Wedding Wednesday

I sure do wish we would have had this idea when we were making our pomanders... we made ours from fabric and Styrofoam... this seems much easier...

via

I'm hoping that none of my family members who helped me make pomanders see this post... they will kill me for the number of hours we spent making ours.  Ours were really pretty though  :)

You can check out all of my Wedding Wednesday pins on my Wedding Wednesday Pinterest Board!

Happy Hump Day AND LEAP DAY!!!

Lent... continued

Well, after my feeling of defeat yesterday, I thought more and more about what I should be doing during Lent to help myself get better.  I have always loved blogging, and now that I don't have a wedding to blog about. I've let myself get away from it.  It has always given me a place to just go and put my thoughts down and I think I need that.  I think it makes me think and it makes me slow down and let my brain unwind.

SO, in addition to Weight Watchers, which I'm still going to work on because they make you pay for 3-months up front, I'm going to commit to blogging at least 3 times a week.  Beyond that, I'm going to require myself to put something positive in each of my posts.  I hate when blogs become a place where someone only talks about the crappy stuff going on with their life (yes, I know... that's what I did yesterday) so I will not let myself be that person.  I'm going to make sure that I take some time to think about the great things in my world.

Today's positive thought...

I am so thankful for the bloggers that I follow and the ones that follow me.  I am not as good as I used to be about commenting on other people's blogs, but I am still reading, and I always appreciate the fact that I see other people going through the same things that I am... it's always better to go through things with other people, even if you've never met them  :)

Saturday on the Couch

I went to bed last night at about 8:30 pm, feeling like I was getting sick.  I have no idea what it was about yesterday, but I felt like crap.  I made it through the day (and a much needed happy hour with some awesome co-workers) and was home by 8:00 pm for a shower and in bed by 8:30 pm with a heating pad.  I definitely didn't sleep straight through the night, but mostly a sleep for the next 13 hours.

I finally got out of bed today at around 11:00 am and came down to the couch, where I vowed to stay for the day.  So, I've been here since then... I did some work, went through some emails, spent a little time catching up on what was going on in the world... mostly via Facebook, so not as much "the" world and more "my" world.  I caught up on A LOT of TV that I haven't watched (I'm currently watching The Grammys... yes... I know, that was forever ago).

I grew up Catholic, and although I'm not currently a practicing Catholic because I'm just not sure about the church and it's view on some very hot topics (a post for another time), I would still consider myself Catholic.  It was really hard for me to figure out what I was going to do for Lent this year... last year we gave up meat, and although it was hard to come up with variety in our menu, it was really not something that was all that difficult, and was not a major sacrifice for the 40+ days that are Lent (in case you didn't know, Sundays are not counted in the 40 days).  In the past, I've given up Alcohol, I've given up dessert, I've given up pop... none of those things have ever really been that hard... I guess I'm just not someone who loves any one thing all that much.  I thought about giving up Facebook, but I have to use it for work sometimes, so it's really not practical because I'd still have to be on there sometimes.

So, I decided I would do something to make myself better instead of trying to find something to give up.  I'm currently the heaviest I've ever been at 160 pounds and am totally unhappy with how I feel about myself because I've always been athletic and I've always been in good shape.  I've been running (training for a half marathon), but my hip injury has kept me from running more than a couple of times a week and while I've been able to maintain my 5-6 mile runs, the 10-12 miles a week has NOT done anything for my weight.

My mom mentioned that she wanted to try Weight Watchers and I told her I'd do it with her.  Then I was talking to my friend at work about it and she said she'd do it to, so I signed up today.  I started to look through it and I'm pretty sure I made a horrible mistake.  J's kind of a picky eater (not a bad one, there are just a few things he doesn't like that seem to be in everything), and although he tells me all the time that I need to eat what I want and he will find something else to eat, I like to cook for both of us.  It's hard to cook for one.  Well, I looked at the recipes online and first of all, they are OVERWHELMING... there are so many of them.  Then I was looking at the ingredients and I can't find many things that I think J will like.

Then I started going in and putting in some of our favorite recipes.  I'm screwed...

We have a really great Salmon and Rice dish that is about 200 calories per serving and I'd say it's on our normal rotation of meals... WELL, it's 14 points... FOURTEEN... that's more than half of my daily total!!!  A peanut butter and jelly sandwich... 13 points... for 2 pieces of bread and some peanut butter and jelly.

I was in tears today looking at this... most of the time, I don't have time to make anything more than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to take to work, unless we have leftovers, but I certainly can't "afford" to have salmon and rice for dinner and then have it for lunch again the next day.  Yes... a 6 mile run will give me about 11 points back every time I do it, but right now, my hip won't let me do that more than a couple of times a week.  How in the WORLD do people do Weight Watchers???  I'm already discouraged and I'm on day 1.

OK, we'll I think I've gone on enough for today...

Weekend Alone

J is leaving tomorrow to go to a college reunion for his track/cross country teams. He is going to stay with his sister for the night and they are heading to their alma mater on Friday.

I really wish I could go with him... It's going to be really fun, but alas, I have to work on Sunday so I could. It join him. I plan to do nearly nothing on Saturday, and by nearly, I mean I plan to do some blogging and laying on the couch. So please excuse my lack if recent posts... I will do better!

I Have the Best Valentine ever!

What an awesome husband I have... Look what I got for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm not much for Valentine's Day... never have been.

J and I will be drinking our "1st Valentine's Day" wine that his sister got us for our wedding, and probably watching the season finale of Teen Mom 2.

My dad started with Physical Therapy... not much to tell, but I guess it went well.  I start water therapy in a couple of weeks.

I hope that all of you who do love Valentine's Day are having a wonderful one, and a special shout out to the other "brides" who are also having their first Valentine's Day as husband and wife  :)

The Next Step

I got an email from my Sister-in-Law the other day and she said "you didn't update your blog yet... what's going on with your hip"?  She may be the only one wondering, but here's an update.

The X-Ray didn't show any fractures, but did show some possible impingement.

I had my MRI last week and then my doctor called and said that the MRI didn't show much... some inflammation and some extra fluid in my hip joint bursa sack.  What does this mean?  That there is nothing that can be done "now" to fix my hip... which I'm pretty ok with because "now" would likely mean that I would either have to get an injection in my hip, have surgery or just stop running... none of those are options I wanted.

So, I start Physical Therapy next week.  I am always nervous to start PT because I'm always worried about how the view of the therapist and I will differ.  I am by no means a competitive athlete anymore, but that doesn't mean that I want to be treated like I've never been an athlete.  I would still consider myself "athletic", especially since I think that's something you're born with... or maybe I would compare it to being more like "riding a bike".  Either way, I know how to push myself and I like to.  I also don't want to be that difficult patient that the PT hates.

The only joint related surgery I've ever had was on my knee... I chose my Orthopedic Surgeon because he was the surgeon worked on UT Athletes and the Arena Football team that I was interning with... I chose my doctor in Austin because it was Sports and Family medicine... also the reason I chose my doctor here.  My doctor here sent me to this specific PT clinic because they have an underwater treadmill and she knows I'm trying to train for a Half Marathon... this is why I already love her.

I'm not stressing about it... I just don't know how to ensure I get what I want out of PT and that the therapist understands my goals and my mindset.  I guess I'll know more next week... more to come.

MRI

I got a call from the doctor yesterday and they said that my x-ray did not show any stress fractures, but did show possible signs of impingement which basically means that the hip is not hinging correctly because of wear on the ball and socket joint.

SO, they order went in today for me to have an MRI.  The doctor wanted it done STAT, so I went in this evening to do the MRI.  Hopefully this means that by the end of this week or early next week, I'll have some answers on what the next step should be in my treatment.

I am just not sure what type of therapy can be done to change this feeling... possibly some hip strengthening exercises, but I've been running somewhere between 4-6 miles for over a month now, so it's hard for me to believe my hips are weak.

Maybe this is from all of my years as a catcher on my softball team and the fact that the only other two sports I played (volleyball and basketball) both require prolonged hip flexion.

They sent me home with the CD with my MRI images on it, so maybe that also means that I can schedule a follow up with my doctor fairly soon... more to come!!