Estate Auction

Saturday's plans were to either go swimming or go for a bike ride. A friend called to tell me about an estate auction that would be held on Saturday morning. I misunderstood the time of the auction. I decided to forego my exercise plans and attend the auction instead. You see, I knew this dear lady who recently passed away. She was my junior high typing teacher. I am a fairly good and fast typist due to this dear lady. She also was the epitome of a graceful Christian lady. She always looked like she had stepped out of a magazine- beautiful clothes, perfect hair and makeup and a beautiful smile on her face. She spoke with a soft voice, had a great sense of humor, and was a great friend to many. But her most important attribute was that she loved her Lord and she displayed the model of a Christian lady. When I have attended estate sales in the past, I have been sad perusing through the departed's "things". But on Saturday, I did not feel this way. I was happy to be there to try not only to get some valuable "thing", but to have a momento from this dear lady. I had been to an auction before...probably about 20 years ago. I was not skilled in knowing all the protocol involved, but I soon was right in there bidding and feeling like I knew what I was doing. It was funny because the first box of goods that I got with the highest bid made me feel like I had "won". A friend told me that it has been said that if you want to have a successful auction you do it in Texas. Texans will bid higher for items to "win". I felt like saying "Bingo", or like I had won at the casino when I was the high bidder and the receiver of the item. Anyway... I ended up staying almost all day long. I saw people of my community that I don't see often. It was nice weather and I just felt close to this woman as I walked through her house and saw how she lived her life. I purchased a canister set for my son, and inside was her handwritten recipe for cornbread. It was a fun and memorable day for me.

My Visit to the Podiatrist

My visit to the podiatrist turned out to be different than I anticipated. Of course while I was waiting in the reception area, I busied myself with sudoku. I love to do sudoku. While I waited, I sat listening to an older woman complain and complain about every item as she completed the new patient form. I wanted to tell her that she was one of the biggest complainers I had ever listened to. Then came my turn. After examining my foot with his pressure, and then positioning my orthotic to my foot, the doctor reached his conclusion. I had lots of inflammation in that area where the plantar tendon connects to the heel. I thought he would repeat what I had been told over the telephone... ice the foot with a bottle of frozen water rolling it across the bottom of my foot, restrict my aerobic exercise, and wear my othotics. I was quite surprised when he mentioned cortisone injection. Yikes.... uh oh.... what did I say about the lady in the waiting room and her complaining? Hmm..... it was now my turn to suck it up, and be brave. You see... I absolutely hate shots. It did not give me alot of comfort for the assistant to tell me that it would hurt. And that some people hated the freezing spray worse than the shot. OOOOOOOOOOOOO.........( rhymes with boo). "Okay", I said, " Could you hand me a Kleenex?" Well, not to worry.. it was not as bad as I thought. Mind you now... it was not a piece of cake either. It hurt!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did let out a little "ouch", but there was no screaming, no tears, no cussing or yelling, and no threats made to the doctor. Tonight I plan to do the ice routine. The pain from the plantar faciitis should be better tomorrow from the cortisone injection. I hope it works because if not, we might have to consider surgery.

Foot Pain

I am still experiencing my foot pain. I have scheduled an appointment with the podiatrist to see if there is more that I can do to get well. I worked some more in my yard yesterday taking care of more debris from Ike. Today I made it to FF, and it just seems I continue to be so tired. I have not biked nor swam in two weeks. I really need to get back on track, but with this foot pain, I don't really want to do anything. If you are able and have no pains or problems, you have absolutely no excuse about exercise!! No whining! No complaining!! Get up off your butt and move. I only wish that I could!!! Yes, I am frustrated because I am regressing. I am losing my stamina and my strength. Hopefully I will be back in sync soon!!

An Old Woman

I am really feeling like an old woman!! I missed my exercise class, bike riding, running for 10 days. I have been busy cleaning my yard from Hurricane Ike as well as cleaning out closets, etc in the house. I am still having the heel pain and cannot be on my feet for too long without it hurting. I am at this very moment icing my sore heel. Now today to top it off, during my FF class, I strained a muscle right below my scapula. I now have a pain in my upper back. I am ready to be done with this pain and get back to my regular exercise program. It is amazing that you only lose a half a pound a week, but you can gain back 4 in two weeks. I must get back on track. I praised and praised Spark people, and this past month, I got off track from writing down all of my food intake. And for me that is disaster. It is like it does not count if I don't write it down. You know just like it does not count unless you put it on a plate... yeah right.... and the pounds come back!! I have certainly not been a good role model recently. So, it is back to being disciplined and doing what is good for the body.

No Fitness Fusion this Week

No fitness fusion this week for me. My time and energy is being spent with the cleanup here at my house. I have huge limbs down. I mean so big that they are like logs- my dh had to use the power saw to cut them for me to get rid of. Yes, he has left most of the cleanup to me because during this time my father-in-law has been in the hospital with a broken hip. My dh has been going to and fro helping two elderly couples swap out using our generator. I have been stooping, bending, lunging, lifting, walking, stretching, and squatting- pretty much what I pay to do at my health club. So I will continue this week with the cleanup and hope that I will have it done before next week. I have a very sore heel right now which has made my cleanup efforts difficult. I am not sure if it is because I went several days without wearing my orthotics (plantar fascitis) or if the running I did last week has aggravated it. I may have to forego my dream of doing a triathlon if this heel does not heal!!!!! ugh!!! We shall see..... Meanwhile I better get off this computer and finish my break, and get back to the task at hand.

Hurricane Ike

I live in east Texas, and although I am over 150 miles from the coast, our city has had lots to deal with. But first let me say from the start that we in no way are experiencing the terrible tragic loss that the people of Crystal Beach and the rest of Bolivar Peninsula as well as Galveston are experiencing. There are so many people here in our city that have beach cabins and houses on Crystal Beach. They have shared these second homes with so many of us either as guests or allowing us to rent them for a vacation. Almost all of the houses at Crystal Beach are totally demolished. Galveston has had major loss although I don't think that it was hit quite as hard. My heart goes out to all of these that lost so much by this devastating hurricane. Our prayers are with you all.

Here in our city, we have had trees down, power gone, shortage of gasoline, and minimal grocery supplies. But.... we here in this east Texas town have so much to be thankful for:
1. As far as I know, no loss of life due to Ike.
2. Many people here now have their power.
3. The weather was unusually cool this time of year which made it nice with no AC.
4. People are pitching in- neighbor helping neighbor to remove trees, limbs, etc.
5. Our phones have been working.
6. We had time to prepare and get water, generators, gasoline, food, etc.
7. We had facilities to house evacuees and people to help.
8. The "lovebugs" diminished for a few days (they are back now).
9. This storm was not as bad as Rita for our community.

And on a personal note, I got to spend extra time with my sister because she was stranded here. I will post more on that later. I had no damage to my house or shed by any big trees. When Rita hit, I lost several one hundred year old oak trees. This time I only lost some of their limbs and one small oak tree. I still have lots of clean up. But I thank God that my family and my friends all managed okay through this storm.

Fussed At

Well, I have recently been fussed at by a few of my blogging friends. They have fussed at me for not posting on my blog. Sometimes I think that my life is just too boring, or my workouts are too lame compared to others, or my daily events are just nothing to write about. I read what many of these triathletes are doing, and I feel so inadequate. And I do have lots more time than the average person. But it still seems I am never getting it all done. Like I don't cook like I used to, I don't clean house like I used to, I have not been doing my Bible study lately, my service to others is lacking, travel...what's that, shopping... I hate to shop. And I am not working out for hours a day like the posts I read of others. So, I need to reevaluate, and figure out what I am doing wrong. I have read more than one blog lately where the person posting is remarking about spending too much time on the computer. Hmmmm...... yeah, I know what they mean. Staying on the computer can certainly become addicting. But since my computer has been running so slow lately, I don't find myself getting on quite as often or as long.

But about my workout this last week. I think that I only did 4 workouts this week. Last Sunday was biking, Monday was biking, FF on Wednesday, and FF on Friday. And Tues, Thurs, and Sat was nothing. This Sunday was nothing and today was swimming and FF. This last week and weekend has not been a normal week. My father-in-law broke his hip and had surgery on Friday, my sister came to visit and I picked her at the airport on Sunday, my daughter was here this weekend and left today, and my sister-in-law has also been here. We all got together tonight and I did actually cook. Tomorrow is a workday for me. I might go for a run in the morning (before work) since this is what I need to concentrate on most. I have still not signed up for a tri, but when I do, I will be kungho and committed.

Labor Day Weekend

Wow! Lots of things happening this Labor Day Weekend. We in east Texas have been tuned in to the news watching what Hurricane Gustav was going to do. It is looking like it is not going to be as bad for all of us around here. Beginning last Thursday everyone was topping their gas tanks and buying water and other staples around here. Even though we are not near the coast, we all remember too well the damage here when Rita hit land. We have only had a small amount of rain so far.

Then we have all been getting to know Sarah Palin better. What can I say? I am thrilled to have this conservative Christian on the ticket.

Now on my exercise- I have reached a major breakthrough. Yesterday I ran 1.22 miles and today I made it 2.0 miles. Yea!!! I have said that I am not a runner, and this is what I need to work on. This is the most that I have run in many years. I am trying to push myself and raise the bar. Like I have said, I am disciplined about my exercising, but I am not one to push myself. Last week I made it to FF on Wednesday, I worked in the yard on Thursday, I swam on Friday, I rode my bike on Saturday for about 11 miles, and then ran yesterday and today. I have not decided what I will do tomorrow. I do not have to be at work until about 9:00 a.m.