Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Mothers Day

I love my Mom.  Well really, who doesn't love their Mom?  And for that matter, who doesn't love MY Mom?  She's such a character.  While both of my parents had a wicked sense of humor, I think my own brand of humor is more like my Moms.  Particularly our tendency towards self-deprecating jokes.  And she's just as quick witted at 88 as she ever was.  When I look in the mirror, I don't see much of her, but when I look inside myself, she's right there.  We've all uttered those famous words "oh my God, I sound just like my mother", but in my case, it's happening more and more with each passing day.  I know my Mom wasn't a saint (she reminds me all the time), but I choose to remember all the good and put anything unpleasant in the distant past.  Growing up the baby in the family, I was the lucky one.  I had my mom all to myself for almost 10 years, so I think we share a tighter bond than she does with my brother or sister.  I know that was not a conscious choice on any one's part, but simply the way our lives played out.

As one would expect, now that she's almost 89 years old, her health has deteriorated.  But, how many 88 year olds do you know who still live in their own home, drive their own car, and cook their own meals?  Did I mention how stubborn she is?  She did finally agree not to drive outside of Burlingame, but I think that had more to do with the reliability of her car than anything.  

Anyone that knows my mom very well knows one thing.  She has an aversion to staying on her feet.  I can't count the number of times she's fallen.  Shoot, even when she was younger she broke her foot a number of times.  She likes to say she's a klutz.  I would never say that.  I might say she's gravity challenged.  If you were at Erin's wedding, you might have seen this first hand.  

The day before yesterday, I got a phone call from Mom's cleaning lady, Pam,  telling me she had fallen at the Senior Center.  The wonderful Burlingame Rescue Squad checked her out, and suggested she go to the emergency room.  Remember that stubborn streak?  She had Pam take her home.  Another friend joined them and helped get her situated at home until I could get there.  When I arrived, I could see a few bruises and some cuts on her face.  It seems she tripped over a brick on the edge of the sidewalk and landed face first.  Within an hour or two, the bruising and swelling had worsened, and she was starting to look like she'd lost a fight with Muhammad Ali.  The fall broke her glasses, and judging by the cement skid marks on the lens, it's a good thing she was wearing them.   After experiencing several dizzy spells, she finally conceded to going to see her Dr. the next day.  Not surprisingly, the Dr. said they were the result of a concussion.  I also took her to her Eye Dr. and got new glasses ordered.  By the time we got all our running around done, she was exhausted.  This morning she reported to me that she slept well last night (no doubt helped out by the pain meds the Dr. prescribed) and was feeling much better.  Maybe, just maybe now, she'll start using that cane we bought a couple of years ago.  Oh who am I kidding?  I know she's going to recover just fine from this little mishap, but when I let myself think about how differently things could have turned out, it scares me to death.  I've only had my momma for 53 years, and I'm not done with her yet! 



at Erin's Bridal Shower 2005


Saturday, January 5, 2013

Same Song, 1,586th Verse....

I got a wild hair when I woke up this morning and thought "maybe I'll try to exercise today".  Sooo, I went to the basement to get clean clothes, but first I did a load of laundry and dug through several baskets of clothes to find something comfy to workout in.  Then I took one basket full of clothes upstairs, and proceeded to fold and put away those clothes.  By the time I was dressed and ready to exercise, I felt like I'd already put in a 30 minute workout.  Such is the life of this overweight blogger.  

On the advice of my diabetes center nurse, I purchased a Leslie Sansone walking DVD about a year and a half ago.  I've probably played it 3 or 4 times (including today) and actually walked to it a couple of time.  I've found the problem with these types of walking programs is they assume you are in reasonably good shape when you start.  The "beginner" program on this particular DVD is a brisk one mile walk.  Well they may not call it brisk, but I sure do.  Even I know it's not a good idea to go from barely walking around your house and office to walking a mile at one time.  I couldn't even make it through the dang warm up people!  So while Leslie and her followers enjoyed their lovely little one mile jaunt, I sat down and googled "beginning exercise programs for the morbidly obese".  Once I sifted through all the ads for exercise equipment I can't afford and won't use I actually found something useful.  A suggestion to start out walking 10 minutes at a time, 3 times a week.  After 2 weeks, increase the walking time by 10% each week until I'm walking 30 minutes at a time.  By my calculations, that will have me walking for 30 minutes by early April.  That seems awfully gradual to me, but maybe doing it this way will prevent injuries, burnout, and all the other things that seem to get in my way.  And, if I choose (no pressure here) to improve my eating habits along the way, even better. 

AND, just because this comes at the beginning of the year, do not assume this is a resolution.  New Year's Resolutions are made to be broken.  At least in my world they are. 

Ok Barb, no more procrastinating.  Time to hit the living room for 10 minutes of agony.  Just as soon as I make a play list....

Wish me luck!!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Getting Off On The Right Foot

Happy New Year! I just love New Years Day, after all, it offers so much hope! It can be a new beginning for anyone who feels the need for one. AND, it's the one day of the year that I can honestly say I've blogged everyday this year!

Last night (ok early this morning) when Greg woke from his "nap" (normally from 8:00 or 9:00 pm to 2:00 or 3:00 am) I was still awake. What? It was New Year's Eve -- I couldn't go to bed early, now could I? So back to the story, Greg asked me if I was going to go with him to feed cattle this morning. Now this does not happen very often. Had he said something like "you're going to go with me to feed cattle in the morning" I probably would have raised my stubborn head and refused. But since he asked, nicely I might add, I thought why not? Well aside from the fact that it meant I only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep, why not? So about the time he headed outside to do whatever it is he does before he starts feeding (start the truck, start a fire in the shop, feed the animals? I'm just guessing here) I got up and threw on far too many clothes for a menopausal woman to be wearing inside a wood heated home and gleefully ran out into the snow to cool off. And guess what? It was BEAUTIFUL outside! Really, is there anything more serene than fresh snow? I immediately knew this little field trip was going to be camera worthy.

My first challenge was getting a self portrait of myself to post on facebook as a teaser for this post. I see adorable self portraits on fb all the time -- cute young girls posting cute pictures left and right. Not this girl! I'm sure my phone didn't help matters -- you can't see what you're doing with the camera pointed at yourself, so there were numerous failures before I finally gave up and said screw it.










We fed the calves at home first, and then Greg chopped ice in what little water is left in our frozen pond.
waiting patiently

you've heard of coming from the other side of the tracks.... well we've got the bad boys from the other side of the fence!

gotta get the snow out first

Lucy doesn't let her daddy get out of her sight!

corn -- it's what's for breakfast!

gotta make sure they can get to the water
 
 
 
 
Next up, cows and calves, part 1. Truly, there is something so special about driving through the timber after a snowfall. It takes my breath away.
so peaceful
 
 New Year's Babies!!!
 

 chopping more ice


he doesn't go anywhere without that ax!
 


Then across the road to the other bunch of cows and calves. And look what we found -- a brand new baby. I got a chance to see Greg's tender side, if you will, as he made sure this new baby who was born in a snow drift had fresh hay to lay in. Just wish I a picture of him picking that sweet baby up and laying him in the hay.
gotta look closely to see the baby 

needed some bedding
 
 Here ya go little guy
 
 looks good to Greg
 
 looks good to Mom
 
 aaaaand not so fast...maybe I don't wanna lay down!
 
an hour old and already has a mind of it's own!
 
 
Break time -- while getting another bale of hay, neighbors Phil and Mike happened by and stopped to visit. No pics of the bull shit session necessary.


Next thing I know, Greg says to me " you ready to load some wood?" Excuse me? I didn't sign up for physical labor this morning -- I thought this was a guided tour of our winter wonderland! How could I forget he stops and saws a load of wood every morning while he's out feeding? Sneaky, that husband of mine is. Turns out he only sawed a little bit -- enough to keep the shop warm all day he says. And a little exercise never hurt anyone. In fact, I can now check off that resolution to exercise more this year.  Fine, that wasn't a resolution, but it sounded good.
Lucy lives for this stuff!  She's such a good girl
 
check out that action shot!
 
Not bad for about 15 minutes work
 
 
Once we had this wood loaded, we headed home. While dressed so warmly, I considered staying outside and enjoying the fresh air for a bit longer. But then the urge to pee hit, and with that many clothes on, I had no choice but to start stripping as quickly as possible. Another unfortunate side effect of menopause I guess. Of course once the layers of clothes were gone, the moment was gone as well. Oh well, I needed to get these pictures downloaded and this post written anyway. Guess I'll just open the blinds and enjoy to snow from afar once again.