Sunday, December 27, 2015

random stuff


Saturday...

Three days before Christmas Eve I was seeing ads for celebrating New Year's Eve. So it goes in America, the land of the 5 minute attention span. Hey, it's almost Christmas, we've just about milked this cow dry...on to the next thing we can convince people to spend money on.

The day after Christmas, that magical day, the most wonderful day of the year where you get your heart's desire; the stores are mobbed with people returning all those thoughtfully selected and lovingly given gifts. One year I would have gladly been in that mob had I not been a child after opening a present that my father picked out...a pink and orange plaid pantsuit.

The radio station that started playing nothing but non-stop Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving is still at it. I'm supposed to have it on in the store and I do...in the other room as far from me as I can get it. Thankfully, it's a crappy radio and it keeps shifting into static which I only discover when I go to turn it off at the end of the day.

Sunday...

Today is Marcmas! Ordinarily we would be going to the movie and out for dinner but because we have the dogs we'll spend a quiet day at home although I think we will be getting a visit from some combination of our daughter and her family later. We'll celebrate tomorrow or the next day depending on what time my sister gets back.

It's overcast and windy and rainy today, the beginning of the end of our warm weather I think. A winter storm is moving south and it's supposed to dip down into the 40˚s this coming week. 40˚s are OK but we'll have to turn on the heater. I still won't have to move the plants in though. Right now they are all huddled against the south side of the house in the crook of an L, protected from the west as well.

Last Wednesday I got up from the couch mid-day and felt a stab of pain in my lower back, the kind of pain that doesn't let you do anything, a reprise of an injury from 13 or 14 years ago when we worked non-stop for 3 months fabricating 10 – 5' x 6' panels for two walls at a hospital. I stressed my back so badly that when done with the job, a week later when I had fully relaxed, I experienced such severe pain that basically all I could do was lay flat on my back. No picking up things or grandkids, no gardening, it was impossible to sit comfortably, and sneezing was something to be avoided. Anyway, I did eventually recover from it and working out at the gym helped bring balance and strength back to my body. I've tried to be very cognizant of keeping my body balanced since then so I was really surprised when this happened for no apparent reason. Fortunately, it is not lingering and while it still aches, it's not that debilitating pain and I was able to do my regular morning yoga routine this morning.

Speaking of yoga, there is a new yoga instructor here in Wharton. She plans to open a yoga studio starting the first week of January, as opposed to just teaching sessions here and there, with real yoga studio prices, more than twice what the lady in El Campo charges but then her classes will be half again as long. I'll probably try her out but because she works full time, her classes don't start til 7 PM (and the one I'm really interested in doesn't start til 8:15 PM). By then, I'm fully ensconced in the house for the night so we'll see. If the studio goes well, she plans to quit her job and then classes at earlier times will be available. It would be nice not to have to drive to the next town for yoga.

Well, the birds are giving me the stink eye so I guess the teacup is empty.




6 comments:

  1. It is cold as a witches anatomical part here. Looking at severe storms for tomorrow.Think i will bake breads all day.Someone asked me how my Xmas was and I said I celebrate year round. They weren't sure what to say.When the goings get tough, the tough go shopping.LOL

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  2. Christmas is ok with me, the best part of it is a fire in the fireplace with Christmas lights on.
    However, I've never celebrated New Years Eve in any sort of way whatsoever. Wasn't married at the right time (divorced after nine months, yes) and never asked on a date that day - woe is me, huh? And I've never missed it. I don't like to drink and that seems the main attraction of that whole thing.

    Hope the back eases out of it's pain soon. Yoga, I should do it but I'm too lazy and gawd! if I had to drive far to do it, well, that sort of makes my head spin. You are a better woman than me!

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  3. Doors open today as the warm air filters in and the sun finally comes down after days and days of gray rain. The air smells delicious and it seems like spring. I used to have back problems, but a little exercise/therapy and it finally went away. I was in my late 40s and felt that it was too much and i was too young. I hate the Christmas ads and they are still showing those in between programs on TV.

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  4. Some years ago, I got to the point where I couldn't walk more than a half-block without having to stop, bend over to relieve the pain, etc. etc. I went to an orthopedic surgeon who'd dealt with my mother, and bless his heart, he took x-rays and said, "You don't need surgery." Turns out I had a defect that could well have been congenital -- like a stress crack in my back. We figured out that it had been exacerbated by my twisting to sand and varnish under hand rails. It was a repetitive motion injury.

    He sent me to a sports therapist who saw me once and gave me some specific exercises to do. By the time two weeks had passed, I was pain-free, and haven't had any problems since. If I start having a twinge, I get back to the exercises, and all's well.

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  5. Oh, Ellen! I am so glad that your pain isn't excruciating! I went through one experience like that once in my life and I will never forget it. It was overdoing AND stress and it took so long for things to be okay again.
    I just told my husband that I am really NOT wanting to turn the AC on. I mean- Jesus! He said, "Okay. We'll try."
    Yes. We are spoiled. It is supposed to cool down here again at the end of this coming week.
    Christmas is over! You and I have survived again. Can you believe it?

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  6. I have become a teenager, staying up late, sleeping in late, eating far too much, partying too much, and perversely gaining muscle, losing weight and pain. I'm 18 again. Sorry.

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