And the Grinch’s Heart Grew TWO Sizes That Day

/ triciawil / 3 Comments

This afternoon, my friend Michelle’s daughter performed in a color guard competition at a high school near my hometown. I told Michelle I’d like to go to that one and we’d make a day of it and visit my mom on the way…and that is what we did.

Although I had tried color guard in high school and was familiar with it all, I didn’t really know what to expect. But the effort these kids put into their performances was simply amazing. I actually teared up when the first color guard performed and one of the girls caught a sword she had thrown up in the air – you could just see the joy on her face and know that it had been something she had struggled with and had finally succeeded in doing.

When Sarah’s group came on, I felt the same way. I was so proud of her and of her guard group. Their competition show was so well choreographed and so well put together. I know how hard the girls work on this – they practice twice a week at night for several hours and then all day Saturdays when they aren’t competing. Their work and performance mean so much to them and they truly put their hearts and souls into it–and you can see it in every move. I was completely overwhelmed with pride!!! Go, Lady Knights!!!!

Fibromyalgia

/ triciawil / 5 Comments

First of all, I want you to know I did indeed realize it was Friday when I woke up and I made it into work! On time, even.
 
My post yesterday mentioned that I have fibromyalgia and I realized afterwards that not everyone probably knows what it is or how it affects people…so here’s the low down.
 
Imagine you have the flu.  Your body aches to an extreme, you’re exhausted, you feel like you couldn’t get up to save yourself if the house was on fire.  That’s what fibro can feels like.  That can be accompanied by headaches, IBS, muscle twitching, numbness, brain “fog” and memory problems, urinary issues, sleep disturbances and other things as well. 
 
Some people suffer all the time;  others deal with flare ups like mine.  it would be safe to say there is never a day when I am not fatigued or feeling muscle or joint pain but I have learned to take that as a part of life.  It’s basically my “normal” until I have a flare up and things get much worse. 
 
For a long time, the medical community didn’t recognize fibromyalgia as a disease and some doctors still don’t.  They think it’s a stress response or depression or who knows what.  I’ve had doctors who recognized it and accepted it and doctors who completely blew it off.
 
They also aren’t sure what causes it.  One thing could be related to something called substance P in your body which decides how your body feels pain.  Others say it has something to do with the neuroendocrine system, nervous system or a virus.  I’ve also read and heard that it can be triggered afer a traumatic event (physical, like an accident or major surgery or emotional like something that would cause post-traumatic stress).
 
And they aren’t sure how to treat it.  I try to manage mine the best I can with anti-inflammatories because I don’t want to depend on any of the other drugs they suggest (steriods, anti-depressants, etc).  They believe that your diet can affect it as well – saying to cut down on alcohol, caffeine, sugar & carbs.  A regular sleep schedule (because part of it may also relate to never getting into real REM sleep) is also recommended.
 
Most of the time, I can manage the pain and the fatigue.  I have a tendency to overdo things – often – but am getting better at knowing my limits.  A little bit, anyway.  It’s hard for me to admit that I struggle with this so most of the time I just act like it’s not happening.  When I was first diagnosed, I found some online support groups but came away feeling very depressed and discouraged.  Many people with fibro are on disability, some can’t even get out of bed some days.  I hope and pray that I don’t reach that point but I can definitely understand how it can come to that.  Hopefully it never will for me.  I just keep on going and make my way through…thinking that this too shall pass. 

I Keep Thinking…

/ triciawil / 4 Comments

…it’s Friday. Hopefully, I will remember to get up and go to work tomorrow and not laze around in bed like it’s Saturday.

Actually, tomorrow is my first Dream Dinners session. I am so looking forward to it. I tried to make some meals ahead this week and made the mistake of buying one of those meals in a box – just add chicken. I tried one I’ve never had and…blecch. I ended up throwing all of it out. So again, I fell back into my routine of eating whatever I could scavenge. I hope this works out the way I think it will.

Otherwise, the week has been pretty uneventful. I’ve been fighting a flare up of fibromyalgia…crummy stuff! I really had no energy and was in a lot of pain most of the week. It also disrupts my sleep, so it ends up being a vicious cycle. This afternoon I got a burst of energy and felt somewhat “normal” so I ran a bunch of errands on my way home and started doing stuff around the house as soon as I walked in. But now I seem to be headed back to where I started. I don’t know if I overdid it (who, me?) or if the weather is going to change again. That is the one thing that most affects the fibro – I can definitely tell when the seasons are changing. Fall is my favorite time of year but man, do I feel cruddy. I was trying to think the other day if spring is worse than fall. I tend to think it is, but I may say fall is worse than spring when it rolls around.

So now, here I am, things half finished (and some not even started), feeling like I just want to crawl in bed. I’ve got to at least finish some wash or I’ll be wearing pajamas to work – which I think they MIGHT frown upon….

I Don’t Like Mondays

/ triciawil / 5 Comments

While that’s true, it has little do with this post. It’s just the song that is stuck in my head at the moment as I fulfill the drudgery that is known as housework.

I fought against it all day long and now here I am, at 10 PM when I should be getting to bed, cleaning the house. Where does this guilt come from? It makes me feel like since I spent the majority of the day reading and visiting IKEA, that I can’t simply sit and watch a movie like I’d planned. Instead, I have to go about putting my house back in order – doing dishes, doing wash, straightening up, finding things that got displaced by the living room makeover a home – at this hour.

There is something about my house being a wreck and things out of the places where they should be. It makes me feel off-kilter, somehow. I guess during the week I’m so busy running around and so tired that it doesn’t affect me as much. But now, I keep looking around and trying to figure out where things should be and feeling frustrated that I let it get this way.

I’m in Love

/ triciawil / 5 Comments

…with Dream Dinners!

I first heard about Dream Dinners from a friend a met at a baby shower in December. I was intrigued by the thought that you could go to their place, make up 12 meals that feed 4 – 6 people (good meals, much fancier meals than I am accustomed to as of late), freeze them and have them whenever you’d like.  Since then, I’ve learned of a few people I know who are doing it and I started researching it more and more on the website.  I liked what I saw but when we went for a “sneak peek” that my friend Nancy arranged on Monday…I fell in love.

With my crazy schedule, I have a lot of difficulty with meal planning. If I get home five to 10 minutes later than I expect, it can totally throw off what I had planned. For a while, I’ve felt like I was eating badly and feeling crummy – plus wasting food when I don’t have time to make it and it goes bad.

I signed up for a session later this month where I’ll make 12 meals (plus an extra one for going to the sneak peak). The thought of actually having that many meals made up makes me so very happy! Variety, good nutritional value, what more can you ask for? Dream Dinners provides all the supplies you need right down to the seasonings and the ziploc bags. You just take the main portion of the meal (for instance, chicken) and then mix all the remaining ingredients in a bag with it. Take it home and freeze it or make it right away. Viola! A healthy, easy dinner.

Last night I had the meal we made at the sneak peek. Lemon garlic chicken piccata. It was simply heavenly – and something I probably never would have made myself.

Yum!

Oh, happy day

/ triciawil / Leave a comment

Today was a lovely day. I decided to take the day off and sleep in, while waiting for my couch to be delivered. And I read a book! A real book, from beginning to end. It made me exceptionally happy.

And then, it arrived. The brand, new, lovely couch! And Nilo

was right – a new sofa can make a big difference. This one did – both for my funk and my living room. It’s not green as I had thought, but kind of gold color with green in it, and it actually goes very well in the room. It even brightens it up some.

It’s amazing what a little sleep, a good book and a new sofa can do for your outlook.

Funk

/ triciawil / 1 Comment
So, I woke up in a funk this morning.  I think I stayed up too late last night, trying to force myself to do basic chores around the house such as laundry (for I had nothing to wear to work today) and unloading the dishwasher, etc.  Then I got briefly sucked into the Oscars but did turn it off at 11:30.
 
Now I am paying for it.
 
I could just lay my head down on my desk and go to sleep.  Probably not a good plan, but a plan nonetheless. 
 
The new couch is coming tomorrow and I’m still trying to figure out the best layout for the room.  I have a new idea but we’ll see how things look once it arrives.  It’s so hard to picture.  I hope my room is not too crowded, yet I really want this so people are not forced to sit on kitchen or folding chairs all the time when they come over.  They lack a certain comfy-coziness that I hope the new couch provides.  I am all about comfy-coziness these days.
 
I am also all about finding time to read my books!!  I already have one overdue to the library that I did not touch.  I think the other two have like a week left before they, too, are overdue.  Again I say…where does the time go?  Why can’t I just find time to lie on my couch and read a book?  I used to do that all the time. 
 
I miss that. 

Time Keeps on Tickin’

/ triciawil / Leave a comment

I had all the hopes in the world to come home from church today, rearrange my living room and veg out with a book. Somehow, the day got away from me again. I did get the living room rearranged (thanks, David & Michelle!!) and I think the new couch will work out nicely. Then I made some meals for this week but now I am feeling like I still have more to do around the house…and all I really want to do is relax and read.

Why can’t I make myself relax?????