Day 191 of 365

I have my Richard Simmons DVDs close by. I have workout clothes there, too. Except I haven't taken the DVDs out of the plastic wrap yet. (A lot of good they're doing like that.) I do walk every Tuesday morning before work, but have I stuck to the rest of my exercise plan? Nope.

How about those eating habits? I look at all the changes we've made over the years. All the things I/we used to eat too much of:

• Ice Cream. A container never lasted more than a couple days. Now one could last a month or more.
• Potato Chips. Ditto.
• Dessert for dinner every night. Then leftover dessert for breakfast.
• Containers of chocolate candy at work.
• Halloween candy purchased in September, eaten, re-purchased in October, eaten, then re-purchased at Halloween. Then leftovers eaten within a couple days of Halloween. Then after Halloween, more candy bought on clearance eaten. (We now skip Halloween altogether.)
• Cheese. We love Tillamook brand cheese. The best in the world. We could go through a block a week. Now a block lasts us a month.

Despite all our good changes, in the last couple weeks we've picked up bad habits that we need to back away from. We make zucchini bread, we eat the zucchini bread. Although it's packed fulled of fresh zucchini (about two cups per loaf), it's also packed with sugar. The chips and salsa are just as bad. We make fresh, healthy, good-for-you salsa every single week. Of course, fresh salsa requires some delicious, not so good-for-you tortilla chips (and we've been eating plenty of those).

Gotta stop that, gotta get moving on the exercise.

So today is my last day of being lazy with food and exercise.

Today is also my last sunrise picture for a while. I have no intention of getting up early enough to see the sunrise for quite a while. It's been a long week, a dog-tired week, and the weekend is upon us. Yay! And next week my schedule is such I don't have to be there first thing in the morning.

I'll take it, even if I miss an opportunity for a colorful picture.

Day 190 of 365

"I don't think so" became my mantra today. Most of the times I was thinking it, but once in a while it just slipped out of my mouth.

Where else would an I don't think so day start but at the Pain Clinic. Again as I sat there in the waiting room I listened to interesting conversations. The things some people say out loud is quite amazing. I'm sure the large doses of pain medicine in their systems certainly have something to do with it.

Surprisingly, I was looking forward to this visit to the pain clinic. This would be the time I would finally find out what's up with my back. Finally maybe have a plan to get some relief, a plan to move forward. Yes and no. My new MRI results told the story.  Bulging discs in every single vertebrae scanned. Arthritis in every single vertebrae scanned. And a very severe case of arthritis in two vertebrae.

Options? No long term permanent solutions. No surgeries, but also no long term pain relief. Ever. The only hope is management of pain symptoms. Injections for the rest of my life. I don't think so. Pain medication for the rest of my life. I don't think so. Anti-inflammatory medications - used sparingly and not for more than a few months at a time - might temporarily provide some relief. Okay. Except when he handed me the prescription, he cautioned that the use of this drug will cause an increase in the side effects of my methotrexate (the chemotherapy drug I take for the arthritis). I don't think so, but will visit with the rheumatologist first.

I left that mess behind to stop by and pick up my new glasses. I'd been having terrible headaches at school being on the computer all day so a new prescription will fit the bill. I picked up my $320 glasses (that's with insurance), but they were missing the sunglasses piece. Every time I've gotten new glasses for the last 15 years or so, I get the kind that have a magnetic clip-on sunglasses piece. It just so happens the lady helping me pick out glasses a couple weeks back forgot to mention these new ones didn't come with the sunglasses piece. If I want to switch to a pair that does have the magnetic clip-on, I could pay $120 more. I don't think so. But, if I want to get a prescription pair of sunglasses, they'll give me a 50% discount. I don't think so. Or I could pay extra and get transitions, but they won't be as dark as I'm used to. I don't think so. Or I could pay extra and buy a clip-on piece that sort of fits. I don't think so.

I've seen older ladies wear sunglasses that fit over their regular glasses so I went on a search for those. First store, no luck. I found them at the second store. Twenty bucks worth, but if they work I'm willing to pay. I tried two different styles of those big wraparound glasses on. I don't think so became I really don't think so.

Scrap that idea. So I decided to stop and get something to drink for the ride home. In the drive through of Carl's Jr. I was sitting in line, minding my own business, patiently waiting for my turn at the speaker. The gal in the big SUV in front of me wasn't nearly as patient. She started backing up, which made me start backing up. But I guess I didn't back up fast enough because she backed into me. And then she took off. No stopping, no checking, just sped off out of the line. I don't think so! I got her plate number and checked my front bumper. No damage other than a bent license plate.

At that point, getting home was all I wanted to do. I think I just might need a nap.

The best part of the day? Sunrise, of course.