Short and Sweet

I know I promised a lengthy update, but I have RA and I woke up in the night with a flare. I am in bad shape right now, pain really bad. My hands are killing me, but I want to let you know what's going on.

First last weekend, I got bit/stung by this huge black bee. 3 weeks ago I had a run in with a nest of bald faced wasps...and a few weeks before that I was stung/bit by a yellow jacket. I tell ya, I must look like something bees don't like. But each time my reaction has worsened. With this last one, my whole arm swelled up from the wrist to past the elbow (I was stung midway between). It hurt and itched and was real red and hot. Then about 4 days later it turned a lovely shade of purple. It's all cleared up now, but I hope I can make it the rest of the year without getting stung again.

As for my job, it's fabulous, but we have a dress code and evidently I'm having a difficult time following it...at least according to a woman that works there. I even went home one day and changed. She is relentless. Friday I got called to the Principal's office and finally got the low down. I guess this woman used to be in charge a few years back and she is having trouble giving up control. So with me being the new girl, she feels inclined to pick on me. Her emails are real passive aggressive. I told my principal that I'm not going through this again and he is behind me 150%. He said the next email I get, I am to forward it to him. Then he will go tell her a thing or two and also to leave me alone. Finally, someone on my side. He said he has seen me everyday and I am dressing fine, better then some of the others that have been there for years.

Also, apparently the honeymoon is over with my students. I have a few that are acting up and testing the boundaries. I didn't want to be a bad guy because that is what they deal with all day long. But I think with a few, that's all they understand, so last week when one had pushed to far, I went and got the guard and had him escorted out of my class. The rest of them then saw that I mean business and won't tolerate being disrespected like that or having someone distract the class and inhibit their learning. Their behavior did a 180. The one student that was involved in the gang mob years ago gave me a smile and thumbs up. He also stayed after class and said that I'm doing a good job, that he likes the way I treat them and that the guy I tossed is a jerk. He then went on to tell me that it was his birthday and that he was going to be giving his mom a gift. He had made a beautiful cutting board for her. I went over and had the teacher show me his and it was amazing. I went back and told him that I was impressed. That those kinds of boards sell for a small fortune in upscale kitchen supply stores. You could see the pride all over his face. He was smiling like the Cheshire Cat. He said he didn't know he could do something like that having never had the chance before. I told him he could get into wood working when he got out and make a pretty good living at it. He said he'd like that. 

Now about the challenge. I worked out 3 of the 5 days last week. I got that awful headache that prevented me from doing one of the days. I haven't "worked out" this weekend, but I worked for 5 hours in my garden/yard yesterday (maybe that's why I hurt so much) and don't feel like doing much today. But I still managed to lose 3 pounds! I'm eating veggies out of my garden. It is doing so good, I haven't had a year like this in a very long time. My husband went fishing last week and we had fresh trout one night. I will continue to do what I'm doing and hopefully the pain will slack off in a few days and I can get back to working out.

I also plan to go to an endocrinologist soon to have all my levels checked. I had a growth on my thyroid removed back in 95 and I also had to quit taking my hormones because it's been 5 years and now my hot flashes are back with a vengeance. This doctor was recommended by a friend and helped her a lot. He uses all natural stuff and has a compound pharmacy right there, so I hope to get in soon.

And that's about all I can typr right now. I will post again when I feel better.
Have a good week everybody!

Squirrel

The Pish Posh Challenge

I feel like I have made some major improvements in all areas of my life. But I, like others don't view this as a 10-12 week change. I want it to be for the rest of my life. I will continue to eat healthy and exercise 5-6 days a week. I will continue to get stronger not only physically, but emotionally. I will continue to do everything I can to get out of debt. I want to get my life organized and less chaotic. I am currently spending a lot of time outdoors weeding and building planting boxes and getting ready to put in my garden next week. I can't wait. I absolutely love this time of year. From now until the fall. I will be outside everyday working until I can't take the pain anymore. Then I will have fresh produce to eat everyday. My husband helped me expand the garden area last weekend so that I can plant a bunch more. I always have a lot during the season, but not a lot of extra. I want to be able to can, freeze and dehydrate as much as possible. I am still reeling from the job evaluation I got 4 weeks ago, but I am getting over it and trying to move on. During those first few days, i had zero motivation. I didn't give a crap about anything. I just laid around and didn't do a damn thing. I was eating all wrong, I wasn't working out, I just didn't give a shit. But I had to stop feeling sorry for myself before i undid everything I had worked so hard for. Plus I realized I was giving her power and I needed to take it back. I go in for an interview and tour of the facility next week. I found out today that it's a maximum security prison for teens. That gives me pause. I thought it was just a juvenile detention center. They say I shouldn't ever be in any danger, but it still seems scary. I have lost 15 pounds all together and 3 sizes. I know that with me working in the yard more and working out, I will continue to lose and get in even better shape. As the garden produces I will eat fresh organic veggies almost exclusively. My goal is,to continue to grow and change and become the person I was meant to be. I'm going to be 55 this year and I want the rest of my life to be happy, relaxed, sweet, meaningful, productive and worthwhile. I have met some awesome people as a part of this challenge and think of them as friends, very close friends. I am so happy I began this challenge. You are all blessings in my life.

Pish Posh Challenge

I have just been off my game lately. This job mess has me all twisted up. I can't sleep, can't focus, I had a world class panic attack today even though the doc has me on Xanex all day. So I decided to do something proactive. I started asking other people I work with to write me a letter of recommendation. That way when the other shoe drops, I'll be ready to go looking. I've also decided that if "she" stays, I'm not going back. There is no way I will get a fair shake from here out anyway. So I guess my biggest challenge for the next couple of weeks is to be able to hang in there without having a full blown melt down. I need to get back to working out when I get home from work. I did it over the weekend along with the hours of yardwork. But with all that's going on, by the time I get home I am toast. The good news is, I'm hardly eating and when I do it's usually something healthy and light. My stomach has had issues lately. It's what happens when I get stressed. I have the opposite problem Pish has.

Pish Posh Challenge

Well, these past weeks pretty much kicked my ass and took no prisoners. I sucked at the challenge for 2 weeks. It was actually all I could do just to get out of bed in the morning and put one foot in front of the other. I think I only worked out once the whole time. I put on 3 pounds, which makes me mad, because I was making some headway. But these last couple of days, I have felt a little better, more energy, lighter etc. Today I spent 3 hours cleaning up my garden area. It hasn't been trimmed or attended to since last fall. You should have seen how long some of the roots were I pulled on. Amazing! But then after that I came in and worked out for another 45 minutes. It wasn't too bad. I don't think I lost a lot of my strength or endurance. It makes me mad how I could be just doing fabulous, things looking up and then WHAM! 6 pegs down and feeling hopeless. I have a doctor's appointment on Monday and I am going to talk to her about how easy it was for my mood to tank. Does that mean I wasn't doing as well as I thought? Or was it just the series of events? In any case, I need to find out, because I can't hit that bottom again...it was bad this time. Anyway, I'm back with new determination and goals. Only 4 more weeks of work and then we go to break. I'll be busy with my son's wedding, my garden and some relaxation etc. I also will do some soul searching to try to figure out what I want to do with my life. I need to change some things, just need to decide in what way I will. So for the next few weeks, I am going to work out as much as possible, get more done in preparation for planting the yard and garden. I will eat well, get rest and just hang on. We are going to Portland for Mother's Day weekend, so I have that to look forward to.