Walking into a new year...

Happy New Year!  I hope this new calendar year is starting out well for everyone.  While I haven't been posting here, I have been staying busy and thinking about being here.  (this post is a bit of a catch-up and is a bit long, sorry!)


The Sunday before Christmas I received a call from my mum letting me know that her best friend (for over 40 years) -she's also her next door neighbor- had lost her son.  He was found dead that morning by his girlfriend.  There were no signs of a struggle or foul play so it must have been a medical issue.  It was such a shock, so unexpected and of course devastating for his mum and sister, as well as the rest of the family.  I've known him most of my life.  He was only 45 years old.  Needless to say, my mum was there for her friend and stayed with her over night several nights.  She and I spent Tuesday cooking to feed her friend's very large family after the Wednesday service.  Wednesday was the service, helping to serve and clean up behind the over 30 family members that tucked into her small townhome to visit and support her, then starting the cooking for our family Christmas Eve dinner.  Thursday I was at my mum's early in the day and spent it getting the rest of the food and everything ready for our meal.  We had a nice visit and exchanged gifts and I came home and basically crashed.

On Friday, when I woke up, I couldn't stand on my legs.  They just collapsed under me.  Three days of being on them for 18+ hours took it's toll.  

The weather was exceptionally warm the last two weeks of December and we had tons of rain.  I managed to get back to walking after that crazy week and have been keeping up with it.  

New Year's Eve my friend came over with her oldest daughter and her two youngest children for a nice long visit.  Then on New Year's Day I ended up feeding my mum, my brother and SiL and my mum's best friend.  I had already planned to cook and knew my mum was coming but the other three were last minute surprises.  Luckily I had enough to feed everyone.  We had ham, blackeyed peas (I found the dime!), red beans & rice, collards (from my little garden) and cornbread.  

I went for my latest endo appointment last week and the first thing the doctor said when he walked in the room is: "Are you trying to get rid of me?"  Turns out my A1c was exceptional (5.5) and I'd lost 30lbs since I started seeing him a year earlier.  That sure put a smile on my face.  It also encourages me to keep walking!

Yesterday's blood sugar after running errands in the cold.  

Yes, the cold finally arrived this weekend and while I'm so glad it is here, it makes getting outside for walks difficult.  Sunday was the last Steelers regular season game and also the day my extended family and my mum settled on for them to come see us.  Luckily, the game was televised locally or my brother and I would have missed seeing our uncle and cousins.  It was a nice visit, although I don't really know why we bother sometimes since most everyone had their eyes glued to their phones or ipads.  Even the little one (2yrs old) spent most of it with her face glued to some sort of you tube videos.  Yes, I'll admit I was a bit distracted by the game, but I tried to engage in conversation.  Oh well...our family dynamic has changed and it is something I have to accept.

The good news is the Steelers won, the Jets lost and we made the playoffs!!  :-)

With the arrival of the extreme temperature drop, I realized that some days there would be no walking outdoors.  Yesterday I checked out a few nearby fitness centers and settled on one.

 I went today for the first time (since it was 28 degrees out at 10am) and did my 3 mile walk on the treadmill.  I also did about 5 minutes on some weird machine that sort of glides?  I don't remember what it was called but it was interesting and challenging. (It worked muscles differently than walking)  I don't know how often I'll go to the Y to work out.  I mostly just want to walk outside, but the Y gives me the option to swim, lift weights, take classes and do all kinds of other things.  We'll see how it goes...

I think I mentioned last time I was here that I decided to sign up for the Creative Everyday challenge.  I like that pretty much anything can count.  I can't always spend the day painting or whatever, but I can still meet my goal.  I can take photos, knit, crochet, cook, bake, draw, paint...anything really.  

That's just what I've been doing too, knitting on Scoreboard (I'm on game 13 of 17), working on my crazy crochet blanket and drawing in my sketch pad.  I've issued myself a challenge to do a face a day.  I've been posting them on my instagram account as I complete them.

 Day 1.

 Day 2.

 Day 3.

 Day 4.

I'm having fun, keeping myself busy.  I've also spent some time catching-up on my blog reading.  

I think that's enough for now.  Sorry for the overload.  Sometimes I'm just not able to sensor.  :-)

Are you enjoying the new year?  What's the weather like where you are?

Thanks for stopping by!
love & blessings
~*~