Of Writing and Walking

I have been making it a point to write my grandparents every week, specifically for Grandpa. He doesn't hear well and being on the phone is frustrating for him. But letters? Letters he can re-read, and he does. He says he doesn't mind when I skip a week, but I know from when I do talk to him on the phone that it means a lot to him. It helps us both because I don't like to talk on the phone but like writing, and he can't hear on the phone. Wins on both fronts. I usually take one of my fifteen minute breaks during the week to scribble off a letter. This week I just needed to take that time to breathe and make a mug of tea. So, instead I waited until I got home and snagged one of my many cards. I have it in the mailbox, but I am expecting it to take forever for my mailman to discover it there. That is why I usually take the mail down to the mailbox. Which I will do if it is still there by tomorrow.

In other news, I have been making progress. From where I started two and a half years ago I have come a long way. For example, when I started I was barely able to walk at a pace of 2.5 mph. I soon went up to a 2.7 mph pace. Then 3. And stalled. I found out over the last two weeks that I actually have been improving without knowing it: I can hold a pace of 3.4 for quite a while. Outside? With the dog and on uneven ground I am back down to 2.7, but that's okay. I like not falling on my face. So progress. 

But I hadn't been exercising. Two weeks ago I was stuck where I was back at the beginning of the year. Not exercising. Eating...okay. Just okay, but not horribly. A year and a smidge ago I was exercising every day. That slid down to nothing under the excuse of my damnable plantar fasciitis. A good reason. For a while. Now that I realize it is just something I have to deal with, it is time to actually deal with it--carefully of course. I'm displeased at having to put up with it, but it is a heck of a lot better than where I was back when my rheumatoid arthritis was still interfering with life. I've been lucky to be in remission from that, so the worst I normally deal with are unhappy knees and a pissed off foot. I'll take that and run (walk) with it. Next up? Finding the weights for the weight machine AND using the machine. My arms are pretty much spaghetti at this point. Or I can buy more exercise bands (so they don't break on me at the worst time), which would probably work as well. I have even managed to get down to another smaller size over the last month--comfy jeans at that! Knees are gradually becoming less vocal the smaller I get too. I'll take what I can get.

This is what I bought myself to celebrate the jeans

Finally, I now have an air fryer. It worked well as a glorified small oven for my first explorations. (Brownies went well.) But then I tried chicken wings. Oh, lordy does it work well. I have had two days in a row of chicky wings while I try to tweak the recipe. Then devour the results. Mission successful. More research needed. And now, it is time to think about dessert that complements my dinner of crispy wings.

Balancing Act and Mr. Wile

Fearless Wile E. Coyote

Congratulations! It's February, and we made it through the first month of 2023. For me it lasted about twice as long as it should have, which isn't too bad compared to previous months. 

Let me introduce you to Mr. Wile E. Coyote who visited my parents' house this last week. While he looks small, he actually is a good 50% bigger than most of the coyotes in the area. This one looks like he had been transported from the East Mountains of the city. Highly healthy and fearless. He didn't even give me or the barking Link a passing glance as he walked five feet from the glass door on his way out of the yard. So now Link isn't allowed outside for long periods of time without supervision. So far the coyote has dragged a cat (parts of one) into the yard, so we know that he kills pets happily. Link in his slow state has little chance against Mr. Wile if it came down to a scuffle. I just hope that the coyote doesn't decide to kill the resident skunk (who comes almost daily to the yard) in the yard and leave a stench for years.

I'm not sure what February holds, but my goal is to have a healthy work/life balance. Which is hard for me. I am a people pleaser. And I have been so focused on work that I have been suffering mentally outside of the office. And that's no good for me, my friends, and even the office because that could lead me to burnout. Nobody wants me to fizzle. So I'm focusing on me a little more and what I need to do to keep me healthy.

That change of mindset includes walking most days and trying, TRYING, to eat reasonably (unlike last night). And that will help my mindset a bunch. At least I hope it will.

On the note of bettering myself, I managed a bunch of tasks yesterday and Thursday night. Cleaning up, organizing, throwing things away that nobody wants, giving away things that other people might want. And today I am dead. D.E.D. Dead. I'm not sure if the energy will hit me later today, but who knows. I hope I get enough mental/physical spoons to be able to get a walk in today. I am making it a priority, depending on spoons. I borrowed from today's stash to run my hamster wheel amount of activity yesterday. So we shall see.

For those interested, the dog is doing well. Still on pain meds in the morning, but taking supplements that should be kicking in soon. He's still sore, since he really doesn't want to play, but he is getting old, and that is just slowing him down I think. We'll be starting walks as soon as his new harness comes in so I don't yank his neck around. With how he likes to tug, we are going to have some training involved in teaching him how to walk at my side. Again. Been a while and never has worked that well. We'll learn together!