I Caught The Crud

Well. This weekend was not anything close to what I had planned. I came down late Friday night with this flu/cold crud that has been going around town and that I have been feeling smug about avoiding. Careful about that smugness--God will get you.

I spent all--and I do mean all-weekend in bed. Slept about 17 hours/day, waking up long enough only to do a shot of Nyquil (the nectar of the Gods when you're sick) and fall back into a coma. Olivia stayed with me almost the entire time. She "log-walked" on me. Meaning I'd start out on my back, with her on my stomach. I'd roll to the side and she 'd sidestep so as not to fall off me and then stayed on my hip. Same when I flipped to my stomach and she slept on my back.  Very comforting.

I feel...okay...today. Still not great. Hard to tell if it's sickness related or if my body has just collapsed from 2 full days of non-movement. I'm so stiff and sore I can't stand it. I'm going to try a walk outside later today, just to breath fresh air and move.

Blair was very sweet, running all the errands, cooking and cleaning while I slept. It almost makes up for the fact that while I was awake he followed me anxiously around the house with a can of Lysol, dousing everything I touched or might have touched with a heavy dose. (He's a wee bit concerned about not coming down sick himself.)

I have a ton of work staring me in the face and about 80 e-mails that need replied to.  How on earth do you people with children manage when you're sick? That thought occurred to me as I woke up between my 16th and 17th hour of sleep and then rolled back over and started snoring. I can't imagine feeling like I did and having to deal with getting little ones to bed and, oh I don't know, feeding them and such. Kudos to all parents reading this today.

Life Creeps In, Life Creeps Out

At the start of 2008, I vowed to devote myself to bettering my writing. To take a "writer's journey" and explore new genres and interests while simultaneously striving to improve on the basics such as grammar, use of simile and metaphor, attention to detail, etc.

I dropped much of my paid work and cleared my schedule. But I've noticed life has a way of creeping in. And what starts out as a month with no committment other than to write suddenly becomes filled with meetings, speeches, workshops, lunches, assignments, and other obligations.

This month, for example, I agreed to:

• Give a speech in my advanced Toastmasters club
• Create a tri-board for the club (the accursed thing still isn't complete)
• Write two 600-word assignments for a regional publication.
• Write a monthly article for a UK-based dog site, www.dogtwist.com
• Organize long runs for my running group
• Teach a 2 hour networking workshop at the Women's Resource Center
• Attend an all-day marketing brainstorming meeting for a friend
• Facilitate a 2-hour Saturday writing workshop for kids in the foster care system
• Attend a concert of my neice's in Raleigh
• Attend as a guest a women-only networking/mentoring club
• Wrangle out the details of a dental claim with our insurance company
• 2 doctor appointments, one trip to the vet, 2 races, 1 massage (had a coupon), 2 lunches with friends, one dinner out.

Looking ahead to March, I already have a book signing at a local libary and a book launch party to attend for a friend. The rest of the month appears gloriously free of commitment. And I aim to keep it that way. I've discovered that when I have a free schedule, it's so easy to agree to "stuff." I think, "Well, I certainly have time to fit a speech or a tri-board into my month." But I say that 10 times and then--oops!--the month is full and I didn't focus on what I said I wanted to focus on.

So... back to hibernation. It's a game of push and pull. I do too much... I cut back... I let life creep in... I push back. On a bright note, however, I've done over 50,000 new words of creative writing since the start of the new year. That's probably more than I did all last year combined. So I'm getting there. It's just a matter of deciding WHAT I want to spend my time on, WHY that's important to me, and then sticking to it.

Here's a quote I love:

"Let the act of changing be the reward, and do not count on the outcome, for it may well be far different than you ever imagined."

I'm Hungry

I'm hungry. But I can't eat anything. I'm going in to GSO this morning to have blood drawn in preparation for my physical next week. No eating for 8 hours before the blood work, water only.

You can bet I'll be the first one at the clinic door. I'm one of those people that I get out of bed and head to the kitchen. Eat first thing. I can't fathom skipping breakfast--it's my favorite meal of the day and also the time of day when I'm most hungry. I could make do with a cup of decaf coffee but water on an empty stomach doesn't sit well, so I've decided to have nothing. And will now sit here in a stupor for the next 2 hours, having convinced myself I'm incapable of working without some form of nourishment.

I'm a grazer by nature. I go beyond the recommendation of eating 6 small meals a day and eat something more like 12. It's a danger of working at home--I'm never more than 8 feet from my kitchen.  I graze on pretty healthy food (mostly) but it's still almost constant feeding. There's probably not more than an hour that goes by each day that doesn't find me eating something.

But I have promised myself a lovely bagel and hot coffee in town after my blood work, so all is not lost. I only wish my doctor worked the 5 am shift.

Cheers,

Dena

Couples Yoga

In honor of Valentines Day, my yoga instructor held a partners-yoga class. Four of us begged and badgered our husbands into attending. It was fun. Even the men who were hesitant about attending ending up enjoying themselves. 

We did a number of simple poses that required leaning against your partner as a prop. The best part was being instructed in Thai massage. This involves a gentle pulling and lengthening of the muscles. Blair had me in stitches. As I would pull on a leg or arm, he'd be mouthing the words, "Help me."

He did well, though. As the youngest man there, he was also the most flexible.

My body seems to be on some sort of protest or strike this week. My left hand feels arthritic and swollen and I've got an unexplained pain in the arch of my left foot. My right hamstring has been growing steadily tighter over the past 6 months and is just now starting to pinch even when I'm just sitting or standing. It will probably need looked at sometime soon. Olivia bit my right index finger yesterday, drawing blood (she was aiming for the comb, missed and got me) and I woke up this morning with a huge crick/pinched neck, again on my left side.

"That's what running and yoga and eating healthy will get you," Blair informed me. "Look at me. I ate a bag of Tostitos last night for dinner and I feel great."

Smart alec. No more Thai massage for him. =)