A Caramel Apple and Flexeril

Here I sit with a caramel apple and muscle relaxants in my stomach, a heating pad on my neck, my Hazel Rose Loom on my lap, a very demanding cat by my side and wet feet.

You know what is missing from my life? Routine. I have lost my routines and life seems to be just one unexpected thing after another. I have missed so many Tai Chi sessions it is embarrassing, I have missed almost as many walks, blogging has slipped from everyday to every other day (and today I noticed it has been 4 days since I posted anything). There are good reasons for that.

It has been a struggle for a few weeks to keep on top of stuff, but as we approached last weekend, I was looking forward to several days with "my mutts". Dogs are good for reducing stress, right? Little did I know. In the last two weeks, Milo had "become a man" ... testosterone was flowing freely through his system this weekend. As is typical with teenagers, he didn't know how to handle this new "big boy" feeling. He barked at everything, became hyper-vigilant protecting his mama from all the bad guys that prance through my living room, and humped every dog he could get to stand still. And he spent most of the weekend taunting Meathead - a senior citizen - to play with him. The barking, the nipping of the jowls and feet, and the sleep disruptions were more than poor Meaty could tolerate. I think the stress caused Meaty to have alot of seizure-like behavior the whole weekend. Much time was spent keeping the dogs apart and medicating Meathead. When the weekend was over, we were all sleep deprived and felt like disaster survivors. Next weekend should be better. Milo gets those offending little "nuts" cut off, and my son will be in town so his boys will spend most of the weekend in their quiet adult house. My son also needs to get Meaty's seizure meds adjusted so that he can tolerate "life" a bit better.

Today is a rainy Monday, and I had a list five things that I needed to do outside the house. I invited both my husband and my mom to go with me - both declined! (Yeah!!! Some time to myself.) But I woke with a stiff neck so before going out I used a heating pad and took 800 mg of Motrin - just to knock that pain out - so I could enjoy my morning. When I left my neck was still stiff. I tried to ignore it, even adding two more stops to my already busy morning (just for the fun of it I went to Borders and to Joanne Fabrics - and yes, I did get some fun stuff), but as the morning proceeded, my neck was getting worse and expanding into my shoulder. So at my last stop, I picked up some Caramel Apples (I am sure they are good for a stiff neck) and some Shrimp Chowder for lunch. Did you know that the Caramel Apple is the perfect food? Think about it. This fall favorite has an apple which is a fruit, the caramel is a starch, and the nut covering is protein. Perfect and well balanced. And the Shrimp Chowder was yummy too.

And the Flexeril? Well, I had a few pills from 2009 - technically they are over a year old, but they are still good I am sure (hoping). And if the one I took 45 minutes ago doesn't kick in soon, I will be taking another. I need to have full range of motion in my neck to finish my weaving before tomorrow. Priorities, priorities!

Pictured below is my 12" Hazel Rose Loom with a piece of weaving almost finished. On top of it is my 4" Weave-It loom - shown just to give scale. The Hazel Rose Loom is oak wood and stained exactly the same color as my living room furniture. My future orders with them will be of different woods.

Here's hoping that I get my old boring, but routine driven life back. And here's hoping that Flexeril starts to work soon.

Guess I should get my feet out of these wet shoes! Happy Monday all.