What's New?!

Some random things I would like to share:

J & R-man are still recovering from their illness. Both returned to work/school early last week, but the coughing and upper respiratory stuff is still hanging on. I wonder if they'd recover quicker if they actually slept and rested? Huh!

Peanut had a meet yesterday, and while she is still not 100% from her illness (fitness-wise), she did much better. The team placed second (there is a team that's come out of nowhere with some amazing younger girls); she won the bars, placed 4th in the all around, 11th on beam, 8th on floor, and fifth on vault. She was happy, and it was a long day. They had to be at the venue by 8:00 a.m., which was tough after the crazy daylight savings time change. I stayed home to go to church with R-man.

Next week is the state meet--kind of like the competitive gymnasts' "Kona". The kids need to qualify with a specific overall score at a meet during the season. Peanut qualified in the first meet; all of our kids qualified, which is really exciting. Our gym has won the state title for level 6 the past two years; our coach would love to make it three in a row. I'm thinking that other gym has peaked at just the right time; our kids seemed to have leveled a little. Here's hoping and praying they all have their best meets of the season. (Last year Peanut won the all around and beam in her age group in level 5. We're not expecting that kind of finish this year--just that she have fun and do the best she can to help the team!)

I've had a tough couple weeks. Still not able to run. I did a specific bike workout last week that set me back with the pain in my leg. Bad idea. I wasn't able to run as planned the next day. I was upset, so I spent too much time working out that day. The next day I could hardly move. I was going to just rest, but ended up at the pool and swam about 1450 meters. I felt much better after. I'm really starting to believe that my aches and pains are due primarily to my rheumatoid arthritis. The weather this weekend has not helped. Lots of rain and change in temperature not good. I won't know for sure until the weather finally warms up for good.

I've been trying to watch my diet, but again, no luck. I haven't weighed myselft in a couple weeks--I can tell things aren't going well. I am seriously tracking calories burned and eaten, and even though I'm eating less calories than I burn, the weight still is not coming off. I feel even fatter.

Which leads to more depression. I don't know if I'll even be able to race this year, not being able to run yet. Plus, if I can't lose at least 10 lbs., it's just not going to happen. I'm too heavy to race at my best, and it's not good for my body either. Which of course makes me want to race even more. Vicious circle.

And those wonderful hot flashes/night sweats are back with a vengeance. Hormones going crazy; cravings galore; not being able to sleep. Last night I made some homemade chili and put it in the crockpot to cook overnight. As usual, I went to bed hungry with my stomach growling (not unusual for my stomach to be growing most of the time). I couldn't sleep, and I smelled the chili all night long!

Last week was very easy for me:
Swim: 6x - 12,500 meters
Bike: 2x - 53 miles
Run (turned into 1 mile walk)
Row: 1x - 40 minutes
Strenth/core: 3x - 2:36
Total time: 13 hours

I forgot to share that my husband's computer crashed a couple weeks ago. It's old, and the hard drive just pooped out. Now, here is the thing: ALL OF OUR MUSIC IS GONE! That's right, over 6,000 songs that were on I-tunes--history. I know several people who had this happen to them in the past. So last year, I suggested backing up all our stuff. After much "nagging" he did go out and buy what he needed to do it. For over six months I "encouraged" him to PLEASE BACK UP THE MUSIC! So imagine my mood when I learned it was gone. I cannot tell you how angry I was/am. He insists there is a way to take the music from our i-pods and put it back on the hard drive. YEAH, RIGHT! I'll believe it when I see it!

Anyway, hope everyone had a good week/weekend. Hang in there--the weather WILL get better eventually!

Until next time--God bless!