday (when I actually started this) was a really good day. Busy but good. Walked to HEB… colored eggs.. put up 2 tents in the back yard (and actually slept in them)… went swimming (even the coldish water was nice after you got in and moving)… Sleeping in the tent was great. Went to sleep listening to trains and traffic down on the big road and an owl somewhere out back. I usually sleep to inane TV programs that are white noise. I was PLANNING on falling asleep to music on the computer… I turned it off and just listened. It was chilly and damp, but Amandyal came out to sleep with me and Peanut came out to sleep with me and it was all good.
And this morning… a cardinal is sitting outside the kitchen window on the fence singing… Amandya is sitting on the floor in the living room with her basket laid out on the floor (surrounded by the wet blankets from the tent) listening to Letters From Home and looking at pictures. Things have started to really matter to her. Waking up to rain dripping off the roof and filling up the tent was nice… Waking up to my stupid work laptop being messed up again wasn’t so great… but I got to play hide the easter basket and hide the eggs again which is really good.
My arm hurts a 12 this morning because of the rain but I expected that…
Now… to bake a ham
Posted in Family, Holiday, Journalling
Okay… I’ve decided to really start writing down some of the poses that I find helpful.
Yeah… it sounds like a big deal. It is standing up… that’s about it…
Don’t do this pose if you have plantar fascitis. Don’t do this pose if you have sever imbalance. Modify the time you are in this pose if you are in pain, particularly in your ankles. Modify this pose by standing with your back at the wall to help with the “I’m going to fall” feeling.
Respect the natural curve of the spine…
This pose helps keep you in focus… focusing your gaze at a spot on the wall in front of you helps… so does closing your eyes but closing your eyes makes balance harder… and places awareness on your feet being connected to the floor (very grounding). Think about the way your breath feels entering and leaving your body. DON’T think about work or stress or anything that will make you tense.
Hold for 1 to 2 minutes.
Focus Points: Don’t just stand passively! Activate every part of your body, from your heels to your head.
Other Benefits: Strengthens and tones the whole body. Improves alignment. Creates balance.
Happy Sunday Morning. Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. Robert Schuller I have a warm fuzzy (okay… okay… I cut her hair so she is pretty much fuzzless) dog curled up at my knee and I’m thinking. It … Continue reading
Okay, well, it sounded like a cool title.
Today is International Purple Day… a day to raise awareness of Epilepsy world wide. It was started in 2008 by a nine year old girl in Nova Scotia. SHE is an inspiration…
Last night, I went to the Round Rock City Council Meeting to accept the Proclamation of Purple Day in Round Rock Texas. It meant a lot to me and I really don’t know why… other than this town actually took the time to respond to my email campaign and to reach out to its citizens…. it mattered.
Before the meeting, the Mayor came and introduced himself to me. I’m impressed by our mayor. He has a good handshake… not the I’M A MAN WINCE BEFORE ME kind of handshake that I have come to fear (heck, I fear a lot of handshakes… but those are the worst on my knuckles)… not the oh… you are a girl… I will be weak and patronizing kind… those are easier on the knuckles but not on the self esteem…. he had a gentle warm and welcoming hand shake.
And purple tie! It made me smile.
This morning I got an email from the news paper wanting to do an interview (okay… it is a weekly paper with a limited distribution, but it IS a newspaper… and it will help get the word out). I know there will be a photographer and the reporter. Okay, the reporter is female, which means the hand shake will be less intense. Not sure about the photographer.
I pride myself on my handshake. I refuse to wince. I refuse to have a wimpy handshake. I know that I base a lot on the way someone shakes hands and I figure other people do too.
SO today, I am bowing to the patron saint of naproxen sodium. I don’t hurt badly enough to take the anti inflamitories (even though my knuckles probably could use the help… something is up with some extra stiffness and extra achey-ness… ). I think the little blue pills (not the tiny blue pills… the ones in the stomach yukky isle… those are for other purposes…. grin) but the little bright blue pills that make the hand shakes magically not so bad.
This is important.
This matters.
As much as RA matters to me because it is personal and it is mine and I’m trying to live with it and embrace what I can do and what I can affect… Epilepsy matters more because she is my kid and it matters.
Happy Purple Day.
Go Grapes!
Posted in epilepsy, Journalling, pain, rheumatoid arthritis
Yesterday I went on adventure. Okay… it was a LITTLE adventure, but it was fun and it was something I had wanted to do for quite a while. I went to the library. Not the one I usually go to… … Continue reading
I have read, several times over the last few days, the article here on how women with RA seem to have a higher rate of pregnancy complications. My rheumy told me that miscarriages can be connected to RA, and this article explains that low birth weight.
It makes me go… hmmm
It might help explain both kids being several weeks early and both kids being light for gestational age… not sure if it really could, since I had kids 18 years ago and 15 years ago… and RA was diagnosed 4 months ago (wow.. been an eventful 4 months)… but it makes me wonder.
Posted in Family, rheumatoid arthritis
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