I am being punished.  I have been faithful to my diet for weeks.  Today I had a lick of chocolate icing.  My stomach is cramping and I feel like I might explode.  I think I must be allergic and that's what has caused my hips to swell for years.  I regret eating the icing, no matter how delicious it tasted.  I guess I will stick with my diet and ignore the chocolate cake, especially the icing.

Today I am supposed to be at an expo for a marathon I was going to run with my sister.  I will soon have plenty of race bibs to create a collage of non-run races for this year.  40 hasn't been what I planned for it to be.

Instead of spending this weekend with my sister preparing to "enjoy" 26.2 miles of running, I will spend time with my family. Currently the wind is blowing 28 mph with gusts of 41 or higher.  That means track meets and baseball games must be played!  We are hosting a track meet today that starts at 4:00.  I am also the administrator for a baseball game that starts at 5:00.  One son is running track today (broken hand) and the other is playing baseball.  My DH will take the track meet and I will take the baseball game since my job assigned me to it.  Our oldest is pitching again so we hope for a great game.  Tomorrow will be filled with little dribbler's basketball.  Both boys are reffing(not sure if that's a word) 7 games tomorrow and my daughter will play 2 games.  So we have a marathon this weekend of a different sort.

This is the hardest time of year for school administrators in my opinion.  Time to start looking ahead at next year's staff and making plans to move in the direction.  That means some hard meetings with teachers and coaches.  These meetings don't always turn out easy.  With FB and Twitter, administrators are instantly trashed and become the bad guys.  Fun times in the days and weeks ahead.  Just have to keep in mind that we work for the kids and have to do what's in their best interest.
Break is over so I better get back to work.  More meetings on the schedule.

Another week has flown by and we have made it to Friday already.  We are busy as always with basketball for my daughter and baseball for the boys.  My husband started a new job with the same company so he is dealing with a learning curve at work.  He had been working two jobs recently for a little extra money but has decided he can't get enough sleep doing that.  The boys are both working so we are planning lots of schedules and trying to get everyone where they need to be.  What a crazy life!

We are still living in the RV during the week.  I am still battling whatever it was that sent me to the dr in December.  I have started some medication on a trial basis to see if I can get any relief from my symptoms.  It is expensive but insurance finally decided to cover some of the cost so that helps.  I do find some relief and hope things will continue to get better.  I have had to miss several races that I had paid for but I would rather do that and get better than make myself worse or cause anymore suffering to my body.

Diet is going well and I am slowly losing the weight I need.  I read a great article yesterday and it made me refocus on my journey and not my destination.  Things are moving right along in our world and I hope they are in yours as well.

We have embarked on a new adventure around here.  RV living!  The kids and I are staying in a small RV during the week in an effort to save time and money traveling back and forth to school.  We were spending at least 10 hours a week in the car, not to mention the time wasted in my office waiting for practice to be over.  Now we have a place in town to stay overnight or to sit during practice.  It's been an adventure, with frozen water, running out of propane, broken pipes, etc.  We are learning a lot.  We have spent most evenings at the table playing cards or backgammon.  The boys have their xbox and this week we discovered the library has movies to check out.  If the temperature dips below 0, we head home but if not we just brave it!  We have learned to heat water in the microwave for a quick rinse and to shower at night before it drops below freezing.  I think we are managing quite well.  Some nights if I am lucky, I can convince my daughter to sleep in my bed which means her little dog climbs in as well.  Those are the warmest nights because he loves to snuggle.  I will gladly deal with her kicking and teeth grinding as long as I get the pup! 
I hope the kids look back on this time with fond memories and realize the sacrifices we are making for them.  I hope RV living provides them with extra time to spend with their friends, on school, or playing cards with their family.  And I hope I remember why I am doing it also, especially on mornings like today and yesterday when the windchill was -6.  Brrr, it's cold outside!

New year's eve was the first day of my WOE plan. (Way of eating) I survived a stressful appointment,  a close basketball game, and new years eve party. I am sore from working out. I stayed on track despite stressful events that would have sent me into comfort eating. I brought in the new year in a healthy way. I ate my lucky peas. We are almost back home with all our guests safely delivered.

Looking forward to another year. What do you have in store for me 2014?

Over the holiday, I have been reviewing things that worked in the past to help me in any number of ways. This blog was one of the things that I think helped me. I have tried to stick with "it" for years. You know "it" means get skinny, get healthy, get in shape, keep the house clean, stay organized, etc. When I turned 40 in September I had a goal. I watched 40 come and go along with my goals. Then I begin to hurt. The pain was different from what I have felt before. The pain stayed with me all day. It hit me when I got up in the morning no matter if I had worked out the day before or not. It hit me after 8 hours or sleep or 4 hours. It hit me after standing all day or sitting all day. It hit me after walking, resting, treadmills, weights, naps, or life. It felt like the flu in my joints all the time. It was my hips and knees that felt the worst but some days it was my hands or my wrists, others it was my ankles or my shoulders. It was always my hips and my knees. Some days I felt swollen but didn't look swollen. Some days I felt stiff. Some days even the sheets or my clothes hurt me. I tried to eliminate foods. I tried to eliminate activities. I tried ice and I tried heat. I tried pain medicine. Finally I tried the doctor.

He asked me about my sleeping, well it's never been good. He asked me about my depression, well it's not under control. He asked me about my pain, and boy did I tell him. He ran tests and took 5 vials of blood. He told me to stop running and see if we could get my pain under control. I didn't want to tell him I had already tried that. He gave me some medicine to help me sleep. I have tried that medicine before and it does make me sleep, for days. He thinks getting my sleep under control will be the first step no matter what the test results tell us.

Then came the holidays so we wait for the test results. In the meantime, I decided to look back over the past years when I had success with "it". I also decided that I am going to hurt no matter what so I decided to run anyway. I know that no matter what, I need to be in shape to face the test results. The best shape I have been in included running and weight lifting.

I also know that in 21 days you can develop good habits so I am not looking any further than 21 days into my future. I am on day 2. I hurt and I am sore but I am proud. I am excited for the next 21 days. I am excited for 2014. I am excited to finish out the 40th year of my life. I will take on the test results and I will be healthy and fit when I do.

See you on the road!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad