I've Been Away

As us New Englanders say, I have been on the Cape for a few days. What does that mean? I went to Cape Cod. I stayed with a friend and her significant other for a few days at the house they rented for a month.

Her significant other had to go back home for a few days so the two of us had fun shopping at thrift stores, consignment stores, yarn stores, and book stores. I was on the hunt for a few items - spoon rest and clock for the downstairs. I found them. And a few other things that I didn't need. Like yarn, clothes, etc.

Finally the weather cleared up and we went to the beach. It was awesome. Do I have pictures? No. But there were sand bars that went on for miles, and miles. And I did get a touch too much sun.

But then all good things need to come to an end so I came home.... But it was  wonderful mini vacation.

Taking A Break

It was our anniversary - marriage, not cancer - so we went away for a long weekend to the beach. In Maine. In April. It was 70 something degrees on Saturday - which is a heat wave there. (One of the weather people on TV said it took him a while to adjust to 80 degrees.) The hotel filled up overnight as a result. This is where we were:

We really needed a few days off to ourselves. Honestly I think its important to spend time together as a couple without distractions. For a good relationship, you need to work on it. You can't expect a happy relationship if you ignore it. We have another trip planned in about three months to keep spending time together.

What did we do? Walk on the beach every day. At least a couple of times, except for this morning when it was 43 degrees and the wind was blowing directly on shore from the 38 degree ocean water so it was freezing cold.

We also explored Portland Maine which is a nice city, ate out, played skee ball and air hockey in an arcade.

Basically I pretended I was a healthy person and enjoyed the outdoors. I may pay the price for this for a few days but I really needed to pretend I could be normal. But I also took a three hour nap the other day which helps me immensely.

I took a day off

I took a day off from basically everything. Everyone is entitled to a break once in a while. Saturday we went to the beach for a few hours and out for clams. Yesterday I was lazy and did not accomplish much.

I actually pretended I was healthy but wasn't dumb enough to try to do anything I shouldn't. Yes I took it easy. I played with my loom - I have been weaving more. I got some awesome yarn last week that I had to try weaving.

Actually I needed a break from the 'sick' me. Friday night I remembered to check my cell phone for voice mails. Unfortunately I didn't get them to call back two doctor office's before the weekend. I wasn't going to worry about it all weekend so I took a few days off. I will call this morning and work it out and find out what's going on.

Back to reality on a rainy Monday morning. Maybe the drought will finally be over.

A Relationship Gone Bad

I never used to mind climbing stairs. I would skip elevators and walk up and down stairs so I could pretend I was getting extra exercise. It was no big deal. At all.

After my body decided to go to hell in a hand basket, I would sit in the living room and think about something I want from upstairs..... But delay so I could combine trips to reduce the number of times I needed to climb them.

We moved so I could live mostly on one floor. I have enjoyed that. I really have. I could avoid the stairs for days at a time if needed. If I want to go out I can walk down the front steps - all five of them. Its very relaxing. I don't have to worry about going up and down stairs. I may not get as much exercise but I don't get as tired.

Now on vacation we are in a very old house with a nice tall flight of stairs between our bedroom and useful places, like the kitchen. I am not used to stairs. I am avoiding the stairs. I am trying to limit my trips up and down these stairs. But its not working. I am taking too many trips up and down stairs. I need to stop taking as many trips but its not easy.

Every time I head for the other floor, I try to plan ahead and think what I might need to bring or get so I can limit my trips. But it never works. I was upstairs resting and my parents were both sleeping downstairs and the phone rang so I had to run down the stairs.... and it was a wrong number.

If I take too many trips up and down stairs, I might have to cut back on my trips to the beach (all 872 feet of it, give or take). I am here to go to the beach and not to go up and down stairs.

Less Technology

We are away on vacation (note to burglars: we have a house sitter and two anti-burglar cats) and I have less access to technology:

• My phone is dead. I mean the battery is dead. I brought the wrong charger so it won't charge. As a backup we have my husband's phone but its not mine so I won't be using it much.
• There is one TV in the house we rented. It is downstairs and there are 7 of us now and will be 11 of us later so that means not a lot of tube time.
• All the plugs in this house (built in the early 1800s) are two prong. All the computer chargers are three prong. Dead batteries will probably occur.

And I don't really care. I can live without technology (as the withdrawal begins). We are at the beach. I have a pile of library books. It will do me good to unplug. We will have to do things like talk to each other.

I do want to take pictures so without my phone I might just not. That's okay. We are with family so other people can take pictures too. 

It also means I can't obsess over any new ailment because I can't just google it. (This is a very good thing.) I'll just pretend I'm healthy and any new ailment will magically go away like for normal people.

I think we spend too much time online, looking at screens and we don't look at the world around us. (Think of the people who have walked or driven into things or off things because they are looking at a screen. Or the groups of teens who sit together but look at screens at text each other instead of talking.)

I am happy to be unplugged. I will blog but I will also go to the beach. The beach just might be more important (and is a five minute walk).

The Best Laid Plans

The best laid plans sometimes never take place. I have had a plan to take the best care of me as possible. This includes regular trips to the beach because that is the best place for any kind of healing. I mean the sun, the sea, the waves, (the hot life guards), and fresh air. What else does one need? I mean besides being able to go to the beach with out the preceding bathing suit shopping? (Bathing suit shopping is the only bad thing about going to the beach.

Back to my plan, I was going to go to the beach today. I even tried to talk a friend into going with me. I have a doctor appointment at 8:15 AM (What was I thinking when I made that appointment?) this morning and then I planned to go to the beach. Today will be a perfect beach day because the humidity is gone and there will be a nice breeze.

The problem is I am exhausted. If I didn't have a doctor appointment this morning I would have stayed in bed. I will have to be happy with a nap later today. Or I could suck it up and paint another wall in the living room (but that's not going to happen).

I didn't think I stayed up that late last night. And while I did wake up this morning at 4 and let one cat out and one cat in (my other job), I did go back to bed. Normally I would deal with my not that great night of sleep and go to the beach and then come home and take a nap. But today I think I'll just take a nap.

Today its all about me

I have made a decision (don't laugh - I am capable of deciding things by myself). Today its all about me. I am going to the beach. Its supposed to be hot, near 90 so it will be a perfect beach day. My tan is starting to fade. Actually, I barely tan at all. If I got any color earlier this year, it has faded. A friend once said to me that by the end of the summer, I might look like a french fry.

By averaging a doctor appointment a week, I have no time to get a sunburn and have it fade before I get to a doctor. I would get a lecture if I showed up at an appointment with a sunburn.

But anyway, today its going to be hot so it will be a perfect beach day. I will go the gym first so I can be virtuous. Then I will plant my chair in the sand and sit with my feet in the ocean. After I will go out for clams because that's what we do in New England after the beach - eat seafood, fried seafood that is.

I haven't been to the beach for over a month. Either I haven't had time, or the weather hasn't cooperated, or something else.

I need some time for me. Yesterday I spent all day with friends - one came over for coffee and I met two for lunch and then they came back over here. I had fun but I got really tired. That means when I go to the beach I will just sit. But I will be happy. And that's important.

Going to the Beach!

I am so excited. I haven't been to the beach in months. Not since sometime early last fall. this is very unusual for me. I like to go to the beach year round. I don't swim that much but I like to walk in the sand with my toes in the water. See what the tides have brought in and how the storms change the coastline.

My husband thinks I am weird crazy insane for insisting we go to the beach in the winter. But I have convinced him that he will like it because we go out for clams (and he gets a beer) afterwards.

I have wanted to go to the beach for weeks months but either our schedule didn't work or the weather was not cooperative. I draw the line at going to the beach in a blizzard, a snow storm yes, but not a blizzard. I do have my limits.

But today we are going to the beach. I can't walk on loose sand and the tides aren't the best - coming in, not going out. We enjoy fresh air and a breeze off the 40 degree ocean water which will make it a bit chilly. Then we will take the Sunday paper to the clam shack to read while we wait for our food.

It may not sound like much but there are so many things I cannot do any more because of my health and this is one thing I can do and really enjoy. Its the little pleasures in life that keep us going.

I took a step back

Even though I only work part time, sometimes I feel as if I am rushing from one thing to another all week long. Recent weekends have included family and other events where I have not had the downtime.The problem is at the end of the weekend I do not feel rested physically or emotionally.

This weekend we ran away. Yesterday had a predicted high around 47. Based on that and the fact that it was low tide at 1030am, we ran away and walked on the beach for an hour. It was a sunny day. It was low tide. There were people with horses all over the beach. It was amazing. It was what we needed. You will note the snow on the dunes in my blurry picture.The water temperature was 36 so we opted not to go in.

We stopped for an unhealthy meal of fried seafood and came home and relaxed and had a healthy dinner. Yesterday topped out with a high of 55.
Today I slept in. I feel much better physically and emotionally.

Tomorrow will be a long day. I am having an EMG in the morning to test for carpal tunnel. That is a not fun test of needles and jolts. I wont feel relaxed after that. And then I will go to work if I can. Ick. Not fun. I will just ignore that until tomorrow.

I hate hot weather

I am melting. I hate hot weather as I said. I am a New Englander, 85 is too hot in my opinion. 25 is a nice winter day. I am counting the minutes until Sunday when it is supposed to top out at 75. Instead of the 100 which is due today.

I want to go to the beach today. My cold is lurking in the background again. I stopped taking decongestants the other day but they were keeping me up at night so I stopped. Now I am all congested again. My ears are more clogged again.

I think I just need a vacation.

Too bad that's not happening for another month.

Doing whats good for you

Yesterday we did something that is good for us. We went to the beach. I am not saying we went and stayed all day but we did go and stay for a few hours. Thanks to my back, I couldn't walk in the loose sand. I also found I could walk in the hard packed sand but only if it was flat.

I went for a nice long walk on the beach, which successfully made my back hurt because the sand was either tilted or bumpy. But it was worth it.

We had very healthy fried clams (gluten free) on our way home but I did have a salad with home made hummus for lunch to counter act it.

It was a very nice day. But today I will go to the gym, run some errands and generally take it easy. I have to work again tomorrow and Tuesday and I worked on Friday. Two days off is not realy enough for me to get enough rest on the weekend unless I really plan it.

Seriously, a two day weekends are hard for me. I try to work my three days together and then have a four day weekend so I can recover. The next few weeks I have two day weekends, work, and then medical procedures sucking up the rest of my time.

But I digress. Off to the gym now....

No pain, no gain.

I end up in pain all the time these days whether I do anything or just sit around. My theory on this is if I am going to end up in pain, I might as well have fun doing so. It is January. It is Boston. It is winter. So yesterday we went to the beach.

Why not?

It was low tide.

 It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining once it stopped snowing.

This might even be part of a ship wreck from the early 1900's.

 

There was snow on the beach and some ice.

And I made a snow angel.

 

Then we went out for (very healthy) fried clams while my next Tramadol kicked in to relieve the pain. I had fun while I was in pain.

Doing things that are good for the soul - at a price

Yesterday I finally got to go do one of my favorite things - walk on the beach. It was wonderful. I went barefoot in the sand (even though its March and there were snow drifts). It was what I needed. My husband even went with me - he had said he needed to go into the office but I convinced him to come with me and he enjoyed it as well.

We went right after low tide and were there for just over an hour. There were horses, waves, tide pools, dogs, seagulls, and a few other people taking advantage of the day.

The price was that I can't walk in loose sand. It makes my back hurt. And my hip, and ankle, and knee hurt. I hobbled back to the car. And sat on the couch for the remainder of the day with pain meds (how many episodes of Bones, CSI, or CSI:Miami can one watch in a row without rotting your brain?). But it was worth it. I want to go back today but its raining. Maybe next weekend.

Juggling

I am juggling here with this weight loss thing. It is harder than I thought to figure out how to eat enough food but not go over both calories and fat grams but still feel like I'm eating enough and not starving all the time. The key is how to keep calories and fat grams in the right range.

In my short adventure into weight loss, I have discovered snacks are what is ruining my diet. Cheese to be precise. A nice healthy lifestyle and then I sneak in cheese and crackers for a snack - which is more than 1/2 my daily fat requirement in a brief period of time. No more snacks except fruit and vegetables.

Yesterday was Friday so there were donuts at work. I had 1/4 of a chocolate donut (as nasty but yummy mixture of carbohydrates, grease, and sugar) and felt like I had some and wasn't deprived but didn't blow my diet either. Its also restaurant week so we went out to the Capital Grille (very fancy steak place) for a discounted rate. I was careful about what I ate and didn't totally ruin my diet either. I think I can juggle this if I watch my snacks. Snacks are bad.

Today's plan is to go walk on the beach. In the past this was followed up with my secret indulgence - fried clams. I just did a little research and found out that if I have them, that will be my entire daily fat quota. I just had clams a few weeks ago on my mother's birthday. I'll save my next fix for another special event. Sigh. They are evil and fried but I love them. Ooh! But I could have steamed clams without butter! YUMMY! I can still get my clam fix. Yippee!

Okay, I'm back. I went and thought for a few minutes. I need to clarify. I do not eat fried food regularly. I had clams a few weeks ago and hadn't had them in six months. My work brings in donuts on Fridays but sometimes there are bagels instead. I haven't been working Fridays and have been avoiding them. Besides - it gives me another reason to have a three day weekend every week (except this week as I go back to work on Monday as well).

Why am I up so early?

Three guesses, and the first two don't count. I woke up and my back started to hurt. I had several choices - lie in bed and suffer, take pain pill and be loopy all day, or get up and put ice on my back and play on the internet. I went with plan C. The cat is happy because he got breakfast early. But I left my ice pack out of the freezer last night so I have to use the little lumpy one which isn't as effective but still makes difference.

Yesterday I did get to the beach. It was a great thing to do on a 90 degree day. But while driving to the beach, I learned something new. Reason 1,000,001 for not driving and talking on the phone - you won't pay attention to where you are going and might get a tiny bit lost. Needless to say, I will pay more attention in the future.

Today we are going to a wedding of an old friend, his second. It should be very low key with a cake and champagne reception in the church hall following the ceremony. There should be a bunch of old friends there as well who we never get to see.

But first, we are going out for our morning walk - when my husband wakes up. Then maybe some gardening. I wish my back would stop hurting! Grrr.

And a wonderful time was had by all

We went to the beach yesterday - did I forget to say that? It was great. nothing like the beach with blue skies, sunshine, 36 degree water and snow drifts. Yes, snow on the beach. Needless to say we did not go in the water (but there were people wading!!! - they must now be familiar with the term frostbite). There were some snow balls thrown as well. But both of us missed.

After the beach, we went out to the local clam shack for clams which were made to be unhealthy by frying them but I am sure they were organic free range clams out of the ocean. On the way home, I got the brainstorm to stop by and feed my friend's cats who is away for the weekend (the friend is away, the cats are at home). However the brain storm did not include remembering the key to her house so I had to go back over.

We also went out to dinner last night for Chinese food to celebrate my mother's birthday. When the check came, I knew I got the right fortune cookie because the Learn Chinese side was "To see a doctor". Of course, me of all people would need to know how to ask to see a doctor if I was in China. Anyway, today we will eat much more healthily (is healthily a word - I thought I made it up but spell check seems to think its okay). We are also have salad week. Usually I make Walter's lunch every day and usually its a sandwich. This week we are having salads every day. I will make two - one for each of us. The idea is to increase our vegetable intake so as to counteract our non-healthy intake yesterday.

Once again on a Saturday night my back chose not to cooperate. I was up for several hours in the middle of the night and then finally got up this morning early to ice it. Grrr.... The laundry theory doesn't apply because I only did a little laundry yesterday - the rest is waiting for me today. I did find out yesterday that bumpy roads make my back hurt. Grr, grr, grr, grr.

A very important day - we are going to the beach!

Yes, its Boston. Yes, there is snow on the ground. Yes, its March. Yes, the water will be too cold (36.3 degrees - I checked) to swim or wade. But we are going to the beach. The weather forecast for today is sixty degrees - that is ABOVE ZERO. This is one of my favorite places to go in the whole world. I can't wait. And on the way home, we get to stop for clams. My favorite food. I can't wait. (Or did I say that already?) Can you tell I am excited? It will be low tide in early afternoon which means there will be lots of beach to walk on. I can't wait. I can't wait. I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning!

My husband is going to the beach too. He says he will be patient while I take millions of pictures. I can't take millions but I can take a lot - my camera battery is recharging as I write.

In addition to going to the beach and having clams, we are going out to dinner for my mother's birthday tonight and I will do laundry this afternoon. This will be the test. The past two Saturday nights my back has been very sore. I don't know if this is a coincidence or not or if it caused by the one thing I usually do every Saturday - which is laundry. Hmmm... We will see. This is a test.

Speaking of my back, yesterday it was actually mostly okay for the whole day. The PT tried an ultrasound modality on the really sore place on my lower back and it seems to have made a difference. But then today I woke up and it is causing me pain. Grrr!!! But I will just suffer in silence at the beach and while eating clams.

Fun at the beach

Yesterday, we got up early and went to the beach. I never go to the beach on sunny, summer weekend days because its too crowded, I burn easily, and its expensive. We considered going to a park on the ocean which does not have a beach but I really, really, really, really, really wanted to go to the beach. So we compromised. We got up early, stopped and got muffins (the bribe for Walter is to stop at the Gingerbread Construction Company for muffins anytime we go anywhere), and then got to the beach before 9 am. We were in the second row of cars in the parking lot - it was really empty. We got a nice space on the sand, with the breeze and far enough down so that we were past the worst of the crowds. We had our muffins and went for a walk. By the time we got back, many thousands of people had shown up and some had even infringed on our little spot. We didn't go swimming but did wade in to our waists. We left at 12 and went out for clams - steamed ones to keep the gall bladder happy. There was a line of cars down the road waiting to get in to the beach as well so I think we timed our visit quite nicely.

Today I am going for a walk and then doing some work from home. Then I am going to the doctor with a friend. But this time I am not the patient. Quite a nice change I think.