Have been busy and enjoying myself. I would say the cortisone jabs are in full swing, I seem to be off painkillers, I tried to come off the muscle relaxants too, but that did not work. I felt the twinges and thought NO I do not want to be in pain, so I am staying on them. Nice not to be popping painkillers ever 4 hours though.
I have backed off my exercise regime a little as I found the swimming was aggravating my back. So have decided to just walk for now. I am walking 5 days a week and doing my land based exercises 6 days a week. Having Sundays off. I find hot baths still really helpful and also taking a few short rests (lying down) during the day helps. Helps not only my back, but to have a 5 min rest and a quick read has been a lovely break in my day mentally too.
I have continued to shed kilos and kilos of STUFF. It is the biggest declutter I have ever done. It is taking soooooo long, but it is refreshing and I am horrified at the stuff I have burdened myself with over the decades. Every single mark on a page by my kids, every single receipt, hundreds of articles and good ideas to read and incorporate into my life (that NEVER ever happened), loads of started but unfinished craft projects and lots of broken things to be repaired. I know that reduce reuse recycle is an important mantra to live by these days, but I admit I just threw it all in the bin, if they haven't been fixed in the last few years the chances are they never will be.
I have to tackle my kids toys, but each time I glance over the play room I just cannot bring myself to go in there and take on that challenge. It is so overwhelming and the arguements we will have over each item is more than enough to put me off. So I am skirting around doing each space and leaving the hard one until the end. I know you are no supposed to do that, but I am.
I am one of those people everyone gives their stuff too. "Lisa will make use of this" they think, so I land up as everyones recycling centre. I do wear their clothes and use their stuff, but I am going to have to get better at saying NO. I have never liked that word, thats my problem, I say yes to everything. Doing stuff and taking stuff and then I feel overwhelmed - hmmmmm! Everyone's generosity has probably saved me thousands of dollars over the years, half my clothes and half our furniture has been given to us. But now is the time for me to say do I LOVE this item. I want to have things I love around me now, I want to feel nurtured by my environment not overwhelmed by it.
No Spend February has been great for us too. I have bought the odd snack for the kids here and there and hired a DVD or two, but really our expenditure this month has been hugely reduced. But the only way to win this consumer battle is to be prepared. I have to bake and pack snacks and drinks in the car every day or I will land up buying something. Our timetable on activities changed this year, so not being stuck out anywhere around a meal time has also halved the amount of McDonalds we will eat. We only had a take out 1 night a week so it was never extravagant, but now we are down to once a fortnight - much better!
Next month is the Real Food Challenge. I used to be the make everything from scratch person, but these days, standing in a kitchen, kneeding, whipping etc tends to set off my back, so I have purchased more and more pre-made items and our diet has deteriorated. Seeing as the medications are helping me to live a "normal" life again, I am going to attempt to ease myself back into having a cooking day, or maybe more sensibly for my pain levels would be 2 mornings a week or something. Lets see how I do next month. I am learning my limits all the time, it is trial and error and as medications change I continue to do the trial and error routine.
Have no idea what the challenge is going to be for April, probably just "sell this house month".
By the time we leave here, all the jobs we meant to do and were on our wish list to make this place really sing would have been done. It will be our dream place and yet we will be selling it. Such a shame. Next time we buy, I am going to get the place painted and a garden helper booked in in the first week, so we will actually reap all the benefits of making our dream place and live it, rather than rush it all at the end and sell having never lived it. I know this is the case for almost everyone, but the next little phase of our lives I would really like to take the things I have learnt and actually PRACTISE them. No there's a concept!
Things like buying a smaller place, and a cheaper place, and having savings and having time to be ill or have a holiday and not have to worry ALL THE TIME.
So happy and pain free and living a "normal"life. As normal as I can make it, because these days I have a NEW kind of normal that I continually adjust to.
I am pain free and so so grateful for this time I am getting. I don't care how long or short it is going to be, I am just enjoying it whilst I can.
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