Body Issues

So I have never been super active, never liked sports. I preferred to be singing or playing a musical instrument. However I think this has also affected how I view exercise. I have always had curves, only those curves now aren't just curves, they are more like overall roundness. I guess in a sense I am unhappy with my body shape.

Don't get me wrong, I am still confident in who I am, I like myself, but I also know myself could be better. I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day and head home to cook dinner and whatnot, exercise isn't on my mind. I did really good at walking for awhile then Moscow got rain for 3 weeks and walking in the rain and cold just isn't fun and now I am having trouble starting up again. The University has a very nice recreation center I could use, but I am intimidated sadly enough. I don't look like the people who use the rec. center. I am not a stick figure. I know this is sad, but it is the truth.

The rheumatic fever has caused me to be tired almost every evening and all I want to do is sleep. I know that my body is still healing and it needs time to be able to do that and that I can't over do activity. I also know that rheumatic fever can cause heart issues. Exercising won't prevent any rheumatic fever heart disease issues unfortunately, but exercise can help strengthen my heart. Exercising could also help the joints as one of the side effects of rheumatic fever is joint pain and stiffness. Now I have been lucky and have been unaffected by the joint pain like I experienced when I was diagnosed, however it has started to come back just a little bit. Exercising won't take away the inflammation that might be in the joints, but hopefully it can help with range of motion.

So I have decided to reactivate my rec. center membership and use my lunch hour to go ride the bicycle. I chose the bicycle, because just gotta start somewhere. I am out of shape, gotta build up. I also chose the bicycle because I can read while riding, and hopefully reading a book will help motivate me.

I am going to try it for awhile and see how I do. I know there are so many benefits to exercise, I have a degree in Sports Science, I KNOW the benefits. But why can't I seem to do it? I want Jason to be happy when he sees me and not see me as a blob ( he hasn't called me a blob, that is how I feel). I want to go shopping and be able to buy clothes that actually look good on, not clothes that cover up my muffin top or saddle bags.

I just want to feel attractive.  So I am asking for help. Help keep me accountable. I am taking a big step and posting a picture of me as I am now. Wait....can't do it. No! I have to, I can't continue to look like this. Here goes......

So the plan is in a couple of months to take another photo and hopefully there will be some progress. Now I just have to push publish.

Family Room

So I have had issues with the family room for quite some time. When we moved into the house, we literally moved into the basement while we worked to make the upstairs livable. After we got the upstairs squared away the family room has just been kind of forgotten about.

I decided to tackle the family room project one weekend and try to make progress on having the room feel friendlier, more comfortable, an improvement from what it was, whatever. I just wanted to do something! It is a long way from being where I want it but I have made some progress....I think. Below are pictures of the what I hope is progress. I have done some more work on it here and there. I will take pictures and post those soon.

Before moving the freezer and luggage

Before moving the bookcases

Freezer in new location-where bookcases used to be

Bookcases where freezer and luggage use to be

 Still have a pile of boxes (seen in the first picture off to the side) that need to be gone through. Most of the stuff needs to go into the garage. But yeah don't get me started on the garage subject  :)  The luggage made it into the closet under the stairs, which yes added to the pile of boxes to be gone through. However there was success, see the empty bins in the new freezer picture, those use to all be FULL!  My craft desk is also mainly full with empty baskets and containers, that is progress right? Don't want to get rid of those containers yet, so they are taking up space, but I will get through those eventually too.

I am making progress, I hope. Still have a long way to go, but eventually I will get there.

Health Update-Take 2

I know it has been a long time since my last post, sorry about that. My last post had me describing the symptoms of what would be diagnosed as Rheumatic Fever. YES! Lucky me, I get something that is rather uncommon in the US anymore due to antibiotics. The frustrating thing is that I would have gone to the doctor if I had been experiencing a cold I couldn't shake or a sore throat since RF is due to the strep virus not being treated but I had no symptoms.

My last blood work to see where the strep nightmare was number wise (ASO titers) showed it at 616 units/mL. That is down from 686 units/mL in April and 742 units/mL in March. Doctor doesn't seem to worried that the numbers aren't going down quickly, the important thing is they are going down. On my end it is frustrating as, those numbers are holding me back on other things.

Oh the other thing I get to do yearly is have an echo cardiogram, pretty much an ultrasound of the heart. RF can cause damage to the heart, so even though the illness itself can be short term it can have long lasting effects. I will admit this kind of excited me as I like seeing how the body works...I LOVED human anatomy in high school and college. However these things aren't cheap, and even with insurance our bill was 4 digits.

I was also told, I get to go to the doctor every time I get a sniffle or sore throat as flare ups can be bad. YIPPEE!!!! Lucky me huh.

Health Update

So my last post had me talking about asthma issues. Well after 10 days of being on a steroid medication to help with that I wasn't seeing much improvement. In fact, I was waking up with joint pain in my ankles almost every morning starting March 5th. The pain would ease usually around 10am, but none the less it was still annoying.

Went to Spokane and met up with my parents while they were in town the weekend of the 8th. Friday night I became rather stiff and sore and Saturday morning I was moving rather slow. However while mom and I had our mother/daughter time (thanks Mommy!) I loosened up and started to feel better. Sunday I was starting to feel like myself again.

I should have known something was up when I was in bed by 9:30 on Monday night. The day went fine, was feeling good. By evening I had no appetite and was exhausted. Tuesday morning I woke up to make breakfast for Jason and I since it is the Bahai Fast and was VERY stiff and sore.

Feeling like I was going to pass out, I made it to a chair to sit down. I came to as I was sliding out of the chair after passing out (have a nice bruise to prove that).  Made it to the sofa and then woke Jason up in the most unpleasant way as I wandered back into the bedroom. "You are on your own for breakfast. I just passed out and am going back to bed." All my joints just ached, in particular my ankles and knees. I was just flat out stiff and movement just hurt.

Went to Quickcare later that afternoon to try and figure out something. Doctors were baffled. Blood work was drawn and then came the wait for the results. All the results said is that I have inflammation somewhere, well duh! Just look at my ankles! Started to feel more like myself on Sunday and the swelling of the ankles has gone done a little bit.

So long story short, they have no idea what caused or is causing the joint swelling and pain. I see a doctor next week. Will post an update when I find out more.

Asthma Issues

Ok, so this is just a rant. I have been having issues with my asthma lately. I don't feel sick, but don't feel 100% either. I have a cough that just won't go away, and mornings tend to be really rough. I didn't even have anything that might have triggered the asthma such as a cold or anything.

So I went to Quickcare twice in less than a week with issues breathing. Last Friday they did a chest x-ray to make sure it wasn't pneumonia. Thankfully it wasn't, but there was some obvious congestion the Doctor said. Thanks....I could have told you that. :)   Anyway, they prescribed another 10 days of a steroid medicine that is suppose to help asthma suffers as well as an antibiotic to kill anything that might be trying to make its home in my lungs. I also am the proud new renter of a nebulizer machine.

This morning was particularly rough, woke up to make breakfast for fast and the chest just hurt, in fact I just hurt all over. Haven't had much of an appetite lately, so makes it hard to want to cook breakfast when you don't want to eat it. I am frustrated in that I feel like the medicine isn't making any difference.

Hopefully I will start to see improvement shortly, not sure what else there is to do. Just wish I would either start to feel 100% or would just get sick and get it over with. What a wish huh?!

Another Wreath

So here is my latest attempt at being crafty. I am really happy with the way it turned out, hopefully it will bring a touch of  summer to the front door. I am very happy with the way the bow turned out. I told you I wasn't crafty as something as easy as a bow always stumped me, hopefully I will be able to replicate the bow success with other material.

Tackling the Junk Drawer

So today I tackled the junk drawer in the kitchen. I was tired of the way the drawer made me feel when I opened it and wanted the ability to find stuff quickly.  It wasn't really that bad, and no I don't have a picture to prove that. as I was too excited to get started and just forgot.

So above is a picture of all the stuff that was in the drawer including all the mismatched containers I had been trying to make work.

Here is the drawer now. Opening the drawer now makes me happy. The writing instrument holder is obviously a silverware tray, but it worked well for this purpose. Now instead of digging for a pencil, pen, or marker they are clearly marked.

The bottom right container has tape, matches and a glue stick. Located in the back are the flashlights we need handy for whatever might come up.

The only thing I am not 100% sure about is the placement of my coupon binder. I will continue to look for a place that might be more reasonable for it.