@MusicCandy @SadMe70 A place to communicate

Good for you with making it back to some routines. It isn't easy.Even a little exercise is good. The weather is warm so I bet you are enjoying watching the new babies. I think you are doing good things for yourself, playing the music is probably bitter-sweet. My Dad was so quiet ( he had to be with my mother around!) but I remember some special things we did- like going to his favorite hot dog place and eating them watching the river . I can't help but believe that there will be rivers, and hot dogs in heaven and we can do that again. I personally don't think its crazy to keep those memories alive as much as we want to.

Nothing much else new with me. I can't tell if the new supplements are really helping or not- but I have the impression that I'm eating better. I am afraid to get back on the scale , but I feel pretty good. I am drinking wine and not trying not to for now. I am exercising, but that is the easiest goal for me to do. I am trying to remember to drink more water.

I hope you get some much needed rest this week-end - we only have a couple of week before school break.

I unexpectedly have the day off due to a problem with the water system at school, but unfortunately it's going to rain all day. I wish I were at work. I can't stand the thought of sitting here all day. I had planned to hike but I didn't know it was going to rain. I'm just sitting here doing nothing, letting grief and sadness overwhelm me. Crossing my fingers that they get the water fixed today.

I was off again today and at 1:00 got myself out to take a hike. I'm so glad I did. I went down a trail that I had not tried before, that is often closed, and found a lovely spot to sit on the edge of a marsh. I just sat there for about a half hour. So I got some exercise and some sunlight.

I just spent an hour in the goat pen. Here is one of the triplets that were born 3/18. They are not very friendly because I was not here until several days after they were born so they weren't handled right away.

We had triplets born yesterday too. One was dead when I found them, but the other two are sweet and cute. I've been handling them a lot so I think they will be very tame.

I mostly ate well the last 2 days while at home, but tonight's dinner was not the healthiest! My husband had lunch with his cousin and sister at Lou's Soul Food on 301 in Doswell. He brought me fried catfish, green beans, candied yams, and a giant piece of German chocolate cake. Salt, grease, and sugar galore and boy was it tasty. I wolfed that down like I hadn't eaten in 3 days!

The water system is all fixed, so I'm back to work tomorrow. I hope things are going ok with you!

aww Thanks for the baby goat pic. You have your hands full now! I am still getting used to the new scedule and I had to change Rachael's caregiver hrs with Medicaid for when I work and her Dad doesn't keep her, and that is always a pain. But it seems to be worked out now. I made soup for the church Lenten supper and worship Wed. evening andpicked up my Mom too. She was supposed to be so sick and coughing that it was a crises. but she had a chest x-ray - normal- and I bought her a humidifier and some OTC cold medicine and I didn't her her cough but once. She complained on and on about it and how she couldn't see a doctor and now she got her friend in Norfolk to pick her up and stay with her for 10 days or so. Amazing.

My food is just OK this week, exercise is good and the wine is the same. I know I have to address the "every day", but I haven't committed to it yet. My fiance Dave has a friend who lives in Doswell near King's dominion. I bet they know about that fish restaurant- and you can bet I would have eaten it all too. I did resist the KK doughnuts that Dave brought however. I only really like them hot off the line so that wasn't too hard. School and work is OK for me and one more week till Easter break. I hope to get a lot of "other stuff" done. Rain tomorror, but I'll be sleeping and then right back to work. For you anyway - TGIF!

It must be such a pain to have to change your schedule so often, when you have to rearrange so many things, besides your body getting used to it. My son worked an overnight shift at Walmart one year when he was in college, and that was really hard. Even though he worked only 4 days a week, he had to keep on that schedule the other days as well, so he'd just sit up all night playing video games.

Sorry to hear about your mom. She sounds very much like my mother-in-law was. You are being a great daughter, trying to take care of her when she is being so difficult!

Good for you resisting the KK! They are really good when hot! This week is "teacher appreciation" week and the principal sent a list of stuff she is doing for teachers in our weekly newsletter. It is all food-related and most or all crappy food. We start with "sundae Monday," then Chinese food for lunch on Tues (salt and sugar!), Wed is a "sweet surprise," Thurs is "sweet morning surprise," and Friday is lunch (doesn't say what). So a whole new set of sabotages at work this week. I just don't understand. Why not one day with a sweet treat, and the rest of the days with healthy stuff? Does it have to be food every day? Why can't the lunch be something healthy? Grrrrrr

I have an appt on Apr 10 with an orthopedist to finally get my shoulder looked at. I can hardly do any upper body exercise without it flaring up. Crossing my fingers that this will be the start of getting that healed so I can exercise the way I want! I can't believe it but I actually miss doing pushups and planks! And I definitely miss the bench press.

My older son's 23rd birthday was Friday. His brother came up on the train from Richmond on Saturday, and we all went out to dinner last night. His gf came, and one of his high school friends. It was really nice.

I hope your day goes well today!

Tyhanks for cluing me in on T, appreciation week- I;m sure i'll see some of the same at the preschool. I KNOW! Seems like everyone should know by now that most of us are watching the waistline. at the hospital, it finally became evident that we all want to be healthy and our potlucks have been mostly salads, But still plenty of crappy stuff too many days.

I wish you well on your shoulder eval. It's time to take time to look after /you! We went to the pool tonight and Ra did some basketball shooting hoops too- sometimes she loves that plus the pool. I would be lost without the club. It dawned on me to listen to what I say- that I only do well with DOING something, not NOT DOING something. i'll never make progress unless I keep that in mind. so- this week I am making a check off card foir just 3 things.. 8 glasses water, one protein shake, one fruit. /i already know i will exercise, so that counts as 4.

When that is set in place, i'll add one more. Good class at preschool today- we did the cutest bunny hop for 3 year olds. The Director was in there and even she liked it. YEA! If you have a goal for the week, let me know and I count on u to make sure i do my 4. Peace.

I have made it through 3 days of unhealthy teacher appreciation foods. On Monday I did not have a sundae. I restricted myself to a couple of spoonfuls of M&Ms from the toppings choices. Tuesday I did not eat the salty, sugary Chinese food lunch (which was not hard for me because I am not a big fan anyway). Yesterday the principal brought around cupcakes to each person in the classrooms. I was teaching a lesson so I just took it and put it aside, and gave it to someone else later. Two days to go! I have still been eating all my own usual too much of sweets (mostly the kisses at night) but at least I have not added somebody else's junk to it! Have you been ambushed at school?

How is your checkoff list going? I love lists like that. I think your 3 things plus exercise are great ideas! I had been using a list like that since January for my exercise and PT items. That fell apart in mid-March when I left to go see my dad the last time. I printed my April one but never hung it up. I'm still trying to get myself together and I'm not there yet. So, I guess my only goal this week is to get through these last 2 days of teacher appreciation without giving into the junk they are pushing!

I also get the idea of doing vs not doing. I never had good luck with restriction diets. For me, and it sounds like for you too, it works better to add in good things, and then at least some of the bad things start to drop off on their own.

The bunny hop sounds so cute!! I would have loved to see that! I'm so glad your director saw it too! Our spring break is next week instead of the following week, so our kids are getting wound up already. Today is my last day of real lessons though. Friday should be easier!

I hope your list is going well! Let me know!

So nice to get your newsy note. Sounds like you got thru the "feed a teacher (bad stuff) week" pretty well. I only teach Mondays and Thursdays ( until my Director changed it as of today..) So I missed most of it. My check list is working great. It is funny how much difference it makes just to have a list and check it off- I could do it anyway.. but somehow it makes me feel better that I know I ACCOMPLISHED THE GOAL. ! I still haven't gotten on the scale, but I think I am about the same weight. I don't want to get depressed if I am up a few lbs, but clothes feel about the same. It has helped adding the "fruit" since I can easily go all day without an apple or grapefruit- but if I have that late at night it does seem to help with less in bed and reading- snacking ( my guilty pleasure).

You can find that bunny hop dance on amazon music or itunes - it is called the Bunny Hop Jump. Although I warn you - the rap part will stick in your head indefinitely. First words are "Act like a bunny and Jump, Jump Jump.

I'm done teaching - Spring break for us next week. Crazy weather today, but no damage in my area. Hope the same for you and your new babies. I'll be at work at the hospital until Sunday . Later,buddy.

Phew! I made it through teacher appreciation week with only minor damage. On Thursday I did not eat the duck donuts. They also gave us each 3 Gerbera daisys in a little vase, and those were VERY lovely and bright, and good timing on a gray stormy day when I was feeling down. On Friday there was an entire table full of gorgeous cupcakes but I didn't have any, and the lunch they provided was actually salad and fruit!! One tray even had some mango slices that were very tasty. I did have some downfalls though. A student gave me one of those really big Hershey bars and I ate the whole thing in one day. The K class was having a party on Friday afternoon and I ate some jelly beans and a bunch of peeps. This coming week I am off for spring break and there should be less temptation for me.

Today we have 2 teenagers coming over to help us do some yardwork. They are trying to earn money for their senior class trip. I've never met these kids. We'll see how it goes! On Monday I am going to an orthopedist to see if he can figure out why my shoulder hurts all the time and gets aggravated by just about every single upper body exercise I do now. I'm following that up with a mammogram.

I'm so glad your checklist is working! I agree about feeling better seeing the nice row of checkmarks! I don't really need it for my exercise parts, because I will do that anyway, but I do like to see that I've done it! It does help me with the PT stuff because I don't usually remember that stuff at all. I still don't meet those goals every week, but I do more than I would otherwise. If I would watch less TV at night and do more PT stuff, I would probably feel better!

I used to weigh every day when I lost my 35-40 pounds because I liked seeing the progress. After I gained back that 10 last year, I haven't been able to get back below that weight. I go up 4-5 more on holidays and then drop those, but not one single pound off the 10. So, I am not weighing as much anymore. If I can get my shoulder fixed up so I can do all the exercising I was doing before and still want so much to do, I think that will kick in some weight loss.

No damage here from this last storm. We still have 2 Bradford pear trees lying in giant pieces all around the yard from the storm the week my dad died. I want it all cut and broken up into pieces that will fit in our woodstove and that is going to take forever since there are about a million twiggy little branches per tree. I'm hoping the teenagers will do some of that today. My husband will have to do the big pieces with his chainsaw.

I knew you worked a lot of weekends, but do you sleep there too? I didn't pick up on that before. I can see that would be really challenging and tiring. We are all so lucky to have dedicated medical professionals! You are awesome!

It looks like we are both hanging in with some ups and downs. I am happy that I chose the 4 goals instead of trying to do it all at once. I would probably see quicker results, but I wouldnt stick with all of them past 3 days is seems. Big glasses of water do help a lot and I feel good about getting my protein and fiber with the smoothies Sometimes. I have to force the fruit when I forget it till bedtime when I'd rather eat cookies, but at least I eat the ftuit first. ( Then cookies!, but probably not as many) Yea for lists.

I hope you get some real work done with the teens. I read the sweetest story in the paper about a Caroline high senior who invited a very young (age 2) friend with serious heart defects to the prom. (Taylor Schaefer is her name) If you can find that, it will make you smile so big. We all need some good news and this is a great kid doing good for others.

As to your Q, I do work a lot of hours all together and then just 8 to sleep, including travel. I do sometimes sleep over in an extra room, but usually I go home, get a quick shower and actually sleep about 5 hours during the daytime. I do have my room super dark and quiet with a fan for white noise, and no noisy neighbors. I catch up on sleep the nights I don't work, and it is not so much OT now- which is OK since I love the weather and being outside now. I can travel home from work in about 25 min. Saturday now and work all night, and if its not too busy I can get a nap. They call if I have a patient. Some nights I hardly get a break and others I get stretches of down time to rest, exercise or do music lesson plane. Busy is good I always say. Thanks for the pat on the back- we all have roles in this world and we are all respinsible to " do the work God has given us to do" as our closing prayer goes at church. Life is short.