Here's some good news!

i had an MIR done on my left knee about a month ago BECAUSE even though we, as in my doctor (OMG, i'd tell you his name, but you wouldn't believe it, given how much i love a certain detective) (let's just say, whenever i have to say his name i have to giggle smile) and me, knew that there was osteoarthritis present on the interior of my knee (we're talking bone on bone here, sweetpeas), he needed to know just how bad it really was. lord knows you could hear my knee cracking/snapping/popping when i worked out (the first time my trainer heard it, her eyes got big and she said very forcefully, STOP!) the question was, is it time for knee replacement surgery or were there other options.

oh yeah, not something you want to consider


K N E E  R E P L A C E M E N T  S U R G E R Y!

he referred me to an orthopedist. i saw dr. mac cool (yeah, that's what i'm calling him) on tuesday. after a lengthy conversation and his bending and manipulating my knee, listening to it snap/crackle/and pop, he determined that yep, there was some serious bone on bone action going on!

(i know, no shit, sherlock, right?)

but, then he said the words i wanted to hear that surgery wasn't going to be the first and only option. HUZZAH! yes, that's right! i was very, very happy to hear that, even though the next sentence was that at some point, maybe not soon, it would have to be done. BUT NOT NOW!

soooooo, i have a series of sessions two times a week with a physical therapist over the next 6 weeks and then, a follow up with him to see how i'm doing. this is in addition to my regular meetings with my trainer, also twice a week. but now, we can do full workouts again! the whole goal here is strength and good health, everything else is just extras, as we say down here.

i'm lucky that i still have the ability to make every effort to spend the rest of my time on the earth as healthy and strong as possible. i've seen too many people fall into the "i'm too old/weak/frail" to do that (fill in the blank). this is my year to shed those things that have been, literally and figuratively, weighting me down, hence the purging/organizing/contemplating/just doing that's been going on around here!

sharing this with all y'all makes me accountable and also, gives me even more support knowing that even when i'm not all the way believing i can lift that weight, somewhere, someone, knows i can and is rooting for me!

and i love all y'all all the more.

*********

and now, because y'all haven't seen them in a few!

BBC aka hellboy and his dog

BGM springtime school photo

be well, lovelies! i have some work to do!

Where have you been? Oh, wait, y'all know where you've been! I'm the one MIA

Sweet Mary Sunshine!

My last post was April 5th, and I have no explanation for that, except that I haven't been blogging. (Oh, really, all y'all are saying, as if we hadn't figured that one out already, Sherlock.)

 Anyway, it's been busy around here. After super nana & Mr Matrix and their krewe left, the MITM took off for deepestdarkestafrica again and I've been on my own trying to find my routine for single/solitary living. After doing a ton of housework (have you ever noticed that somehow departures make a HUGE amount of work to be done after the departee has left) and realizing that it was a perfect time to start doing a Spring Cleaning, I collapsed from the very thought began the annual chore.

Remember my grand idea to turn the loft/bonus room into a space of my own? Well, it turned into the perfect guest room for J-girl and ariesafari! Thank goodness for Aero beds (blowup air mattresses) that are as tall as a regular mattress and boxspring, and if you're in your 20's pretty damn comfortable! Those are now deflated and put away, but the space is neat and clean and ready for me to finally get a cool space! I think it will end up being a work space for me and when he's home, a perfect music room for the MITM! I'll take some pics when it's been sorted out and it looks less like a holding space for pieces of unused furniture.

The rest of the house has benefited from my attention, but I swear, it does make me wonder WTF I've turned into! I am almost loath to admit this, sweetpeas, but I have used the KonMari Method for folding t-shirts! *sigh*



Yes, the drawers look neat and tidy, but....

I can't lie, I'm not ashamed. There is something very liberating in finding joy in small tasks. Everything that is in the drawers is something useful and needed. Part of the process was to decide what was needed, what was useful, and what could be given away. Sometimes, the act of tidying up the physical part of your life can bring you insight into your interior life and help in applying the same process mentally.

This has been my larger goal. To find solid ground again. To understand what I have control over and what is beyond me. It seems that folding shirts not only gave me an opportunity to purge my wardrobe, but the ability to begin to purge my consciousness of the unnecessary feelings and introspection that were bringing pain and sadness into my life.
 

Things have shifted around me. I don't know why, but I do know that I have to keep moving forward. At some point, I think we all come to the realization that we can't change situations for other people, we can only change how we deal with them. Or as we say around here (movie buffs that we are), "If I don't get the new pages, how am I going to know my lines?" All of this to say, we each write our own script, but unless you share your screenplay...we'll never be on the same page. As with anything in this life, we'll all come out of this with maybe a few scars, but hopefully, nothing permanent and hopefully, all stronger for the experience. Tomorrow is another day...

  

*********

I've missed this. And all y'all, too!  That other social media site is a bit more of a diversion and yes, some fun, but mostly, it's a distraction. This is far more personal, 

and today, 

for me, 

it is most needed, 

most useful,


and most joyful.


Thank you for being here.

sunday

shucked just now

fresh from the oyster bed yesterday

sunday morning

super nana and mr matrix are here on the plantation, along with BM, J-girl, and ariesafari! (there might be pics of J-girl and ariesafari later!)