Health: a small word that packs a big punch

So, I am focusing on my word for 2014.  This first week I've worked on meal preparation because, frankly, that is where things can go horribly off-track, and the chickens all come home to roost at my door.  I love to cook; I love to bake.  My dearest loves to eat, especially sweets, and I'm one of those old-fashioned Southern girls who believe that you show your love through the food you serve.  So.  It's a bit of a conundrum.  A sticky widget, if you will.  I know this is all me and my head stuff that needs rewiring.  I know I need to equate steamed veggies with a longer, healthier life with love for my mate.  It all makes logical sense, but I just gotta tell you ... a plate of steamed broccoli just doesn't give me the warm fuzzies that a bowl of, say, mashed potatoes with gravy does.  But I digress.

Last night I served grilled tilapia with green beans and brown rice.  And (dipping head here) garlic toast.  Progress, not perfection, right?  Steve made the comment during dinner that he really liked eating healthier, which just made me happy.  I know making these small changes is good for us, but hearing that little word of affirmation made it even better.

In addition to meal changes, I have started both of us on salmon oil capsules.  The main immediate goal for both Steve and me is reduction in inflammation, but fish oil provides so many other great health benefits:  heart & cardio function, joint health, brain function, and more.  I found a very high quality cold pressed salmon oil supplement with all eight of the Omega-3s that we need, and I feel really good about that.

Steve is using the treadmill, and I am doing my PT exercises faithfully, and doing some walking outside, but not enough.  I need to do more.  So, once again, progress, but definitely not perfection.  We have lots of room for improvement, but that's okay.  As long as we're in pursuit of the goal of health, I'm happy.

Wishing you good health too, my dear readers!

More later --

Happy 2014!

 Does this basket make my butt look big?   No, seriously...

I am not really one to make resolutions, simply because I don't want to set myself up for failure.  How's that for positive thinking?   I just think that starting too many things at one time sort of predetermines a less than successful result.  At least, it does for me.  I have to keep it simple, stupid.  Big time. 

So, rather than set out a list of things I want to accomplish during this year, Steve and I have a word that we have chosen to make our focus this year and from now on:  HEALTH

We are going to try to keep health as a focus, and just do better.  I know we won't miraculously become perfect eaters, working out obsessively and becoming Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels.  We don't even care about doing that.  We just want to go into our senior years healthier.  It's a big deal.  We've only got each other to take care of each other!

So, this is our time to do better.  To start making small steps to improve our health.  I went grocery shopping yesterday and bought a couple different kinds of flash frozen grilled fish, so that's on the menu this coming week.  I've also got a whole chicken in the freezer, and I'll take it out to thaw and we'll have a whole roasted chicken too.  Yummy and (yep) healthy.  I also bought a lot of green veggies, so we're good on that account too. 

So my wish for you is a very Happy and HEALTHY New Year.  And, may all your resolutions be keepers. 

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Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

It has been a very good Thanksgiving and Christmas for us this year.  We have been able to spend time with family and those we love.  My back is so much better, and my return to work is imminent. 

We feel very blessed and fortunate.  Here are a few photos from our holidays.

 This was our tree this year.  I think it turned out especially well.  And, since Hobbes didn't try to climb it even one time, it stayed pretty throughout the whole Christmas season, which was a true gift.

 

Here's my favorite scene, a cozy fire in the fireplace and the lights on the tree offering the only other light in the room.  Ahh, peaceful! 

 I had to snap a pic of the reindeer resting on the bench outside a Barnes & Noble bookstore I went to a couple weeks before Christmas.

 This is my dearest and me, taken on the weekend before Christmas.

 Hobbes wishes everyone a Meowy Christmas!

Chance definitely believes in Santa Paws!

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What's up, doc?

I saw my spine surgeon this morning.  Well, actually, I saw his nurse practitioner, Amy, who is wonderful.  This visit was mainly to get the doctor's signature on the paperwork proposing new seating equipment for me at work and also a proposed return to work schedule.  He signed off on everything, and now the Long Term Disability Insurance Carrier will order the new equipment I need.  Once it arrives and is installed I should be good to go.  So the clock is definitely ticking, and I should be back to work very soon.  I am happy and excited and nervous all at once.  I never could have guessed that I would have been off work for over seven months with my back fusion surgery.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and it will be a low-key celebration at our house.  I did go out and buy my own cake, because I wanted a good birthday cake this year and did not want to make my own.  So I got a carrot cake (yummy!) and can't wait to cut it tomorrow evening after dinner.  Speaking of dinner, Steve is going to pick up burgers on his way home from work.  I know....but what can I say...I love a good burger every once in a while, and it has been awhile.  It just sounded good.  Tomorrow is going to be a rainy, messy day and we're just going to stay in.   He was busy in the bedroom, door closed, with the gift wrapping supplies earlier this evening, so I will have some happy surprises I'm sure.  Then, Saturday, we're going out to a birthday lunch and a little shopping with our wonderful next-door neighbor, Pam.  I am very blessed.

For the first year in I can't remember how long, we will not be traveling at Thanksgiving.  Instead, we are hosting my family members here.  I'll be cooking, and we'll have a full house, and I'm really happy about that.  I've been planning meals and looking at recipes and making shopping lists and fluffing up the guest room and doing all the things you do when you're expecting company.  I've been trying not to overdo things with my back, and mostly succeeding, but not completely.  It's hard to know where the line is of what's okay and what is not so much...  Anyway, I'm learning as I go. 

I will leave you tonight with a picture of my baby in his "punkin" kerchief. 

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It's the (truly) most wonderful time of the year

My favorite season is upon us.  Autumn is the most beautiful time of the year, to me.  And Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of all.  It's a time for family and friends, for good food,  a time to stop and recognize all the good things we have, to give thanks for the blessings we enjoy.  In my immediate family, even after we were grown and had lives of our own, Thanksgiving was the one time of year when we all tried to get together, and, most years we were able to.  It will always hold special memories for me. 

Nowadays, all that are left in my immediate family are one sister, one brother (and his wife), and me.  But the exciting news is that we are all gathering at my house for Thanksgiving this year.  I am busy planning menus and want to make this a good time filled with some new (albeit different) fun memories we'll have for years to come.   

And now, at the risk of being too catty (me-ow) I have to share a big pet peeve.  Huge.  GI-NORMOUS.  I hate that people are already decorating for Christmas, putting up Christmas trees, wanting to play Christmas music.  I feel like Thanksgiving is not given its just due as the important and meaningful holiday it is.  Good grief, Halloween gets more attention than Thanksgiving.  It's just wrong.

There, I said it.  And yes, I feel better. 

So, back to all things Fall, with the cool weather comes fires in the fireplace and snuggling under blankets.  We've been doing our fair share of both around here.  Here are some pictures for show and tell. 

Hobbes and I share a mutual love for this one specific blanket.  It's pretty much a given that if I put it over me, he is soon to follow.  This is him on top of the blanket, on top of me. 

One last thing.  I know I'm prejudiced, but how many cats do you know who will let you flash a camera multiple times in their face and stay that sweet?  ❤

More later --

A big step

So, I met with some terrific people yesterday at my office.  We are all working hard on getting me back to work.  My part at this point still consists of doing what I know to do to help the nerves continue to heal as they should, so I'm doing my therapy exercises, walking, going to physical therapy, etc.  I've come a long way, but there is still a lot of healing that needs to take place.  The research that I've read indicates that nerve healing can continue for as long as two years.  At six months out, I know I'm still progressing, so I am encouraged that it's not finished yet.

But back to yesterday's meeting.  My employer's long-term disability carrier arranged for a local representative to meet with me and my supervisor, along with an occupational therapist/worksite consultant.  The purpose was to see how we could rework my existing workspace to make it more comfortable and not painful for me, so that my return to work will have every chance of success.  I have to say, after being off work for so long, my biggest fear is going back and having that horrible pain return, and then the nightmare of possible consequences.  But, I wonder if this is just a really unreasonable fear at this point which has almost become like a phobia...  And if so, I know I have come too far to give it this much power over me!

Anyway, the upshot is that we have a plan in place and hopefully I will be back at work soon on a gradually increasing schedule. 

In other news, we have some pretty fall colors around these days.  Here are a few shots I took the other day during my walk.

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Laundry day

I guess I just thought I was done with the laundry.  Looks like there's one more load.