Fiber Fool

I missed last week! It was a whirlwind with DH giving his prelim (he passed and I’m sure it was my baked goodies that sealed the deal - ahem) and a day trip thanks to Amanda to pop my Trader Joe’s cherry. Why oh why did I not buy 6-8 jars of fig butter rather than 2? Now I have all these baked goods I want to use a full jar in, but I can’t get myself to break the seal of one, let alone use an entire jar in one recipe. *sigh*

MAX, Fort Collins’ new rapid transit bus line that spans the city north to south in about 20 minutes premiered on the 10th. Despite our aversion to crowds, DH and I went to check it out because we have been waiting so long for this (DH even did some ground work trying to get it to pass over 20 years ago, although in a different sort of configuration). We caught the 2nd northbound bus and were going to take it to Old Town, but they let too many people on. When we got to the next stop and the bus knelt down it couldn’t get back up so we got out and walked the rest of the way. We did ride it this last weekend to go from the University to the first Larimer County Farmer’s Market because I’m a bit gimpy right now. It worked great!

The Larimer County Farmer’s Market opened on Saturday! Squee! This is by far my favorite and there were a surprising number of vendors for so early in the season. There were lots of starter plants, cheese, coffee beans, hot sauce, emu oil, meats, baked goods, hardy greens and more.

Ice packs and kinesiology tape! I have no idea what happened, but I must have stepped funny on my foot sometime in the first 15 minutes of getting up on Tuesday. Tuesday’s workout seemed to work it out until late afternoon, but then it bothered me from then on. Then, on Saturday morning I put on some kinesiology tape to see if that might help. I was kind of skeptical, but I didn’t want to loose my momentum on the gym going. The first step I took was nearly pain free! I haven’t mapped out Saturday’s walking yet, but I’m pretty sure it exceeded 4 miles and yesterday I mowed all but the west side of the yard. I’m still icing a few times a day and taking ginger, but things are looking much better than Wednesday-Friday! Hopefully I’ll get to shop for new running shoes with my birthday money as my current ones have never been a good fit and are likely at the root of the current issue.

Then of course there are these goofballs! Who, of course thought I was a goofball sending them out into snow on Mother’s Day of all things. They frequently crack me up with their antics.

What gratitude are you greeting your week with?

• I’m grateful for DH being willing and enabling of lots of walking. Now that the weather is nicer we’re doing quite lengthy walks on Saturdays. This week we cut it nearly in half from the previous week with a 5.5 mile walk.
• One of our favorite destinations on Saturday mornings has us passing through Ross Natural Area on at least one direction. I’m so thankful that Fort Collins has so many trails that allow you to get away from traffic noise and pollution!



• A new haircut can really change ones attitude and was just what the change of seasons called for. I chopped of 8-10″ on Saturday. I love not having to worry about catching my hair under the straps of my backpack! It appears to wash and go without products decently and a bit of a blow-out dresses it up nicely too. I may need to try figure out a headband that doesn’t ride up and off of the back of head in 5 min for exercise. If you have any suggestions I’m listening! :-)
• I’m thankful for my personal trainer/water aerobics instructor, Tracy Ibarra’s, shoulder re-hab workout she’s had me on since mid-April. I’m noticing some improvement amongst the post-workout soreness and am optimistic I’m going to whip my shoulders and neck into a better state eventually. Perhaps I’ll even be able to pick up the knitting needles again soon!

How are you greeting this week with gratitude?

Wow, has 2014 been trying so far. Much of the trials the past few weeks have not been mine to share so it was easier to stay quiet, though extremely difficult to find anything to be grateful for. Now that we are on the other side the fog is thinning and finding a few positives is a bit more possible.

How are you doing? Are you greeting the weeks with gratitude?

• The Mayo Clinic and their efficiency. What took more than 2 weeks to return inconclusive results at the hometown medical center/hospital had answers in three days at the Mayo. Not answers I’m terribly satisfied with (no treatment); though much, much better than we had been lead to believe from the hometown doctors. No cancer!
• Technology - cell phones, texting, e-mail, Siri etc. that all made it possible to be kept up to date on the progress of tests and diagnoses.
• Family in Rochester and Willmar who were able to step up and help mom and dad through this process with rides and guest beds when my sister and I could not
• The Internet and its wealth of information and tutorials on Adobe products (plus some books from the CSU library). My knowledge and skills in Illustrator have grown exponentially in the last couple of months. I’m well beyond proficient now (dare I say verging into advanced?) and am hugely proud of the graphics I’ve been turing out for work. There have been very detailed and complex infographics, posters, stickers, postcards and more.
• WorldCurlingTV - this last week we watched a handful of the US National Curling Championships which were being live streamed on YouTube. It was great since we didn’t get to see much Olympic curling because that was all on cable channels. And boy was the men’s final championship draw a fun one! Wow!
• And last, but certainly not least, all of you who shared your positive energy, light, prayers, etc. with myself and my family these past few weeks without knowing the full story. It was greatly appreciated!

As we head into the 6th full week of 2014 I’m grateful for the following:

• The Olympics and being able to record/stream the NBC coverage via Aereo since we can’t get NBC over the air because they don’t put up repeaters. It provides both a good distraction/escape and good company for tedious tasks!
• Cell phones so communication via text/voice/e-mail is easy and at hand at all times.
• Puppies to cuddle who have super soft ears to stroke while worrying.
• Positive thoughts and prayers from generous family and friends.

How about you?

I’m sorry. What was already a hard week got significantly worse and I just don’t have it in me to put together a greet the week with gratitude. I know that means I need it most, yet I can’t. I thought 2013 was bad. 2014 continues to get worse from there and I’m really not wanting to see any more of it.

If you have any positive energy to spare I could sure use it.