Thinking Out Loud-October 15, 2015

I’m feeling pretty good about getting back into all of this blogging stuff.  I think one of the best ways to do that is to get back into some of the link-ups I used to enjoy before my excessive hiatus.  One of my favorites…

Yes…Thinking Out Loud, hostessed by the lovely Amanda at Running With Spoons.  Thinking Out Loud is for letting everyone know how you feel about things.  For Good or Bad…What do I Really Think?!?

~~I try not to make political statements but I Am so Very sick of politicians and everything they have to say.  Since when do we have to hear from them all so early either on the news programs or in debates.  I’m just tired of it, but I promise not to mention it again.

This quote sums up my feeling on this topic:

Think about it.

~~Just back from a three-week visit to New Mexico and yet I miss it already.  There is something special about the place.  I’m trying to make the best of the time I still have to spend in New Jersey, but some days are difficult.  I find it hard to wrap my head around being here and not on my mountain ridge where the days never seem to end and the skies go on forever.  The Autumn colors are helping but only a little.

~~I’m working hard on trying to get into a better routine than I had before we left.  I should probably actually write down my plans for each day.  Sometimes I’m not even sure if I missed doing something that I had intended.  At least if I made a list, I could check things off and then know what was done and what wasn’t.  I’m going to write one Tonight!

~~Getting back on track with food is also a challenge for me.  Trust me, I was not the best Weight Watchers member while on vacation.  I paid attention but I was Way too flexible.  I’m working hard to get back on track.

~~Boy did I miss going to the gym while I was away.  I could tell that I was getting very stiff and achy.  Now that I’m back to the gym, I feel so much better even though there’s plenty of achy going on with muscles that had to endure no exercise and a 3000 mile car ride.  But I fell better already and I’m feeling good getting back into that routine.

Enough of me rattling on.  If I talk too much for too long, they won’t let me back into Thinking Out Loud next week.  That’s all I have to say for this week. Stop over at Running With Spoons to see what everyone else has on their minds.  It’s a lot of fun!

Happy Thursday!

Thinking Out Loud #8

This time last week most of us were getting ready for Thanksgiving.  I can’t believe that a week has really slipped by me since then.  It doesn’t feel like a week.  Maybe because there were three additional days of eating Thanksgiving leftovers! There are still some in the fridge, but they’re all turkey related so those are for Ralph.  But here I am again, ready to be part of Thinking Out Loud hostessed by Amanda at Running With Spoons. I’m not really sure what’s on my mind, but that never stops me, does it?!?

~This has not been my favorite week.  There’s been a lot of rain, which never makes me happy.  I’m much sunnier when the weather is sunnier. It’s one of the reasons why I need to NOT be in New Jersey, but that’s a topic for another day. The next couple of days are expected to be dry, if not sunny.  I can deal with that.  Just no rain please.  I try hard to work around it, but the weather can have very negative effects on me.  I suppose I should be grateful…my life is so much better than last year this time.  Ok…I’ll stop complaining.

~Some household issues have been a huge pain.  They are ongoing and unresolved as I write this.  Everything is falling apart.  Gotta love living in a Very old house.  Things will work out eventually but for now they’re making me very cranky.

~I’m trying to get some Christmas spirit, but every time I take a step forward I seem to go back by one.  Little things like buying a present for someone and then finding out the person already has it.  Ugh!!  Have to put my thinking cap back on.  I’m just not good at this anymore.  I’ll get there though.  I keep trying and I guess that’s what matters.

~One thing that Is making me happy and feel good right now is exercise.  I mentioned a few weeks ago that I joined the gym.  I’m loving the whole process.  I go with my two best  friends most days but I will even go when they can’t go or if our schedules conflict.  I’ve been there three times this week and I think we’ll be going today.  I even thought about going on Thanksgiving morning but changed my mind. The surprising thing is…I thought about it!!  I also found out about something called #mileaday from my friend Kristen at ok,enjoy. She got it from another blogger.  The idea is that starting on Thanksgiving and throughout the Holidays, try to log one mile a day.  As she says in her post, it’s not a lot but it’s a start.  I think for so many of us we have No Idea how much activity we get or don’t get.  This is a start and for those of us who tend to over indulge during the Holidays and then say they need to start doing something after January 1, you’ll already be started.

 

I don’t use any of those fancy fitness trackers…well not at the moment anyway. I am thinking about one.  For now I just use my plain old pedometer and it works well.  It tracks my steps both regular and aerobic and gives me the mileage.  I’ve tracked a mile everyday even on my non-gym days so that makes me happy.  Some days I’ve had to resort to marching in place while watching TV but that’s ok, I still get it in.  I think that anything that makes you aware of what you’re doing or not doing is a good thing.  Besides, it’s fun and I have to keep thinking to find fun ways to post it on Instagram.  I can’t just always show my sneakers!

There you have Thinking Out Loud this week.  I started out a little cranky and grumbley but I turned it around. Be sure to check out Running With Spoons to see what everyone has on their minds.

Happy Thursday!

 

Thinking Out Loud #7

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone! I’m linking up with Thinking Out Loud again which has become my Thursday routine.  TOL is sponsored by Amanda at Running With Spoons.  If you have time today, stop over there to see what everyone else has on their minds.  If not, just book mark it and go back tomorrow instead of spending all of your money on-line!

I feel I’ve been grumbling a lot in my Thinking Out Loud posts, but today there’s none of that.  This post is about thanks and gratitude.

I have so many things this year for which I am thankful that I’m not sure where to start, so I may jump around a bit as things come to me.

~I am so very Thankful for the amazing gift and opportunity I was given this year.  This time last year, I was not feeling very well.  The cold and damp of the impending winter were starting make me feel the beginnings of the degenerative joint disease that got worse and worse through the winter and spring.  As the winter progressed, so did my pain and discomfort.  Finally in March, I could barely walk.  I was so very lucky that I was able to find Dr. Richard Rothman at the Rothman Institute in Philadelphia.  He changed my life by giving me two new titanium hips (yes I AM bionic!)  and I will always be grateful.  Besides, he told me I looked like I was in my 20’s…of course he was wearing glasses!

~I am so grateful to my best friend, Gail.  Not only did she come back to New Jersey from her vacation in Maine to spend two weeks with me while I got on the road to recovery, but she opened her home to me for almost three months while she went back to Maine.  Her house was more conducive to my recovery than mine was.  She let me stay there and only laughed when I referred to myself as her “squatter.”  She couldn’t be better.  I’m so lucky to have her as my friend.

~I am so grateful to my sister, Ele.  She visited me almost every day while I was there.  She supported me and encouraged me and always made me feel I could get up and get back to normal.  She was an especially welcome visitor when Ralph went West to his Army reunion and then on to New Mexico.  She was great, but then she always is!! I’m so lucky to have the best sister in the world.

~Finally I want to say how lucky I am to have Ralph.  He was admittedly a nervous wreck before during and after the surgery.  He tried not to show it, but it’s hard for Ralph not to show his emotions.  That’s one of the best things about him.  He fed me (too much at times!) kept me company, worried about me, cared for me and encouraged me.  He is wonderful and I’m so grateful that he came into my life.

 

I wanted to share this picture of Ralph and Me.  We don’t look Too Happy, do we?!?  This was taken on Thanksgiving 1993.  I don’t know this because I was smart enough to write it on the back of the photo.  For some reason our family Never got that concept.  We have tons of photos with nothing written on the back and we have NO idea who the people are.  Most of the people who could identify the photos are gone.  So Ele and I are left making up stories about who they are.

I know when this was taken because we also have a video that my niece, Mary took on Thanksgiving 1993.  In that video, you can see this photo being taken.  It is the coolest thing to have something like that.  It’s almost a little creepy, almost like it’s the paparazzi!  It’s fairly long and Mary narrates the entire video.  We lost her in 2007 so it’s wonderful to hear her voice and experience her sense of humor again.  It is a  gift and I’m thankful for that.

~My thankfulness is boundless today.  I can’t show enough gratitude to these people who have made my life so full this year.  So have just come into my life recently, others have always been there.  There are many others, but this is long already.  I’ve always been lucky.  I don’t know if I’ve always been grateful or thankful enough.  I am now.

Be sure to stop over at Running With Spoons to read the other Thinking Out Loud posts.  I bet you’ll find a lot of thanks and gratitude there, today.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thinking Out Loud #6

I can’t believe that I’m writing Thinking Out Loud #6!!  Thinking Out Loud, hostessed by Amanda at Running With Spoons gives us all a chance to speak our minds and get things off our chests.  I like it because I just like to babble on about things.  Check out what the other bloggers are thinking about when you’re finished here.

It seems like I just wrote my last Thinking Out Loud post.  Time is flying and I’m starting to get those old pre-Holiday nerves.  I have to keep my craziness under control.  I think I can do it this year.  It has gotten the better of me in previous years, but now that I’m feeling so much better, I’m feeling more positive about so many things.

~I am feeling so good and I’ve been doing my best to be active.  I had been going to the gym with my best friends Gail and Alice and using their guest passes.  No longer!

 

I am an Official Member!!  I’m so excited. I’ve been enjoying it.  I’ve set up a routine for myself, based on things my physical therapist told me before I finished my sessions with her.  I walk the track for one mile.  Seven times around the track is a mile.  I usually do four laps, then work on the machines then the other three laps.  It’s not so boring that way.  I do five minutes on the stationary bike.  I plan on increasing that as I work at all of this and get stronger.  For now, the five minutes feels good.  Then I do a series of upper body and lower body machines.  I have to say that I am Amazed at what I’m able to do while I’m there.  I’m feeling very good about the whole thing.

They gym also offers classes which you usually have to pay for, but they were offering a special that I could get free classes for the rest of the year.  Then I’ll have to pay, but the good thing is that I get to try out the classes and know what I actually want to pay for after January.  I think it’s a really good deal.  I’m hoping to take the tai chi class.  I have to miss it this week because of a doctor’s appointment, but next week, I’ll be there at 8:30 ready to go!

~There are So many things that are So much better now that I have had the surgery and I’m well on my way to recovery.  Just regular day-to-day activities are better.  Sitting down and standing up from a chair, getting in and out of the car,  grocery shopping…Going To The Gym!!  There is something that is really making me happy about this whole thing.

Last year in the Summer and Fall, I was talking about all of the progress I was making with sorting out things that I wanted to be rid of.  Things that I did not need for our move to New Mexico.  I was accomplishing a Lot!  Then late Fall and Winter came along and I felt as if I’d aged 20 years.  That’s all changed now and I’m back to work.

I spent Sunday afternoon at my sister Ele’s house going through things I have stored there.  I filled one box of things to go to the thrift store and three bags of books to go to the town library.

On Monday, I got to work here at home.  I was proud of myself for being unsentimental about books and I’m happy for what you see in this photo.

 

Four bags of books to go to the town library.  They’re still sitting in my bedroom, but they’re ready to go.  I’m glad to be contributing to the town library and I’m Very Glad that they will soon be Out Of My House!

I’ve got so much to do regarding this clean out, but if I work on it a little a day, I know I can get it done.  It’s crazy how you can pile things up, even when you try to stay on top of it.  Believe me, when we get to New Mexico…this will NOT happen again.

That’s Thinking Out Loud for me for this week.  Makes me feel good to post an overall positive post.  I like that! Be sure to stop over at Running With Spoons to see what they all have to say.

Happy Thursday!

Thinking Out Loud #5

Thinking Out Loud has become an important part of my week.  I feel I’ve really found some like-minded “Thinkers” here. Created by Amanda at Running With Spoons, Thinking Out Loud gives us all a chance to get some things off our chests.  Check out what other bloggers have on their minds (or off their chests!) when you’re finished here.

 

I do wonder how it is that I have SO many things going on in my head throughout a given week, but when I sit down to write my Thinking Out Loud post, it all goes out of my head and I find myself sitting here going “uuhhhh” and “uummm.”  Oh, well, as always, I still seem to be able to come up with something.  Here goes.

~The news in the background just told me that Prince has just taken his first Selfie…should that be capitalized?!?  Don’t know but anyway, he took it with an actual camera instead of a cell phone.  He’s banned the use of cell phones around him.  Quite a quirky character.  Back to Selfies…I’m not good at them.  I keep practicing but mercifully, no one sees them except me…Occasionally I’ll show one to Ralph.  I keep practicing, though.  One thing I don’t get about selfies, is why do people insist on posting selfies either making a duck face or with their tongues sticking out.  Is that supposed to be alluring or enticing?  I don’t get it.  I’ll keep trying and I may post one but feel safe in the fact that there will be no tongues or duck faces.

~It’s been a good week in general.  I’ve been getting to the gym several days and I plan to join this week.  I’m pretty excited about the whole thing.  Feeling so good is almost scary.  I go for my last physical therapy session today (it’s actually Wednesday as I write this.)  I’m glad and a little sad at the same time.  I’ve truly enjoyed the physical therapy process.  My therapist, Donna is wonderful and she seems to get my strange sense of humor.  I’ll miss her.  I will continue to be a good patient, doing my exercises at home and of course going to the gym will be a big help according to Donna.  Thanks, Donna!

~I’m excited to say that I’m getting back on track with my sorting and packing projects.  I was able to sort out 3 bags worth of Stuff that doesn’t need to be here anymore and take them to the thrift store.  There is truth in the idea that if you work for just 15 minutes, you can accomplish a lot.  I did that several times in the past week and I’m happy to say I feel I’ve accomplished things.  I was feeling a little down about how much time I lost during my recuperation, but I decided that it was something I couldn’t take a chance with.  I had to be totally up and around before I started getting into things again.  I really feel like I’m on my way again.  Now if I could only get Ralph on board with this clear out idea.  We’d be a lot closer to moving to New Mexico if he would.  But I’m not going to yammer about that right now.

~I’m trying to wrap my mind about the fact of the impending Holidays.  Driving home from a coffee date with a friend on Monday night I saw a house all sparkly with Christmas lights.  I was not happy to see that.  I’m trying to make peace with the Holidays this year.  I’ve had several very bad years regarding that and I’m planning on more Spirit and more Cheer.  We’ll see how it goes.

~I’m happy to say that I’m getting back to reading.  I finished off Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere earlier in the week.  I’ve moved on to this…

 

It took me a bit to get into The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, but now I’m enjoying it.  I try to read a little several times a day.  It really is a calming thing for me.  I’m glad that I’m getting back to one of my favorite pastimes.

~Heard some sad news this morning…Carol Ann Susi who was the voice of Mrs. Wolowitz on The Big Bang Theory has died.  Even though you never got to see her on the show, she played an important part.  That’s a shame.

~I don’t want to end this on a sad note.  Last week Ralph and I had the chance to have breakfast with two of his granddaughters. Chelsea who is the older of the two, decided we need to take a selfie (back to selfies again!)

 

We had a great time.

That’s it for Thinking Out Loud this week.  Be sure to check out the other bloggers linking up at Running With Spoons.  It’s always fun!

Happy Thursday!

Thinking Out Loud #4

Another Thursday…Another Thinking Out Loud! Hostessed by the lovely Amanda at Running With Spoons.  This is our opportunity each week to stammer and yammer and get things off our chests without anyone being annoyed because everyone in the link up is doing it!  If you like to hear what other people are complaining about, head on over.

~One of my points is exactly that-Complaining!  I suppose that one of the reasons I feel so at home at Thinking Out Loud is that I feel like I’ve been a big complainer lately.  If I think about the really important things in life, I have nothing to complain about. But I realize that every day, I find myself complaining to my to best friends.  I’ve told them that I’m going to try to correct that. We were together yesterday afternoon and I think I was able to keep it under control.. I think that what I need to do is ask them to tell me if I start doing it, especially if I don’t realize it and don’t stop myself.  I’m so lucky right now.  Up and around and feeling so good…to quote our Governor…”shut up and sit down!”

~I do have reason to complain in some areas, but they are not areas over which I have total control. I’m working to get this house in order so that we can get it sold and we can get to New Mexico.  I’m not talking about it any more.  I’m just going to start working at it, chip away at it a little bit at a time.  The disarray is frustrating and debilitating sometimes, but I’m going to work with it.  Yesterday, I was able to get a few things done, mostly because I was alone and I made a nice dent in things.  I feel good about it.

~One of the things putting me off track is sleep.  I have been up at all kinds of crazy hours.  3 am, 4 am.  This morning it was 4 am.  Frustrating.  I got up, made the coffee and read.  I’ve been complaining that I haven’t been reading, so I put this time to good use.  I think I knocked out about 25 pages.  Pretty good.  I’m going to try to do that more often.  My total on Goodreads this year is abysmal.  Maybe that’s why I’m cranky!

~Oh, Joy, Oh Rapture!!! The election is over!!  No more political commercials about people I don’t care about and can’t vote for anyway-the curse of living “near” a big city with lots of people running.  They’re all over the river and have Nothing to do with Me!  Of course, as I listened to the news this morning and they were reviewing who won and who lost-they were starting to talk about the Presidential election in two years.  At this point, I DON’T CARE!! I was hoping for a few months before that started…I didn’t even get a couple of days.  I used to be such a news junkie, I loved watching the campaigns and the conventions, but it’s so different now.  That however, is a topic for another day.

~Thanks to my best friend, Gail (again!) I’m getting to go to the gym.  She has guest passes and is sharing them with me.  I will be joining probably in a couple of weeks.  I am enjoying it so much.  I’m doing things that my physical therapist has told me I should be doing in order to strengthen my muscles after the surgery.  I really feel good.  Just to be sure I’m not doing anything I shouldn’t, I’ve taken a series of photos to show her which machines they have at the gym to be sure I’m not doing anything I shouldn’t.

 

I’ve got a series of them, so I’ll have options.  I’m already doing the upper body machines.  No need to ask about those.  I’ve also been walking the indoor track.  I walked a mile two days in a row.  It does feel good to be getting some exercise!

~I’m back to blogging and I’m enjoying it so much.  I am so grateful to all of my readers who have come back since my return and I’m happy to see new readers as well.  It makes me feel good.  This is such a great way for me to express myself, and now that I’ve found Thinking Out Loud, it’s a great place to get all of this stuff out of my head.  I don’t need it in there any more!

Be sure to visit Running With Spoons to check out all of the Thinking Out Loud posts.  If you feel like getting something off your chest…Join In!

Happy Thursday!

 

Thinking Out Loud #3

Here I am, back for my third try at Thinking Out Loud!  I’ve had so many nice comments on my first two posts.  I truly appreciate all of your kind words.  Again, I haven’t really planned anything out so it’s more Fly By The Seat Of Your Pants time.  Let’s see how this works out.  Be sure to check in with the other posters on Amanda’s blog, Running With Spoons.

My mind is all over the place but then, that’s what my life feels like at the moment.  Trying to get back to normal after surgery while still doing physical therapy and my home exercises is quite an adventure.  Our house is not as conducive to moving around as my friend’s house was so that’s an issue.  I’m working with it.  Also dealing with a stubborn husband who won’t believe me that I can go down the steps to do the laundry.  I’ll even concede to him walking down in front of me so I can get there.  He’s still giving me a hard time.  Hopefully my next Thinking Out Loud will be saying that “I’ve done the laundry!!”

~I think that all of the emotions that should have come out during my weeks of recuperation, have been stored up and are rearing their ugly heads now.  I’m feeling very disjointed, disorganized and not myself in a lot of ways.  I need to focus, which is a story anyone who has read BCDC for awhile has heard before.

~I feel a bit out of control with my food as well.  NOT a good thing.  I’m proud of how I’ve been doing with staying under my Weight Watchers goal for over a year.  I probably shouldn’t be too hard on myself.  I was told before the surgery that you need to eat to heal.  I did that and now I find myself wanting to continue to eat that way.  During recovery, I ate and ate and never gained a pound.  Now I have to be more conscious.  I know the best way to do that.

 

~Those of you who have visited with me before have seen this.  This is my Weight Watchers journal.  If I ever need to bring myself into better focus (not that I EVER seem to be able to get myself completely in focus-not for lack of trying!) I turn to my WW Journal.  This is a tremendous tool in trying to keep myself on track and under control.  I write down all of my foods and (in red) review what I’ve done and give myself pep talks.  At times in my WW adventure, I’ve kept another journal where I tracked my thoughts and discussed my successes and missteps.  I’m thinking I need to do that again.  I’m really feeling a bit out of touch with what I need to do.  I’m still about 12 pounds under my WW goal, but I love the way my clothes feel now and the fact that I have no trouble finding things to fit.  I don’t want to let myself slip on that.  I want to continue to feel this good.

~I have to commit to doing more cooking, not relying on eating out or ordering in.  I can do it, I just need to make myself get back in the routine.  I did do the Best thing in the world for me.  Made a crock pot of my WW veggie soup and a crock pot of beans to go along with it yesterday.  That always gets me back on track.

~As I type this, I seem to me motivating myself into a better mood, a clearer head and a more focused vision of what I need to do.  I’ve always felt that blogging could work that kind of magic for me. Thinking Out Loud is definitely doing it. It’s allowing me to get things off my chest whether it’s about myself or something else.   I like this idea.

Be sure to check out the other Thinkers over at Running With Spoons. Thursday is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week!

Happy Thursday!

Thinking Out Loud #2

I had so much fun last week participating in Thinking Out Loud with Amanda at Running With Spoons that I decided I’d give it another try.

I want to thank everyone for you kind comments and for taking me into the group with such warmth.  It’s amazing after having taken this long hiatus from blogging that old friends and new friends have just come right back now that I’m here again.  I am very grateful for that.

When I started typing this, I really had no theme in mind.  I suppose in the coming weeks it might be a good idea to start out with a CLUE what I might be writing about.  So since I mentioned being grateful, perhaps gratitude might be a good topic.  I’ve had so much to be grateful for lately.

~I am grateful for the true and absolute gift that I received in the form of my hip surgery.  I promised not to talk Too much about it and I won’t but a few things have to be said.  I’m sure I was suffering from this nonsense of degenerative joint disease for a long time. Basically, arthritis, but they like to give things fancy new names these days.  The problem is that is was there in various joints but not so much that it had any serious adverse affect on my daily life.  I was “fine” throughout the summer and fall of 2013.  Lots of walking and going about my regular routines.  Then the winter of 2013/2014 came around-cold and damp and unbearable.  Suddenly it hit me.  I couldn’t sit for long, sitting down and standing up were extremely painful, I stood most of the time because that was the least uncomfortable position.  Walking any distance was difficult at best. The surgery is a gift.

~It was a bumpy journey getting to the right place for the surgery.  I went to one doctor who had been recommended.  He put me on medication because “we always try this first and we let the patient tell us when they’re ready for surgery.”  I took the pills for a month without any relief.  I went back in a month and said, I’m ready for the surgery and was told “we don’t do hip replacement surgery anymore.”  What?!?  I asked for a recommendation for someone who did it.  I got the name and called for an appointment.  This was June-I couldn’t be seen until the end of August.  I took the appointment but I didn’t think I could wait that long. We had a friend who had recently had emergency foot surgery at the Rothman Institute in Philadelphia. I called for an appointment and I was scheduled for three days later.  The amazing thing is that the appointment was with Dr. Rothman, head of the organization!  I was amazed.

~I cannot say enough good things about Dr. Rothman, the Rothman Institute and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital where my surgery was performed.  There is an entire Rothman floor there and it was wonderful.  From my first appointment with Dr. Rothman, through scheduling, pre-admission testing and medical clearances there was never a single glitch.  They even had excellent vegan/vegetarian food choices! The care I received was incredible and the results have been mind-boggling.  At my first appointment with Dr. Rothman he showed me my x-rays.  I can’t believe that the other doctor could have looked at those same x-rays and not known that I immediately needed surgery.

I suppose it was all meant to be this way.  That first situation didn’t work out because I was meant to find Dr. Rothman and his staff and I was meant to have these amazing results.  I am so grateful for what they did for me.  If any of you are in the Philadelphia/New Jersey area and need orthopedic medical care, please don’t hesitate to contact the Rothman Institute.  They can work miracles.

~I am so grateful to my best friend, Gail.  She spends the summer in Maine, but came back to New Jersey to open her home to me for my recuperation.  She’s a nurse which is good because I was full of questions about what was going on.  Her home was more conducive to recovery-all on one floor, lots of room for maneuvering my walker and a shower that you just step into instead of a tub.  It was also fun to just spend time together in spite of the fact that I was trying to recover. Without question, she is the best.

~I am grateful to my sister, Ele.  She came to visit me nearly every day during my recovery and especially after Gail went back to Maine.  Even after I was up and around and doing well, she was there.  She kept close watch on me while Ralph was away, in case I needed anything.  As sisters go…I got the best!

~I am so grateful to my wonderful Ralph.  He was a wreck leading up to the surgery, he was a wreck during the surgery and now 13 weeks after surgery, he is still a wreck worrying about everything I do.  He’s even more of a worrier now that we’re back at our house.  But I try to show him that I am careful and I am getting stronger every day so that I can do things.  Eventually, he’ll see that I’m good as new and able to get back to my routines.  He says he’s aged through this process.  Well, I’ve aged too but I survived and so will he.  He is the most wonderful man in the world though and I am grateful every day for him.

This has been a lot of Thinking Out Loud and I hope I didn’t stray too far off track.  I am so very grateful for this entire experience.  I often refer to it as a miracle because that is what I feel it has been.  I’m walking and doing things I almost never thought I’d do again.  Each day gets better.  It really is a gift.

That’s it for me for Thinking Out Loud, don’t you think it’s enough?!?!?  Be sure to check out everyone’s thoughts over at Running With Spoons.  Lots of interesting things there.

Be Grateful.

 

Thinking Out Loud~Numero Uno

I’ve been intending for quite some time to join in on Thinking Out Loud hostessed by Amanda at Running With Spoons.  I’m finally getting to it.

The point is to just share some random thoughts about life in general.  At least that’s my understanding.  I like it!

~Why is it that I haven’t blogged since August and now I do two posts in two days?  I have no excuse.  I’ve been busy healing from my bilateral hip surgery and I’ve been focusing on that and I promise not to talk too much about it!

~Thinking out loud has to be quiet, because I have a headache that is sticking with me in spite of two pots of coffee.  I’ve decided that I’m not taking anything for headaches.  Prior to my surgery, I took so many over the counter things for pain, I’m trying not to take anything.  I’ve had nothing since the surgery in spite of a couple of nasty headaches.  I’ve been working around them.  I will survive.

~More randomness-I’m annoyed with myself that in spite of having a Lot of time on my hands during my recovery, I haven’t done nearly enough reading.  I did read two books, early entries in the Lisa Scottoline series of Rosato and Associates.  I liked them enough but got stuck in the middle of the third and haven’t read anything since.  I am chagrined (hangs head in shame.)

~Has anyone else noticed the way newswoman, weather  women and traffic women dress on TV?  They all look as if they’re going to a cocktail party…even at 5 AM. I can’t quite figure it out.  Not to mention the almost identical hair styles on all of them.  Long hair is nice, but by the time you get to a certain age, you really should be looking for another choice.  I’ve reached that certain age and I no longer have long hair even though I used to love mine.  This headache is making me cranky I think.

~I’m amazed daily at either how incredibly clever or incredibly stupid TV commercials are.  I love humor and I love a clever idea, but I am stumped as to how some of these get past the ad executives let along the censors.  This is beginning to sound as if I have spent too much time recently watching TV, which I have.

~Speaking of TV, I am overjoyed at the number of networks that are now broadcasting Law & Order in all of its incarnations.  It has helped me through my recovery especially during the time that I was alone because Ralph was on a road trip that I had to miss in the interest of completing my physical therapy. Also considering the fact that I don’t think I would have been able to ride for the long periods of time it takes to go from New Jersey to Texas to New Mexico.  L & O got me through it and I’m eternally grateful to Dick Wolf, creator of the great series.

~Speaking of which, Why am I still in New Jersey and not in New Mexico.  I don’t have a good answer for that, but I’m working on that.  Trust me, there will be more about that on a future Thinking Out Loud.

I think I rather like this Thinking Out Loud idea.  I hope that Amanda and the other people who link up on Thursdays don’t think I’m too weird.  Hopefully, they’ll be weird along with me.

Happy Thursday!!