by Judy Schwartz Haley | Health & Wellness
Yesterday morning I managed to throw my back out of whack while putting my hair up in a ponytail. Why couldn’t it have been something interesting like bungee jumping or barrel racing or wrestling alligators or having sex? No, apparently the simple act of putting my hair in a pony tail is enough to throw my back into spasms and reduce me to acting like a pouty 4-year old. Ok, I did that before my back started acting up, but that’s another story…
So I put on a brave face and drove to work like a champ. I had to cross seven sets of railroad tracks. Then on my way to the chiropractor I crossed seven sets of railroad tracks to get to his office. After the visit I crossed seven sets of railroad tracks to get back to my office, and then again to get back home. Never gave those railroad tracks much though before yesterday – but now my back tenses up again at just the thought of crossing them, thump, shimmy, thump. Half of those tracks are never used.
The chiropractor helped a little, but of course I have to go back again tomorrow. I know my back pain is not as bad as many people get – I mean I could actually get up and walk around… But walking consists of putting one foot in front of the other, and then the next, and then the next… every ounce of energy is concentrated on each movement which puts someone who ordinarily has trouble chewing bubble-gum and walking at the same time in quite a quandry when she’s trying to put one foot in front of the other while remembering where she’s going.
No, I didn’t get oxycontin. We’re trying to get pregnant so those kinds of goodies are out of the question. Nothing more exciting than tylenol for this girl. Now, back to beddy-bye.
by Judy Schwartz Haley | Daily Life, Health & Wellness, Tools & Skills for Living
Today started out like too many birthdays where I put too much emphasis on making today special. Talk about setting yourself up. I was cranky this morning anyways. I don’t know why. Must be hormonal.
Anyways. I really needed that first cup of coffee. We went through the drive-through to get a latte on our way to go take care of some chores (check mail, oil change, etc.). She burned it. The coffee tasted horrible, it was scalded. Of course I didn’t know this till about 8 miles down the road because that’s when i took my first sip. Oh well, Mr. H bought me another one when we got to the mall. And I spilled all twenty ounces of that one all over the brand new shoes I had just bought. Mr. H bought me a third cup of coffee a little later on – was he being sweet or was that self-preservation? doesn’t matter, that one did the trick.
The most amazing part of my birthday was the time I spent at the spa. Some people at work got me a gift certificate for Ummelina. I checked in at 4:30 and they took me back to a changing room to change into a robe and then they locked up my stuff. Then they took me to a room they call the tea spa. this room was full of comfy chairs and had bamboo shades over the windows through which you could see the fog and the leaves left on the trees in silhouette with the bright moon behind them. I sat down in one of the chairs and they brought me a cup of tea. Then they brought out a big bowl and a pitcher of warm water to soak my feet in. After soaking for a while, while sipping the tea and watching the fog roll, someone came out and washed my feet.
I rested a little while longer and then they took me back to the showers. These showers were worth the trip alone. It’s amazing what a difference water pressure makes. There were, I think,, ten nozzles most of them spraying horizontally. So I took an amazing shower and then went back to the tea room to sip some more tea and rest. There were one or two picture books laying around that I thought about looking at, but the thought didn’t last very long. It was so nice to just be still.
After a couple minutes the massage therapist came out and took me back to the room for the massage. The massage was amazing, the only drawback was that the therapist told me several times that 1/2 massage is just not long enough to really do any good. If its not long enough, they shouldn’t sell gift certificates for it. Anyhoo, that was really the only drawback. and after the massage I went back to the tea room to sit a few minutes longer and drink another cup of tea. They would have let me stay in the tea room all day if i wanted, but I couldn’t wait to see Mr. H so i got up and got dressed.
As it turns out, while I was at the spa, Mr. H went shopping. He bought me a shirt, a sweater and a hat. Oh, and by the way, yesterday he got me the most beautiful roses. there was a dozen of them and each one started out baby pink in the center and then faded to white on the outer petals. they’r starting to open and they are just stunning.
After the spa and presents we thought we’d go catch a movie and then dinner. The local theater had Harry Potter on five screens and the other three movies didn’t look interesting either. so we went to the keg for prime rib and then came home. Not bad for turning half of seventy.
by Judy Schwartz Haley | Health & Wellness, Parenting & Family
So I woke up this morning in a great mood. I have no idea where that came from…
I remember getting dressed in the living room (because where else would you get dressed?) and thinking how lucky I am to have found someone who is the perfect match for me. Then while walking the dog I noticed to the east the sunrise was amazing, and the clouds were moving fast so it was constantly changing. To the west the clouds were just a thick flannel gray blanket which actually made them the perfect backdrop for the half circle rainbow that was plastered against them. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a sunrise rainbow before – but then, I haven’t seen all that many sunrises.
Things changed after I got in the truck. I think there was one or two intersections where I didn’t get a red light – those intersections had stop signs. But I still managed to hit all the landmarks on my commute on time, except the last one where I sat a quarter mile away from the office without moving for twenty minutes.
I was scheduled to attend a stress management class today, which is probably a good idea because I do have a little stress in my life right now. Going to the stress management seminar was a little more stressful than I expected though, because it took me away from a surprise staff meeting on departmental layoffs. I missed this swing of the axe, but I don’t think it’s stopped moving yet. we’ll see what happens. I guess there’s no sense in stressing out on things I cant change.
