Feeling Lousy

What does everyone else do when they don't feel up to par?  I'm at a loss today what to do with myself.  I have an injured IT band in my right hip.  It started at the beginning of this month. I thought it was from my new position,  that I was doing things I wasn't accustomed to doing.   So after a day of work, if I felt soreness, I just went in the next day and powered through it, assuming it was muscle ache and would resolve itself when the muscle acclimated. 

Seems like I created the worsening injury. And now I'm paying for it.  I haven't been to work in a week now. Although in truth I had to go look it up because the muscle relaxers I've been taking also "relaxes" my memory.  So now I'm writing everything down .... don't want to over consume those Rxs. 

I lucked out and was able to locate some physical therapy tomorrow, so that makes me feel like I'm actually moving along in the right direction.

In the meantime, since walking van be painful, im reduced to shuffling between the bedroom and the living room.  Watching TV or reading a book.  And I'm so bored!  

What to do, what to do?  So I started being creative, sewing quilted hearts to leave around town.  (More info at IFAQH.com) 

Officially Old!

Yes, I am finally of "a certain age."  I received my Welcome to Medicare packet.  And maybe just in time!  

I have been laid up this week with a pinched nerve in my back.  Its been lots of ice and heat and laying around.   Frankly it's boring.  I took myself off to urgent care since my primary care physician was booked up.  I was prescribed a steroid series and a muscle relaxer.  I've always been sensitive to medications, so every time I take one, I end up napping.  

Another doc visit today because if this doesn't clear up, I'll be on LOA soon, as I'm running out of PTO.  I can't remember the last time I missed this much work without some kind of surgery.

Just how much TV can a person watch? How many books can you read?  Ugh.

Being that I can't drive while taking the muscle relaxer, I ordered groceries online and had them delivered yesterday.  Thank goodness for having Walmart+ .  Stuff arrived on time and I'm grateful I didn't have to scramble for meals!  

Ding!  Alarm just went off, time to lay down on another ice pack!   Be well!

Cleaning and Coping

"The link between cleaning and thinking".  I read that line in a book today, but its nothing new. At least not for me.  

When I was raising kids, and something would go wrong, I would use my anger to fuel a cleaning spree.  For me, cleaning lets off steam, and also clears the mind, let's you see more than one side of your anger.  

Of course, it wasn't always the kids who were the source of my anger.  I had plenty of that with ex husbands.  That's when my house was the cleanest!  lol

Living alone and being older, I don't have much to be angry about any more.  Needless to say, my house doesn't get that deep clean as often! 

I'm not sure what fuels other people to house clean. Or what others do with their anger.  It's been my coping mechanism since I was a teen.  Sometimes it felt like I was alone in this peculiarity; now that I'm older, I don't care, its who I am. 

And I'm ok with that!

Feeling Guilty?

Getting old isn't much fun.  You hear people joke about sneezing and throwing their back out,  or getting an ache in their neck because they waved at someone.   While most of the time its said in jest, there is some truth to it.

For the past couple of weeks as I get in the groove of my new job, new movements are included. And I'm not sure why these little changes are causing havoc in my life.  To reach things higher, I use a 3-step ladder; to reach things low down, I have to kneel.  Both have caused me a few aches and pains.  

In trying to overcome these aches, I decided that I need to work on some of those muscles.  That's what I did Thursday night.  Friday, I could hardly move. My lower back was in a spasm, shooting a pain down my leg.  Or was it a glitch in my ankle shooting pains upward?  I'm not sure.

So I called off work and spent Friday, Saturday and now today flat on my back, alternating ice and heat, trying to relieve the pains.  I could barely hobble on Friday, Saturday was better, but I called off again today to give my body an extra day of rest.

But I was raised with a strong work ethic:  work first, then play.  So why do I feel so guilty about not being at work????  I know that my health comes first, my body needed the rest, but my mind is going crazy.  I'm bingeing Sex and the City and reading old romance novels. (Can't complain about a good lookin' cowboy though !)

I think I'll be glad to be going back to work!

Music Documentaries

Today on Netflix I found a documentary called Tricky Dick and Johnny Cash.  When Nixon was President, I was young and didn't know much about politics.  But I learned things about them both that was quite interesting.  I am a HUGE Johnny Cash fan, and loved finding new info on his life.  He played the White House in 1970 for President Nixon.  His songs conveyed his feelings, his love of his country.  

And since I was in a mood, I hooked up "I'll Be Me", on Tubi, which is Glen Campbell's story of the end of his career. He struggles with Alzheimer, has trouble remembering day to day things, but on the stage, he can still belt out his wonderful songs.  Its truly a wonder what he could accomplish.  I appreciate how his family was willing to share this with the world.  He was definitely a Rhinestone Cowboy!

Wear a Smile, Annie!

"I think I'm gonna like it here!"  When my girls were little, we could sing all the tunes from the movie, Annie, starring Carol Burnett.  We would watch and sing, and sometimes dance.   We liked it so much, we had the recording on cassette (yes, I'm that old!)  and played it in the van as we made our summer travel treks.  It always lifted our spirits as we sang along to the happy tunes! Maybe you have similar family memories.  Hang on to them, treasure them!

And remember, "Who cares what they're wearing on Main Street or Saville Row. Its what you wear from ear to ear and not from head to toe.  You're never fully dressed without a smile." 

Ahhhh..... memories!!!!

Ps:  Annie is streaming on Netflix!!

Yep, That's My Fam

Seven years ago there was a wedding.   They're always fun events, of course.  Me, being me, wandered around taking pics of everyone and everything.   And in my "today's memories" category, this photo shows up.  It made me laugh and laugh!!! Because that's my fam, holding up the bar. Or the bar is holding them up. (lol) 

If we're at an event and you need to find someone ... check the bar.  

Yep!  That's my fam!!!   Every. Time.

Pet Peeves

What's your pet peeve?  We all have them, those petty annoyances that can drive us crazy.  For me, one of them are women who are verbal when using the restroom.  Another is the driver who patks too close to our car, leaving a gap on the other side.  Or women who wear too much perfume ... the kind where you know where she went ... just follow the scent!

Today, during my break, in a room where there are more than 30 places to sit, someone sits down next to me; turns on her phone to watch videos with sound (hello! headphones please!)  Then opens her lunch.  Not sure what it was but the smell!  

Funny how its little crazy things that can drive us so crazy!

Hip? Or Not?

Today I came home and promptly put ice on my aching back. Or is it my hip?  I can't be sure.  It gets tight when I'm moving, but slow stretches seem to help.  So I'm going on the assumption that its related to my up and down the ladder/steps at work more often than I used to do in my old position.  It all seemed to start when I got a leg cramp a week ago.  

That old adage of "use it or lose it" seems to apply here.  Why do we always put things off?  I knew this job was coming.  I could have worked my way up to enough step climbing to avoid this. But I didn't.  Thought I could handle it.  

Sigh.   It ain't easy getting old.

In other news, it has warmed up and my cactus is blooming!

House Paint & Grief

Its a Saturday, my day off.  But boy, am I  tired.  Or maybe a better word is sore.  While I worked hard in my last position, this new one is quite the adjustment.  Lots of climbing up and down a ladder; pulling carts of freight to the floor.  I have a pulled muscle in my left hip this week, so more ice and heat combo to help.  And a little Advil helps too!

My home was painted today and I am SO happy with it!!!  It was one of those things that I'd been thinking of for a while now.  Just happy its been done! 

The rest of the day was spent doing household chores, nothing very exciting.  Its been a rough week, with my son's heavenly birthday and my dad's as well.  Grief is something I deal with on an on-going basis.  Some days are better than others; some days it rolls over me like an 18-wheeler.  Grief is love with no where to go.  

Here's to a better week!

Today is Hard

Today would have been my son's 38th birthday.  He's been gone almost 5 years now, and I still miss him.

Very much. 

Every day.

There is no getting over such a loss. The grief is like pulling a wagon with you wherever you go.  Sometimes the load feels lighter, and some days, its almost too much to pull.  But its always there.

You should still be here, Brian. 

Love, Mom

(I couldn't today, but I'm having Pizza and Pepsi on Weds!!!)

Owies and Post Boxes

Sunday morning meant starting my new position in the store.  It didn't go well,  and I had to leave after the first hour.  Saturday night was a chilly night so lots of blankets on my bed.  For some reason, I got a Charlie horse in my left leg -- usually happens when I don't drink enough fluids -- and when it hit I knew right away that I had to get out of the bed and stand on it.  Which means my right leg was frantically trying to kick the blankets out of the way.  Somehow, I pulled a muscle deep in my hip. As the day progressed, I couldn't stand straight, shuffling from room to room I looked like a question mark all bent over.  

Not my first time having strange muscle pulls, I knew I had to ice it so I sat on my couch on ice for 20 mins, shuffled around for 10 minutes then sat on heat for 20 minutes. I did 3 cycles of this and by 10pm was able to finally able straighten out enough to lay down in bed.  Needless to say,  I stayed home from work for just that little bit extra healing.

Meanwhile, I spoke with my neighbor; he has a notice from HOA to have his house painted.  Heck .... do mine too!  Its being quoted.  Fingers crossed.

Here in The Valley of the Sun, mail isn't delivered to our homes. We walk to a locked mailbox unit at the end of the block.  Not sure what happened, but its no longer secure and we have to pickup our mail at the post office for the time being.  Sigh. Good thing I'm off today! 

My Last Pallet

Part of my job for the past 16 years is building and wrapping pallets of freight.  Today, I wrapped my last claims pallet.  And it was both a relief and sadness.  

When customers return stuff to their local BigBoxStore, it was my job to box up those items, and ship them back to the vendors.  We send them on pallets to the return center.  My pallets have always been stacked and packed nearly perfectly.  They are high, tight and squared up.  I joke around, saying I get paid to play Tetris with boxes, and yes thats how it is most of the time!

Now that I've decided to step down, change jobs, its going to be very weird doing things different - hard to change 16 year old habits!!  We will see how this goes ... no more worries about coverage, getting all the tasks done, and the other little stresses that have been adding up.  

Good time to start looking toward retirement!!

Ahh .... Baseball!

A spring Wednesday evening, and yes, it's baseball season!!!  My great-nephew is in his first year of Little League.  It was fun to see these little guys hitting, running and catching.  They'll certainly get better with time!!  Go Camos!!

Reminds me of when my own boys played baseball.  Games 2-3 times a week, cheering both the good and the bad.  I was a proud baseball mama, and now a proud Auntie as well! Good thing there are more games to look forward to!

The sun was beautiful, so I snapped a pic. 

Netflix Binge!

I opened up Netflix this morning.... I like having background noise when I get up and do chores.  I was thrilled when I saw they added the series "Sex and the City" !!! 

I've watched it many times, even bought the series on DVD, but having it on Netflix .....  EeEeEeEeEeEeEEE!!!!!  I lounged around in bed an extra hour just to watch! 

Yes, I know, I could watch any time on DVD, but having it stream .....  there's just something about it.  Not the sex, but the relationships between the four friends. 

I'm watching now and it's the episode that debates whether its ok to fart in front of the man you've been sleeping with.  Does it change how the other person thinks about you?  Does it matter?  When you get older, some things don't matter any more.

Even though its an old show, I still enjoy it! (And dream of finding my very own Mr. Big!) lol

Wild News for Me!

Today I learned that my daughter is going to be a grandmother.   Yikes!  That means I'm going to be a Great Grandmother.  Talk about making a person feel old!!  

But they say only good Grandmothers get promoted to Great Grandmas!! 

Then at family dinner, country music in the background,  and Toby Keith singing "I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm good once as I ever was." Always, always reminds me of Chuck.  And makes me smiles.  I miss him.

Life happens, then changes, and changes again.  Embrace the changes!