Injuries, Illness, and Exercise

I just realized it's been almost two years since I posted here.  Right before my health took a real dive, actually.  I won't go into details, but I grew very ill before having two surgical procedures in the Fall of 2015.

Once I recovered, I found out I'd developed Type II Diabetes from all the inactivity.  Needless to say, sitting in front of a computer blogging was the last thing on my mind.  I signed up for the local YMCA, discovered cardio kickboxing and water aerobics,  and took off to regain my health.

All was going really well until I was hiking the next Fall and broke my ankle.  Geez.  Another six months of inactivity.

But, finally, I recovered enough from that to start exercising again.  I went to a handful of aerobics classes and did a little weightlifting, then I promptly wrenched my knee getting out of a weightlifting machine.  Cue another six weeks of no exercise.

Once again, however, I've recovered enough to exercise.  I found out the pool, much as I love water aerobics, was disastrous for my skin.  And the cardio kickboxing classes had, for the most part, disappeared.  So I'm trying new things.  New to me, anyway.  I'm doing Zumba and Les Mill's BodyCombat.  I'm getting back to lifting.  I even tried Les Mill's BodyPump this morning.

I'm being careful with my knee, and my still-healing ankle, but I'm determined not to give up.  I WILL regain my health.  I WILL defeat the diabetes.  I WILL get back in shape.

Wish me luck.

A Week of Mini-Habits

It's been just over a week since I started my Mini-Habits, and I'm happy to report that they're going pretty well.  Some are going better than others, but I suppose that's to be expected.

I had originally only planned to do the blogging, creativity, and nature journal Monday to Thursday, and the cooking only when I was home.  I'm finding I may need to modify that plan.

My nature journal habit is definitely going the best of all of them.  I love doing it, and I'm already to the point where I WANT to do it seven days a week instead of the original four.  Here's a couple of pages of what I'm doing:
 

The blogging you can see here online.  I think I need to be doing this every day, even if it's just the minimum.  This mini-habit is definitely helping me get back to it, but it's happening more slowly than I'd like.

My creativity habit is going fairly well.  So far, it's been aimed mostly at my nature journal.  I added decorative papers I love to it.  It's probably helped a lot with the journaling, lol!

Front Cover

Back Cover

Inside Front Cover

Inside Back Cover

I'm also working on a pencil pouch I can attach to it so I can add color to my sketches in the field, and possibly an envelope for embellishments.

As for cooking, that's not going nearly as well as I'd hoped.  I'm definitely going to have to change that plan to every day.  I need to add a minimum activity for days I'm not at home.  Maybe reading the recipe, or even deciding what I'm going to make the day I am home.

I can't wait to see where I am in a month!

Whole Lotta Stuff

I just realized I haven't posted anything here since I had the flu back in January (VERY sick for almost two weeks), followed almost immediately by the packing up of our household.   Since then DH and I have said goodbye to lots and lots of people we love in Ontario, taken the dogs, and moved back to Austin, Texas.  We had to give up the cats, a topic which is almost too painful to even mention.  We're in temporary housing now, waiting to hear on an offer we've made on a house, and are busy reconnecting with people and a city that was very hard to leave in the first place, some fourteen years ago.

I was worried about the puppies and the heat, given their thick winter undercoats, but we've been extremely lucky to actually have Spring here this year.  Temperatures are hovering around 60F (16C), occasionally dipping down to freezing or soaring close to 90F (32C).  The guys have started blowing their winter coats, which is messy, but otherwise seem to be doing okay.  They (and we) participated in the Mighty Texas Dog Walk this past weekend, a charity event to benefit service dogs.  Next weekend, they're going to Snake Aversion Training, to keep them safe from rattlesnakes and copperheads.  Later they will participate in more training involving coral snakes and maybe cottonmouths.

The drive down was mostly a lot of fun, though finding truly pet-friendly hotels on-the-fly was sometimes challenging.  We took time out to visit the Wild Turkey distillery in Kentucky and walk barefoot (in February!) in Northern Texas.  Kai took an extreme dislike to a statue of Abe Lincoln in Cincinnati, and had to bark at it, a lot, every time he stepped outside of the hotel where we were staying.

DH and I, as I mentioned, are reconnecting with family and friends, exploring old haunts and new attractions, and enjoying the food WAY too much.  It's a bit disconcerting that Austin has literally doubled in size since we left, but we're adjusting to it.  We've spent the last month or so searching for a house.  We found one we absolutely loved, but apparently the owner didn't really want to sell, so our offer went ignored.  We've found another house we like almost as much, and should know by tomorrow whether our offer was accepted or not.

That's the last ten weeks or so in a nutshell.  I'll post pictures of the house if we get it, otherwise it's back to the drawing board.

Wish us luck!

Updates, on Kai and on Life

Now that everything but the waiting is over on our Canadian citizenship test, I can get back to my regularly scheduled life, including blogging.  Mind you, it took a call to our MP to get it done, but I don't really want to go into the horribly inefficient, if not incompetent, process it was.  Results, of a sort, will take anywhere from one to three months, so it looks like we'll be here at least into January, if not March, just what we've been trying to avoid.

Kai's cyst turned out to be benign, thank the Goddess.  Of course, he is now in the second phase of stitching on it, seeing as the wound opened up the afternoon after we got the stitches out the first time.  This time, they're leaving them in longer.

Samhain was an even quieter-than-usual affair this year, largely due to the aforementioned stitches.  We have to keep him fairly calm until they come out (again), so we couldn't afford repeated knocks at the door, which would have been too exciting for him, crate or no.  So we hid in the back part of the house and did only a quiet little ritual.

On a related note, this is the first year we've celebrated New Year's Day on November 1st.  We decided to do it for a variety of reasons, but it was definitely odd being the only ones around us doing it.  Not to mention that there was no snow on the ground and no fairy lights around.  Unless of course you count the orange ones at the neighbor's house.  :)

I had a surprisingly wonderful time at Hammercon IV last weekend!  I had never gamed in public before, and I was majorly stressed about it, but it turned out to be great, even with a couple of GM problems.  Check out the Hammer Games website for news on Hammercon V in 2013, as well as to find games and fellow gamers in the GTA.

And finally, I CAN NOT BELIEVE OBAMA WON!  I'm VERY happy about it, mind you, but I would have bet money it wouldn't happen.

Kai and Vacation

For those of you waiting to hear, Kai went in for his biopsy yesterday.  The lump had neither grown nor shrunk since it was first discovered, so doing it was a no-brainer.  He was super-groggy last night, but is recovering today.  In fact at this point, he's almost completely back to normal.  (We'll find out the results of the biopsy next week.)

As to vacation, we had an amazing ten-day road trip out through Atlantic Canada and back through northern New England.  We didn't make it to Newfoundland and Labrador 'cause we ran out of time, but it was great regardless.  (We already have plans to fly to St. John's next summer to make up for missing it.)  The weather was atrocious--nothing like getting caught in an ocean gale on land--but SO many things made up for that.  On the way, I surprised myself by falling in love with Quebec, a place I thought I would hate.  I found out Prince Edward Island really is small.  I discovered that at least this year, the fall colors in Ontario were deeper and richer than the ones in Vermont. And that the woods in Maine really ARE creepy.

Also, as far as I can tell, there are absolutely NO moose anywhere in that part of the world, despite the road signs warning about them, which were legion in three of the four provinces we visited and all three states through which we passed.  We saw not a single one, and believe me we were driving down some pretty small back roads.  Maybe it's a case of being careful what you wish for, but to-date, the only moose we have seen in the wild have been in Alberta.

Now that I can sit up for longer periods of time, I'll discuss our trip in more detail over the next few days, and provide lots and lots more pictures. I haven't done either 'til now due to becoming very, very sick on the last day of said vacation, and not really feeling better until now.

I'll also update with Kai news as soon as we hear ourselves.

Kai Update (And No Sleep)

After not getting a whole lot of sleep last night, I've now been up for a couple of hours.  I figured I'd better post about Kai's vet visit while I was still coherent.

The vet is relatively sure that the lump is a harmless cyst, but we're having a biopsy performed nonetheless.  I'm not entirely happy about this, as it involves putting him under, but I need it for peace of mind right now.  On the bright side, we're by necessity being forced to delay the procedure (due to stitches and vacation plans) long enough to see if it will shrink and disappear by itself, in which case we won't need said procedure.

Keeping my fingers crossed for that!

What HASN'T Changed?

Wow!

I've been subconsciously avoiding the web lately (my blogs, Facebook, everything!) because I've needed to focus my attention on so many other areas of my life.  I hadn't realized, but the thought of trying to keep up with web stuff TOO was completely overwhelming.

I'm feeling better now, though.  I feel more settled, even if many things are still up in the air.

As many of you know, we've been trying to sell our house, on and off, for about three years now.  And with DH's new job last June, it became imperative that we do so.  We cast a spell to make the house attractive to potential buyers--everyone LOVED it, raved about how wonderful it was, but no one made an offer.  We cleansed the entire property of negative energy--we got two very weak and too low offers.  Then, finally, in desperation, I cast an off-the-cuff spell to actually SELL the place.

This went along with the risky strategy to actually RAISE the price from the original asking price set in June.  We'd never done it, our realtor had never tried it, but it was the only thing that made sense, for various reasons.

Within two weeks of raising the price and within three days of casting that last spell, we had not one but TWO very good offers!  (I guess it pays to be careful what you ask for.)  We accepted one of them late on the evening of December 30th, just a couple of hours before the secular New Year's Eve.  I don't know if I've ever been so relieved!

Since then, it's been meetings and appraisal dates and what have you.  Crazy!  We finally met the conditions and can now consider the house "Sold" a couple of weeks ago!

We began the process of finding a new house the first weekend in January, as soon as we could after the holiday.  We found two that we really liked, even if they were a bit farther from DH's job than we liked.  We were weighing the pros and cons of each and trying to make a decision when we found out about "some job thing that cannot be mentioned yet."  Because of this yet-to-be-announced change, we're once more in limbo, waiting to see whether we should buy a house or just rent one.  More on that later, but whatever happens, we're committed to closing on this house (and therefore being out of it) by March 30th!

At the same time those changes are going on, we've started roleplaying again.  I know that doesn't sound like a big change to most of you, but trust me, it is.  DH and I both love it, and we hadn't done it for the last few years because we were in limbo.  (Never mind that we're even more in limbo now!) But in the space of a month or so, we've got two games going.  A one-shot this weekend, and a Shadowrun campaign to run indefinitely.  And, let me tell you, it feels GOOD to be writing up characters and getting ready to play again.

I feel as if we're in a grand adventure in both our real and our fantasy lives!

Life Update, Part 2

As promised, the updating continues with a report on Kai's 1st Birthday festivities.  Things started out a little rocky, what with the pano and all, but they ended on an excellent note as the Boys' first camping trip was a resounding success!

We spent three days at Bruce Peninsula National Park, and with it being early in the season, there was almost no one else there.  That was great, especially for their first camping experience. 

They spent time hiking in the woods, swimming in the lake, learning new skills (like sleeping in a tent, and not trying to crawl under the dining fly's walls to get out), and generally having a great time.  They barked at geese flying across the lake, at squirrels running up trees, and at the Dreaded Nothing.  (Did I mention we were really GLAD we were the only ones there?)

Kai really enjoyed himself, but I think it was even more fun for Lance.  We had a hard time keeping him out of the water--swimming a mere four times a day just wasn't enough, it seems!  And, eventually, thrown sticks weren't good enough either.  He started dragging 3-5 foot logs in to shore!


They, and we, can't wait to do it again!

Life Update, Part 1

A LOT has happened since my last post (which is why this is the first post in almost a month, lol!)  Last time I was talking about "Little" Kai's 1st birthday.  (There'll be more on that next time.)  Since then, my fabulous, wonderful, astounding DH has accepted a job.  As I write this, I'm sitting in the tiny little studio apartment which is our temporary housing until the house sells and we buy a new one, hopefully sometime within the next 90 days.

It's a bit crowded here, what with 200+ lbs of dog and their accompanying enormous crates, but the good news is the place is about a five minute walk from DH's new place of employment.  Also good news--we just moved yesterday, but already the boys are greatly improving their loose-leash-while-together skills.  And they're starting to become accustomed to living in a multi-family residence, as opposed to their own private space.  That might take a bit longer--they're still a bit jittery when they hear a door open or voices out in the hall. 

The cats are still at the house, as we thought the stress of moving, a new place, cleaning staff, and close quarters with the dogs would be too much for them.  We'll visit them on weekends, and hopefully the close on both the old and new house will be fairly close together, so they won't have to deal with too much upheaval.

In the past month, we've been going through the whole "relocation" process, meeting with realtors (on both sides of the move), movers, repairmen, and so on.  All this, and we're just moving an hour or two down the road.  I'm not sure we've been treated this well even though we've moved three times over international borders, with two of those moves being across the continent, as well.  It almost seems a bit silly to be making all this fuss, but I sure do appreciate it!

The house isn't quite on the market yet, but we're meeting with the selling agent this Wednesday, so it will probably be up by next Monday.  At that point, all we can do is cross our fingers.  And do a ritual or two, of course.

Here's hoping to a quick sale!

Shocking

 A personal update:

DH came back from his business trip to China two weeks ago to be told that thanks to his employer going in a new direction, his position was being dissolved, and he no longer had a job.  Effective immediately.  On literally his first day back, he drove in as usual, then called me about an hour after he’d arrived to let me know he was coming back home.

 “Why?” I asked, worried that he was ill. 

“I’ve been laid off,” he answered quietly.

Now, if this has never happened in your family (and I fervently hope that it both hasn’t and never does) you can’t quite imagine the sudden terror that grips you at this sudden news.  There is a quick moment of panic—what will we do?  What about the bills?  The mortgage?  Groceries?  Aaaaaaaagh!!!!!!!!

But it has happened to both of us, both together and separately, before, so reason quickly re-asserted itself.  You make a plan to survive.  You stop spending any money at all that is not ABSOLUTELY necessary, you contact the bank and ask to skip a couple of mortgage payments, you start making a list of things you can sell if you must, you check into unemployment benefits, you thank whatever deities you hold dear that you began storing food and preparing for disaster a few weeks ago, so you have at least a small cushion of food to fall back on.  And so on.

DH started making phone calls to everyone he knows in his industry (micro-chips) on his way home that day, and has spent a lot of time since emailing more people, applying for jobs, and sending out resumes.  As I told a friend recently, I myself am simply trying to be supportive.  Together, we’ll be performing a ritual on the full moon for a new job.  (“When the moon rides at her peak, then your heart’s desire seek.”)  In the meantime, we’ll try our best to stay positive.

It’s not that hard, really.  There are a number of silver linings to his losing this job.

• He and I will have more time together, something we’ve sorely been missing the last two and a half years.
• He really, really hated the job.  Besides the long commute (an hour or more one-way) and the even longer hours, there were conference calls scheduled to start at 9:30 pm on some nights, and phone calls at all hours of the day and night, even on weekends, even on supposed vacation days.
• I really, really hated the job.  We got to spend very little time together, as I mentioned above, and he was often answering phone calls or email in that little time.  Thanks to the company’s quasi-human rights violations attitude, I wound up spending Thanksgiving alone one year and Ostara alone this year—both times because of last-minute trips to Asia that couldn’t or wouldn’t  be postponed.  He was even asked to come in on Yule itself, in the middle of a three-week “vacation” last year.  And he was always depressed and/or stressed out, and always, always sleep-deprived.
• We will no longer have to pay $500 in toll-road charges every month.
• His embarkation on a job search gives us both motivation to start diets and an exercise program.
• Even though we may be forced to sell the house at a loss, we will finally sell the house (if we need to move)!!!
• The possibilities that come with a new job and a move to a new place are always interesting and exciting.

 And, finally,

• CHANGE IS GOOD.

 

I remain confident that an experienced engineer such as my DH WILL be able to find a job.  And if not, then at least with our Permanent Resident status we won’t be forced to leave Canada again.

Anyone know of a good Product Engineering position?

Holiday Update

I had a long talk with DH last Friday night, and I managed to convince him that we really had had enough of being unreasonably cold for this year.  The result--we're not going camping over Yule.  That being decided, we went on to talk about decorating issues.

Are we not in the holiday spirit because we haven't decorated, or have we not decorated because we're not in the holiday spirits?  This was the question.  We decided to start finding the answer by forcing ourselves to make plans for a Longest Night celebration (a concept stolen from Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart series).  Here is our list:


1.  Dinner (We'll spend the day cooking a grand feast for two.)
2.  A trip down to Niagara Falls, to enjoy their holiday lights.
3.  Ritual baths.
4.  Yule Ritual
5.  A trip out to our very own "dark spot" to (weather permitting) gaze at Yule constellations and, of course, the lunar eclipse.
6.  Back home to greet the dawn.
7.  A celebratory breakfast, with mimosas and Mexican pancakees  (largely prepared the day before)
8.  SLEEP


After making this grand plan, we decided to deck the halls after all.  We're still not hanging fairy lights, but we've got the tree upstairs and the wreaths hung, and we'll finish the decorating tonight, including the ritual room and the altar.  (I'll try to remember to post pics.)


Now I'm just hoping I can stay awake for everything!

Still Blocked

As you can probably tell by how much I've slowed down in writing this blog, I'm continuing to have trouble with blocking.  I thought that making my Getting My Life in Order List would help, but it didn't.  I'm still stuck at the second item on the list:  learning to read tarot cards.  I don't think the list has been responsible, but I've gotten even worse.  I don't have the energy, the motivation, the willpower, or the even the desire to start things, and even if I do start them, I can't seem to finish them.  My problems with metal-poisoning-related fatigue made things worse, but they weren't the root cause.  And now that I'm feeling physically better, I'm noticing the psychological side of it more and more.  (I have looked into clinical depression, but I don't have any of the symptoms.)

In order to try and get out of my slump, I've started meditations on opening my chakras.  I feel as if they are ALL blocked, some of them more than others.  I've also, through a class I'm taking at The Magical Circle School, researched and found herbs that will help me work through this, in the form of incenses and bath herbs.  (Wood ruff, St. John's wort, cloves, and peppercorns to name a few.)  And this weekend, on the night of the full moon, I plan to cast a spell to help me further.

All of this seems to be helping, slowly.  It took an almost unimaginable amount of willpower to actually start the process, but bit by bit I seem to be improving.  I've turned in four assignments in three different classes this week, and finished the readings in another.  I've actually gotten out of bed before noon three times this week. 

Hopefully all THIS will do the trick.

Health Update

I received more information on my health problems earlier this week.  Still no definite word on whether I have Lyme Disease or not, but my bloodwork revealed other interesting/distressing/useful information.  Turns out that I have Heavy Metal Poisoning (Silver, mostly) which mimics LD and may be responsible for most or all of my symptoms.  This is combined with a very low amount of certain vitamins in my blood (D and B12) which help control heavy metal absorption.

The plan now is to treat the poisoning (with medication and natural supplements designed to  help release the metals) and then, if necessary, do further LD testing.  I'm going back in mid-December to see if the treatments are working before any decisions are made on how to proceed beyond that.

The big question is:  HOW DID I GET SILVER POISONING?  Sources of silver include consuming large quantities of seafood (I don't), working in metal and chemical processing industries, photographic processes, and jewelry making (I never have), living near coal-fired power plants (not to my knowledge) or being taking colloidal silver products (haven't). 

Silver is commonly found in hair dyes (which I have used on and off for the past two decades) and so commonly contaminates hair, but shouldn't effect you otherwise.  I also wear a silver chain and pentagram on a daily basis, but there has been no evidence that wearing silver jewelry can contaminate you in any way.

Nonetheless, I have somehow been exposed to excessive silver.  I also have higher than normal levels of softer metals such as aluminum and minerals (manganese, selenium, and zirconium).  All of this may be what has been wrecking my health more and more for the past two years, and acutely for the past four months.

Maybe now I can start making some progress on fixing it.

Life Update

Hello, Dear Readers.

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a week.  What with getting a cold last week, Kai graduating from his final puppy class last Sunday, Labor Day, and traveling to Michigan for my LD doctor appointment, I've barely even looked at my computer.

I'm mostly over the cold now.  Considering that DH was sick at the same time, it's been fun, but we're both glad to be feeling better.  :)

Kai did well at his graduation--he got 1st prize for being the best at 'sit-stay' and tied for 'best overall'.  He is looking forward to his first Levels class (similar to Obedience Training), even though he earned his Level 1 by being able to do everything asked of him at the graduation.

We had an interesting Labor Day that included removing a bad headlight bulb from the Prius and then not being able to get the new bulb back into it.  (The nice people at the Toyota Dealership in Rochester, MI put it in for us the next day.)  We also had to drop our puppies off at the kennel, a first for both of them.  Then we had to drive 4 hours and go through an International Border Crossing to get down to Rochester.  We were really happy to get to the hotel!

The LD doctor is taking my LD seriously.  Blood was taken and sent off for extensive testing, and he gave me nutritional supplements to help with the chronic fatigue and the joint pain.  I'm going back in three weeks to discuss test results and further treatment.  I feel optimistic about getting better for the first time in months!

And, finally, I'm really hoping the supplements help the fatigue quickly, 'cause these two Pagans and two puppies are participating in the 21st Annual Wiggle Waggle WalkaThon this Sunday, to benefit the SPCA.  If you have even a few dollars to spare, please sponsor me at http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=956765  .  (Even if you don't, check out the link--there's a cute pic of the puppies on it.)