Spring Break Plans: House Projects & Fun

We're officially on Spring Break and since we aren't traveling I decided we need to make the most of it in two ways: we need to get some house projects done while we are all three at home and second we need to make sure our kiddo has some fun. Last Friday I sat down with a "plan your week" printout and started planning.

When we first closed on our house about 18 months ago we were hard charging to get things done. We ripped out the pond/planter in the kitchen and got the floors replaced, painted the walls, hung a chandelier and replaced the flooring in the office/laundry room, painted the downstairs bedrooms, replaced all the lightbulbs in the house with energy efficient ones...and then the holidays came and the week after that my foot accident. Screech went the brakes.

Then we moved into the house because is was so much easier for me to maneuver around in on crutches. And then we went into survival mode until summer while I hobbled, worked full time and we found ourselves incredibly busy. Now here we are months later and this house has just never gotten organized like it should have with a proper move in. It's just been survival mode and disorganized and I can't take it.

Now unfortunately the rest of the family has developed some bad habits about not putting things away and things not having a proper home and it's going to be crazy hard to create new habits now. But it has to be done for everyone's sanity, most importantly mine. So not only do we need to reorganize the entire house but we really need everyone to commit to keeping it that way. This is going to be a real challenge.

So I came up with a plan for Spring Break week where we'll do a project in the morning and then we'll go have fun in the afternoon. This way there is some earning and ownership of work in the mornings and then we have something to look forward to and relax doing in the afternoon. Hopefully I'll get buy in from the family. I called a Family Meeting on Friday night to have a conversation about how things got to where they are, what we can and need to do and how we can accomplish this during our Spring Break week. Hopefully this is going to get everyone on board for the duration of the week.

I was really committed to starting at the front door and working our way through the house but the more I think about it the more I think we need go start in the garage and work our way through the house from that direction instead. That way we'll have available storage for things we need to move out of the house in the garage. The Man has been working out there from time to time going through boxes and such and I have a feeling there are a ton of half empty or empty boxes that we just need to get out of there or finish cleaning out.

I think we are all ready to get rid of more stuff. I anticipate we'll have a big load for the thrift store this week. It will be great to get the garage in better shape and then move on to the house. I am learning that at times things are much easier to accomplish than expected and sometimes they are much harder. I'm not sure which the garage will be but fingers crossed things are in better shape out there than any of us expect and we'll be able to make some big progress quickly.

We need space in the garage for all the home improvement tools and products that are now set up in our family room. It was great when we were working on the house daily in the winter, but I don't think we need it in the house anymore. It could all be arranged nicely in the garage and we need to reclaim that space in the family room desperately. The Man continues to complain that there is no storage in this house, but in reality we just aren't using any of it to its proper use. We actually have a lot of space it's just not being used well.

I've come to realize what seemed like a very big family room really isn't and it has a terrible walking path from the sliding glass doors at the front of the house that leads right through the middle of the room at a weird angle that makes it almost impossible to place furniture in any reasonable manner in that room. Whomever designed this house really blew it in a few places.

This may sound a little crazy, but I smudged our house with white sage and lavender and gave the house a prayer/blessing. I thought I would hate the smell of the smoke in the house but I didn't mind it at all and it didn't linger or bother anyone else. In fact the family seemed to like It. Ideally you smudge after you've decluttered but I think we needed a little energy burst to get us going again and then I'll do it again sometime soon.

I do feel like the house needs a energy cleansing and fresh start. Whatever it takes. Especially after our neighbor made the mistake of telling The Man that both the previous homeowners died in this house. Fresh start, clean energy for them and for us. I bought the sage a few weeks ago and it had just been sitting on the counter until I studied up and decided to try it. I asked the family if they felt the energy in the house was a little lighter and we all felt it was a strong "maybe." We'll see what happens.

Anyway I digress. So the plan is the cleanse the house in body and soul and have some fun this week adventuring around to more local museums and attractions. Hopefully by the end of Spring Break we'll have a very happily organized house and we'll have had a lot of good adventures too. Fingers crossed!

*Late-breaking update. Okay so our first day of Spring Break went pretty well, despite some crying and me telling a little person I needed to take her to the ER if her legs suddenly weren't working when we headed out to start working. Amazingly they were fine before and all day afterwards including for some pretty hard core play with neighbor boys most of the afternoon. Thankfully 5 minutes with ice on the knees solved that problem and make the work seem much less horrible. To be honest it was little bit of cat wrangling to keep everyone on point but we filled out recycling bin that will go out this morning and my little car is packed up ready for a thrift store drop-off. Everyone contributed and let go of some things too. That is a success. Our garage is a little cleaner. Yay!

I may have secretly odios-ed a few 90s clothing items that I didn't say anything about to the owner. I generally don't believe in doing this but at some point enough is enough and the emotional attachment to hideous old clothing is tooooo strong. If it's been in boxes since for over a decade I think we're done. The comedic highlight of this was when he donned a 90s tee shirt and some of those multi-colored body-builder muscle/workout pants guys wore in the late 80s. To make his point he even wore that outfit around the house for a few hours. Oh my gosh. Kiddo and I laughed so hard. I still can't stop laughing at the thought. I've told him I need to make him a quilt from those because he's obviously very attached! Scary.

I tried to keep the project at two hours but with all the dramatics and cat chasing it lasted more like three hours, but I was happy to shut it all down at a reasonable point. I had to pull everyone off the job and stop the work, which I think was good. I really like stopping BEFORE everyone was exhausted, worn out and cranky. Tomorrow I will try taking some music out with us.

I think we're going to do another day in the garage since we're all in a groove with it and it still needs a lot of work and we're kind of on a roll about what needs to happen in there. Wouldn't it be crazy amazing if we could someday park two cars in there. Wow.

Things We Can And Can't Deal With

The other day I was going through a temporary but frequently repeated experience that I really was not enjoying. Because it was an experience that I have to go through somewhat frequently, the thought came to me, I cannot live the rest of my life like this. I can't deal with this forever!

When we are in the midst of unpleasant experiences it does feel like they are taking over our entire lives and that we will break to pieces if you have to live like that all the time. But this thought came to me that completely changed how I was feeling and my thinking. I realized that this unpleasant experience never lasts more than two hours often it is only 30 minutes or so. So that's not nearly my entire life or an entire day. It's a pretty short time and I get through it every time. On a bad day it's not even 1/12 of my 24 hour day.

Then I started thinking about what fills the other 22-24 hours of the day that aren't affected by this situation. I started counting the blessings I do have in those hours and the things I gladly deal with -- that I love and are deeply meaningful. I thought about the day before when I got to spend a leisurely afternoon alone with The Man and how peaceful and relaxing and restorative it was to just be with him, enjoy the outdoors and relax. It was like medicine for my soul! I CAN deal with that and want more and more of those moments.

I thought about the wonderful, sweet, bonding moments I've had hanging out with The Bug the last week and how nice it is to snuggle up to watch a movie, read books and be still together...or to talk lots and laugh and workout together. Sweet, sweet moments, especially when it feels like she is suddenly growing up faster than ever. I CAN deal with more of those moments with her, many, many more.

I thought about sipping my favorite hot cocoa and nibbling toast. In a few weeks it's going to be way too hot to sip cocoa and I will miss the comfort and coziness of those quiet times and needing to warm up. I would gladly take more of that cozy, warm, chocolate-ness. I CAN deal with making the absolute most out of those moments.

I thought about how much I am enjoying workouts and hours at the gym and how motivated I am for progress with my fitness and the recovery of my foot. It's painful, but I'm enjoying pushing through and reaching for goals. That's another thing I CAN deal with in my life right now.

I have a lot of projects that I'm working on and am excited about right now. I am deeply interested in them, enjoying progress and I CAN deal with that. Inspiration and motivation to create are such a big part of who I am and what get me really excited. More good things in my life.

I am really passionate about getting our back patio furnished for entertaining and family enjoyment this summer. That's another thing I don't mind dealing with one bit. Inspiration boards, checking lots of online resources and budgeting out options in my free time is another project I CAN deal with in my life right now and that I am having fun with.

So, while in those few moments of misery when I thought I just can't take this anymore, it struck me that I need to not think in those short periods that the unpleasantness is my entire life! I realized I have so much more in my life that I CAN take, that I do love and that is wonderful and delicious to my soul. That realization really helped me to turn around my attitude about the small, unpleasant moments of life. They truly are just a bit of time and we do get through them over and over again. But they aren't our entire life and we don't have to let them feel like they own our entire life or our happiness.

When I started seeing things in this new light, suddenly being in the midst of an unpleasant experience didn't matter so much because I knew it would end and it would end soon. I saw that I have all those other lovely things to be excited about. Now, the next time I have to endure an unpleasant experience, I hope I'll be able to remember that it will be just for a short time and it isn't my entire life. It's a few minutes of a day with many more minutes still available to enjoy with loved ones and doing things I love.

So next time I'll remember I can deal with those unpleasant experiences and they don't have to color so much of my world and I'll try to focus on all the great things about life, about my life. Good life lesson that will serve me well.

Emotional Goodbyes To Stuff

As I continue to declutter and simplify our home life I am finding some challenging goodbyes necessary. These separations are making for some serious consideration and decision making. I was inspired yesterday by this Instagram post by Clean House With Kids. Tricia says, "...best tip for keeping the kids' room neat? Get rid of stuff. Keep the things you and the kids really love."

The other day I was looking at a gift given to me by a friend years ago. It is sweet, charming and inspiring in intent, but honestly it is attached to some really bad, stressful memories and every time I look at it, it makes me feel stressed and brings back memories I don't really want to be reliving every time I look at it. So I decided to give it to the thrift store with a kiss and gratitude to honor the gift from my dear friend.

I also have a lucky penny a friend gave me over 10 years ago. I'm not sure how lucky that penny was or is, but I'm just not feeling an attachment to it anymore. It feels so attached to the past. Maybe I could spend it on something that makes me happy instead of having it in a little frame in my office. I like that idea and I think it honors the love in which it was given and in which it was received.

I found an old gratitude journal that is only half filled. It was a great thing at the time I was using it, a place of peace and comfort, but now when I look at it I feel stressed. Looking through the journal it's a bit of a history of hard times and things that didn't work out, embarrassing situations and hopes I had that did not come to fruition. I want to let that go too and I'm going to.

I would never give away a real, historical journal, but this is more wishes and dreams and I am ready to let the ancient past be just that. I have enough embarrassing journals to cover the time period...ha. I could cut out the junk pages and continue to use it, but it's the cover and the pages and the whole book that bothers me so holding on to it out of obligation to use the last of the paper seems odd. Maybe I can cut it out and use it for scratch paper. I use a lot of scratch paper.

I also have a rock collection that I'm wondering about the true value of. They were meaningful to me once upon a time sometimes because of the giver of the rock and other times because of the lessons I learned from studying them, but now I feel like I'm holding on to them out of some sense of obligation. I think it's time for them to go.

I have so many little trinkets and treasures that meant something once upon a time that now just feel obligatory and I feel guilty getting rid of them and I shouldn't. I don't need to keep everything that I've ever owned or that once meant something to me. It seems that I am entering a place of deeper cleansing both in body and life.

Physically I have been feeling much better the past two months than I had for quite a few months before that. I might credit that to continued heeling of my foot, the surgery I had in early February, a change in nutritional supplements and even perhaps an adjustment of my stress levels or letting go of some situations I have no control over. Doing more self-care and taking more time to do things I enjoy since Christmas probably has some impact on that as well.

As I progress to a more healthy physical state, I feel a companion drive to have my environment in a better state as well. I realize more and more how far behind my life fell in so many ways while I was "cast-bound" last year and in the still continuing recovery as well as the stress and magnitude of our 2015 move. We are still catching up with all the things that has to be put aside so that we could just get through the days and keep the family functioning.

I continued to function as an amazingly high rate of speed for the situation but in the long run, the toll that took on me and our family is still being felt. Had I taken things easier, I would probably be in a much better situation now, but I didn't have a lot of options a the time.

One of the things that we are so suffering from still is feeling and being settled in this house. There is still so much to do to really get it in a place where we will feel like we're really here, living here and feeling "at home". One of the things that I am feeling the impact of right now is the deep need to reorient my life to our new home, city, etc. There are things to let go of from our old life and I want to simplify life here so much so that we can just enjoy life rather than always feeling like we're trying to manage belongings, schedules and work.

Saying goodbye to things I don't really love anymore feels like an important step right now. That crosses over into so many facets. We have so many towels that are in crummy shape but totally still usable. We also have new towels. We don't need THAT many towels. Some need to go and we need to finally get our bathrooms and cupboards organized in a better way that works for us where everyone knows where to go to find things and where to put things away.

For this week I am going to start saying goodbye to things I don't really need or love anymore. I am ready to do that and ready to have a new, refreshed life, less encumbered with things I don't love. Hopefully that will catch on with my family and they will feel freed to give up some things too. I think it's time.

Tips & What To Expect With Same Day Surgery

I mentioned that I had same day surgery this week. While it's all fresh in my mind, I thought it would be a great time to share some tips and experience for others who may be going through it for the first time or again. This is my third same day surgery and you do forget a bit what it's like. The first one felt very easy, the second was quite difficult and this one was somewhere in the middle.

Here are a few suggestion to prepare you for the surgery:

1) Find the right person to take you there and bring you home. Make sure it's someone who is comforting, attentive and makes you feel peaceful. Some loved ones, while willing, may be anxious and their anxiousness may make it worse for you. Find the person who most helps you because it will be a hard day for you. Something I learned when I was still a kid and had a concussion, don't have people or noise around you that make you feel more anxious, stressed or sick! 

Another important note: make sure they are free all day just in case surgery is delayed or you have complications. When I went in for my second procedure a few years ago, they told me it would be about 2 1/2 surgery time and my expectation was that I would be home by noon. I didn't get home until 6 p.m. and my friend who took me was there for a very long day waiting for me. I was so out of it for so long that I had no idea if she knew what was going on all that time, etc. and we had to make some emergency plans to pick up Kiddo at school and have someone available who could watch her into the evening. Prepare for all possible contingencies including that you might end up staying the night in the hospital.

2) Share what's happening with a couple of good friends. I am pretty hush, hush about this kind of stuff, but I've learned as I've gotten older that it's good to let people know what is going on. They can help and will offer and you should let them. When a friend's husband asked what we were doing this week, I realized and mentioned that I had totally forgotten I was having surgery. The next day his wife contacted me and asked if they could bring dinner.

Another friend offered to take me to the surgery if I wanted her to (see #1!). So nice of her and even though The Man took me, she would've been a great choice if I needed her! I also texted with a couple of friends who checked in and with my mom throughout the day. It was good to know people were watching out for me and cared. These are the moments to allow people to care for you, to feel their love and give them an chance to show it.

3) Ask medical professionals all the questions you need to to make yourself feel comfortable. You will talk to quite a few people in the lead up process to procedure. Let them help you feel more comfortable and keep a list of questions you can refer to each time you talk to someone. You may get varying answers from different people so keep asking questions until you feel comfortable.

4) Change the sheets on your bed and make your bedroom pretty and cozy. This is something I wish I had done that I didn't do. I change the sheets often on our bed, but by the time I'd been in bed all day the day of surgery and the following day I was feeling icky. When I got up the next morning the first thing I did was pull all the bedding off our bed and head to the laundry room. I still hadn't put our new comforter on the bed yet so I did that too. It was a good day to make a big change! Other things you can add to make your room comfortable and cheery are: fresh flowers, a diffuser with essential oils, some lotion, a pitcher of water and glass or a filled sport water bottle, and anything else that you might want close by.

5) Get medical/personal care supplies you may need. Depending on the kind of surgery you are having there will be a few medical supplies you will want to have on hand. That may include feminine pads, medical tape, gauze, antibiotic cream, large bandages, etc. If you need to, ask your medical professionals what you will need. They can advise. This is another thing I didn't think much about but was lucky to have what I needed on hand at home already.

6) Prepare for the after effects of anesthesia, dehydration and post-op. I have had mixed experiences coming off anesthesia. It can be easy or it can be rough. Yesterday was rough. My second same day surgery was a very long stay in recovery, I think about 5 hours. Yesterday was 90 minutes and the first hour I felt horrible. The throat, lungs and sinuses take a lot of impact from surgery due to the breathing tube and medication.

• Beverages: Your throat will be sore and you will be dehydrated from fasting for so many hours. I had a dehydration headache for much of the day after I got home. Have a variety of beverages on hand to quench your thirst and soothe your throat. My husband got me a milkshake on the way home. I tried to drink a lot of water and that was hard, so I was glad to have a Vitamin Water XXX and some juices to get my headache under control. It wasn't until about 9 pm that it started feeling better. I was still having a bit of a headache the second day and trying to drink a lot.

• Saline Nasal Spray:  From the time I got out of surgery throughout the rest of the day one side of my sinuses was aching, stuffy and then running like crazy. Saline Nasal Spray was a godsend and I used it repeatedly throughout the day. Because it's not medicinal it's something you can use as much as you want. And it helps clear out that congestion.

• Humidifier: I cranked my humidifier to high when I got home to help me clear my lungs and sinuses. When I got out of surgery I wasn't breathing deeply enough to get enough oxygen so the nurses were really pushing me to breath deeper. When I got home I was coughing up some mucus throughout the day. That all had to do with the anesthesia, so prepare for that. A good humidifier makes for good sleeping anytime!

• Tissues: As I mentioned I was coughing up stuff and my nose was running a lot. Having a box in bed with me made things easier.

• Food: What you need here will vary a lot. You may feel like eating nothing, you may be starving. I wasn't hungry much with my first surgery (female stuff), with my second surgery (tonsils, sinus and throat stuff) my throat was really sore so it was liquids for the first couple of days. Wednesday (female stuff again) I was super sick to my stomach right out of the O.R., then after an hour I wanted a nice milkshake and within another hour I was starving and ate a chicken sandwich and a full dinner later. I think it depends on the time of day of your surgery and how long you had to fast as well. Be prepared with some good liquid options and some gentle foods that you enjoy...and just in case you're starving later maybe have a burger or steak on hand in the fridge. Ha.

7) Plan things to do while you're resting. I was glad to have my Netflix list waiting for me when I climbed into bed. I thought I would sleep a lot more than I did, but I ended up watching Netflix and dosing on and off instead. Watching something engaging definitely helped distract me from the fact that I was feeling crummy. I watched a TV series I've seen several times but that familiarity seemed to comfort me too. Nothing too stressful, no undue surprise endings, nothing that agitates an already sick body.

I also had a few magazines and books around, my phone - Instagram was a good distraction too. Forced resting when you're not feeling well gets boring and irritating really quickly. Maybe have someone give you a good rub or have a hand massager near the bed. Soak your feet in the tub (no bathing allowed usually), get a microwave heating pad for your shoulders. Do whatever you can to soothe your body and soul.

Women seem particularly challenged with resting and holding still. I know I am. So I've been trying to be really diligent about getting enough rest and following doctor's recover orders. It's boring, not a lot of fun, but I'm doing it and trying to give my body and soul the time they need to not just heal, but to heal well. We don't often get forced rest time so I want to make it count.

I'm going to climb into my beautiful clean bed now for a nap. Hope these tips are helpful to you if you or someone you love is having a medical procedure soon or pass it along to a friend who it might be helpful for. If you have any tips to share from your own experience please comment below. I'd love to hear them and anyone who reads this will appreciate it too I'm sure!

I am going to follow this post up next week with what to expect when you get to the surgical center. Have a great weekend!

Yoga Practice: Gentle Start To The Morning

Every day that I do yoga I am continually surprised at how good I feel afterwards and how much more fluid my body feels. I love walking around my house after I've finished because I feel so light on my feet and can just feel all the muscles working together to propel me forward step by step through my day with joy. One of my goals here this year is to share with you meditations and yoga sequences that I find and enjoy.

One of the challenges I am still feeling after the broken foot is balance. After walking weirdly on crutches, a scooter, a one-leg crutch and then hobbling around on two feet in a lot of pain, my leg muscles have learned some bad habits or coping mechanisms that I now need to program them out of. I have worked on this a lot, especially in the pool during the summer, but it's still a challenge.

It's hard for me to sit in a chair for a long time with my knees together. My legs want to twist and splay in weird ways and my gait when I walk is still a little weird. So I have to concentrate on making those good and proper balance habits permanent. Yoga has really helped because it gets all those bones and muscles both relaxed and in the proper alignment. It's amazing how good I feel and how good (normal!) my balance feels when I complete my yoga work. There is no question that I want to continue this good progress!

One of the things that makes working out the body a little tedious is trying not to get stuck in ruts and have a varied routine. So I'm switching it up frequently, even every week or every gym workout just to keep myself from getting burned out or bored. At the gym I'm trying to vary my cardio between elliptical, recumbent bike, regular old bike and the treadmill. It does help me mentally not to feel like I have to do the same thing over and over.

Yesterday I tried out this Gentle Morning Sequence video by Yoga with Adriene. I was in the mood for something calming and this definitely was. I liked Adriene quite a bit too. She is calm and peaceful and truly was gentle in her approach and demeanor. I thought her attire was really cute too, not important really but she looked cute and comfortable without needing to bare her six pack to the world which you get with some others. The thing I liked most about her and her philosophy was that she repeatedly gave students the freedom to feel their own bodies and their own needs and interpret as they feel is best. That feels so much better to me than a teacher or guide who is just pressing you into things you don't feel you can do or that are above your abilities at the moment. I did feels some places where I needed to stop and focus on certain things that were happening in my body, energy pockets that needed attention, etc. I liked that she reminded me repeatedly that I had permission and that I know what is good for my body. I think that was very helpful to the success of my practice as I followed along.

This would be a great practice for someone just starting out in yoga for the first time, someone who is returning to practice after a lull or for anyone who feels like they need a gentle start to their day. It's 15 minutes so it doesn't take a lot of time but the "feel good" afterwards lasts much longer than that. I'll definitely be doing this one again and I can see it being one I might do to get started and then being able to follow up pretty much immediately with something a little more demanding.

I love being able to roll out my mat on the nice thick rug in our family room and have this private time in the mornings to get myself centered for the day. I am suddenly having a new relationship with that room now that we have it partially organized and set up so that we can use it. It is becoming the quiet room for peace and relaxation that we have been needing with such an open concept home. Love that.

Here's another meditation to share as well, by Deepak Chopra. It's long but you can choose to do one or two or more as you feel you have time and energy for. I've really been enjoying the Chopra meditations, the music is great and his voice is calming.

I'll share with you one other little lightbulb moment I've had the past couple of weeks. I had a good laugh about this with another woman this past week. Years ago I did a full hour of a fairly challenging yoga routine regularly. So when I started again I had this idea that if I didn't do a full hour of yoga, nothing else was really enough, or it didn't count because it was too little or something. It's that whole mentality of I should go to the gym for two hours every day or I'm a failure and then we just give up because if we do anything less we feel we can't give ourselves credit for it.

Doing 15-20 minutes of exercise every time we have a chance is very beneficial and it's silly to get stuck in a mindset where we set a standard that is too hard for us to keep up with and then consider failure anything less than that one mark. Every attempt is good and we should give ourselves credit for it. Baby steps to exercise are way better than no exercise at all.

I have not been doing the full hour yoga, I've been doing 15-20 minutes and can I just tell you it's been fantastic. There are days when I can't get to the gym for 90 minutes and I just try to do 40. And that's a workout. That counts. I sweat, get healthier and more fit. There is no magic bullet amount of time or way to do things that is the "right" way every day. But the continual effort is what pays off and we can just keep pushing ourselves where we can and expanding as we feel our abilities increase and our interest rise. That happens pretty naturally if it is our intent, so we don't have to make things so hard on ourselves.

Hope you are finding new ways to center and balance in this new year. If you are having positive experiences with meditation, yoga and affirmations I'd love to feature you here on the blog! Email me at kalanicut@hotmail.com or leave a comment below! Happy centering!

Yay! I Survived The First 20 Days of January!

Well I can't tell you how happy I am to see that we are 20 days into January 2017. Here's why. For some reason during most of the previous five years I have had major tumult happening in the beginning of January EVERY year and all of it unexpected. So I am absolutely celebrating that we are at the 20th of January and my life has been calm, cool, peaceful and uneventful.

To give you an example of what has been happening in past years, here are just a few of the January surprises I/we have experienced. All of these events happened in the first three weeks of January.

In 2011, I had my potentially fatal mastoiditis infection and hospitalization. That lead to six months of hearing loss in my left ear and some other challenges that were very challenging to deal with. Learning to live without the gift of hearing is chock full of some difficult lessons. It is scary to have someone or a car come up behind you when you can't hear anything coming!

In 2013, we got married while The Man was home for two weeks R and R, got custody of his daughter and she came to live with me while he went back to the war. That was a tough day when we sent him back for six five more months and I became a full-time stepmom by myself.

In 2015, with two weeks notice, we uprooted our family and I moved to New Mexico for an exciting new job while The Man and Kiddo moved to San Diego and we lived apart and I commuted on weekends to California for 8 months. Every weekend in January I flew home to pack up our house. That part was awful.

In 2016, I broke my foot in five places and ended up in a cast until May. Still recovering from this doozy. After lots of therapy and such, my latest blessing is yoga, which has really been helping me recover my balance and stability on my feet. I think it's also got to be helping some with swelling in my foot and ankle too, getting the blood and energy flowing throughout the body.

Given all that there's no doubt that this year I was feeling a little nervous about facing the beginning of January again. But I am a little more confident that the first month of this year may be without incident and we are all healthy and well. Looking back I am also recognizing again the blessings that came from all those experiences, even though they were beyond challenging. Even though some of the events were great, great things -- there were also some very difficult pills to swallow with each big change and quite a bit of acute stress at the time.

So here's to 2017, may she be a great one. Monday I'll share with you my word for the year. It actually ties in quite nicely with the theme of this post. If you have a theme word for 2017 I'd love to hear it if you want to share it in the comments.

Yoga and Meditation Re-awakening

One of the things I have had as a high priority that I have not followed up on in the past few months was to re-begin a yoga practice. I always feel amazing when I have a regular yoga practice going and it's amazing how much energy and love of life it gives you. My body has been telling me over and over that I needed to start doing morning yoga and despite that strong call I had not done it. Until yesterday.

Life Changer! Wow! Despite the fact that Sunday night was a bit of a disaster, I stuck with my goal. I went to bed far later than I intended to. I just didn't realize how late it was and was on a bit of a roll about getting some things done. I think an afternoon nap exacerbated that situation. But an hour after I went to sleep Kiddo was up and in our bedroom. I got her back to sleep about 30 minutes later. A while later The Man was having a bad dream and in his sleep asking me really nonsensical questions in bed about stuff that was totally not important at 4 a.m. Needless to say 6:30 came way too early for this family. But we all got up and got the day going and as soon as Kiddo was on the school bus The Man and I were taking a nap.

After a brief nap, I got dressed in appropriate yoga attire and found a beginner's yoga routine on YouTube that looked promising. At first I was rather horrified at the fact that I could no longer properly do any of the exercises but had to do a modified version of everything. I have known since I broke my foot that my balance and flexibility have gotten pretty bad and I knew yoga would help with that. But I had no idea how bad things were until I jumped back in the yoga saddle. I think this is a pretty normal feeling any time anyone begins a yoga practice but it's always a little disheartening.

But never fear. I progressed through the workout and worked on my breathing and extending myself a little more with each pose. One thing that has always amazed me about yoga is how far you really can extend stretches beyond what you initially think you can do with a little concentration, relaxation and continued reaching. It's incredible.

Despite my awe at how poor my flexibility has become, I ended the workout on a total high, feeling a huge wave of greater circulation, flow and ease throughout my body. I could feel the energy just pulsing and my skeleton and muscles all felt in better alignment. Boy did that feel great and continue to feel great throughout the day. Now it's clear my body knew what it was telling me (as if I didn't know that all along) and I wish I'd acted sooner.

Doing just twenty minutes of yoga was good for me to. In the past I've done a full hour workout and for some reason I felt like I had to do the full hour or I wasn't trying enough or going to have a complete experience. Guess what, that was really dumb. It goes along with the thinking we sometimes have when we overwhelm ourselves thinking we need to go to the gym 5-6 times a week and that amount of stress and pressure makes us give us on going 2-3 times a week because we're not doing it the way we think we have to do it. Doing twenty minutes of yoga was just fine and I felt amazing, my body felt good and it was the right amount for a re-beginning effort. I need to work on doing each pose better and more fully, rather than working on a ton of poses none of which I can do well. Silly thinking.

After my yoga workout, I did two 10-minute meditations. One was for beginning the day with good energy and the other was by Deepak Chopra where I heard some things that really inspired me. He was talking about judging others and said that when we make others bad or wrong we stop our own flow of Spirit and curtail our own creativity.  So interesting. I think about this a lot as I see so many people in our country from all sides so desperate to make other people wrong and bad and trumpet that they are right. Not a good practice for peace, self-improvement or gaining wisdom. I'm working on this in my own life but it certainly seems like something our country at large needs right now.

After my yoga and meditation practices yesterday I came bounding up the stairs to take on the day, full of energy and enthusiasm. That feeling alone was worth the time, let alone what the efforts did for my body and well-being overall.

If you're interested, here are the three guided videos I tried yesterday. I've saved them all to do again but will keep exploring new ones too. I'll share them here with you if you are interested. Let me know!

Beginning Yoga by  Boho Beautiful
Guided Morning Meditation by Mantra Malta
The Secret of Attraction by Deepak Chopra

10 Things To Know About Broken Foot Recovery

This is a post for anyone who may find my blog because of my social media posts on having a broken foot earlier this year. I think it's time for a follow up as well because no one really talks about what happens after you get out of the cast. Once that cast goes away, I think people just expect that everything goes right back to normal and you are totally healed and it's over.

Not so. Next week it has been almost 10 months since I broke my foot. Hard to believe. I thought it would be helpful to share what's been happening since the cast came off in late April. My experience will not be the typical experience and of course is unique to my own set of circumstances: five fractures in one foot, etc. but I know that it helped me so much as I have gone through this experience to know about the experiences of others and have a neighbor who is a podiatrist who has let me know what to experience as the months passed.

The best thing he shared with me was that I would continue to have swelling and pain in my foot for 6-8 months after I got out of the cast. It was good to know what to expect even though that wasn't really exciting news. Ha. So here are a few more things I'd share with anyone who may be experiencing a broken foot.

First here's a quick update on what's happening with me. I just had another check up a few weeks ago. I was supposed to be in physical therapy this summer but due to insurance approval delays I just met with the physical therapist for the first time a few weeks ago. Sigh. So instead I crafted my own physical therapy doing a wide array of exercises in the pool and at the gym on stationary bikes. I had been working on the treadmill but the physical therapist said he's rather I not do that - so I'm sticking with the bike and pool.

I started a board on Pinterest the night I broke my foot back in January to start gathering info I would need to make it through my long recovery. At that time I thought my long recovery would be long over by Spring. Ha. Here we are almost to October and I am still dealing with this foot every day, still having pain and swelling and it is still very much a big factor in my life. Every time I see someone pin something from my Broken Foot board on Pinterest I say a little prayer for them, because I have some sense of what they must be going through. You don't search "broken foot" on Pinterest unless something bad had happened!

1. Expect to mourn: This is something that really didn't even hit me until mid-summer. There was some mourning to do, as I looked back on how hard the previous seven months had been and how much I had privately suffered and endured to get through that time without letting on to other people how truly difficult it all was. I did have my days during the long "wearing the boot" days where I did have some good cries and a few little pity parties which I think is totally normal.

2. Expect that people will forget - you will need to remind them: Once the cast is off, for everyone else it's like it never happened. It's still going to take some time and now you'll have to remind people that you can't stand for long periods of time, can't do long walking days yet or crazy hard workouts, etc.
3. Expect pain: I still get very sharp pains in my foot throughout the day and my right foot, which has taken so much abuse while healing my left foot hurts a lot too. Par for the course, but not fun. One thing I've found that works is Miracle Foot Cream. It's the one thing that seems to take the pain and aching away. I used it every day while in the cast. My physical therapist has talked to me a lot about how hard it is on the leg to be in a boot for months. It is painful on the other parts of the leg. The front of my shin was so banged up and sore by the time I got out of the boot. Super painful, but thankfully healed and not painful at all there anymore. But it takes time and continued energy to work through the continued pain overall.

4. Expect swelling: Ten months later my foot still gets very swollen during the day and I still sleep with it propped up on four pillows at night. It looks a lot better than it used to and sometimes even looks close to normal, but some days it looks huge and puffy, especially around the ankle and the top of my foot. Standing or sitting in a chair for long periods is the worst for swelling and it's painful to get up and walk after that. I've heard that this is especially problematic for the foot which is the farthest from the heart, takes the longest to heal and due to gravity draws a lot of fluid downwards.

5. Don't expect everything will quickly be normal...anticipate a new normal for a while: I think this is different for everyone but don't expect that what worked for another will work for you. It's a case-by-case basis life when you break a bone. Keep pushing yourself forward but wise about taking it slow. I got a lot of good advice about this and learned to follow it or suffer the consequences.

6. Push through the pain with wisdom: There's no rush and healing happens best when wisdom is attached to decisions.You won't heal well or quickly without pushing yourself, but as I just said you can also delay healing by pushing too hard. But yes, it's going to hurt and you're going to have to keep going, step by step literally. This has gotten me through a lot of hard days, knowing that the more I exercise and use my foot the sooner it will get healthy and strong, but it does hurt and it does make you a little sad and a lot tired.

7. Know there will be ups and downs: At my second appointment my doctor, who at the time only saw two fractures in my foot, said that at my next appointment at seven weeks I could probably start walking on my boot. I lived for that day and then when I went back in, after consultations with a couple of different doctors they told me I needed to go non-weight-bearing for eight more weeks. I had to hold the tears back until the doctor left the exam room, but I had a good cry once I got to my car. There will be good days and bad days. Lean on the people who love you and take care of you and be sure to give yourself some extra kind treats along the way.

8. Be grateful for what you learned and experienced: Since we were fairly new in our church congregation I really didn't know many people. When I broke my foot they asked what they could do and within a week I had people over helping me take down my Christmas decorations and several amazing dinners delivered to our house. Those people all became dear friends and truly angels to me. Breaking my foot brought new friendships and taught me to receive help more quickly and easily too. Anyone who had read this blog over the years, knows that been a repetitive lesson I've had to continue to learn as time has gone along.

I also learned to have empathy for others. My heart goes out to every person I see in a cast or on crutches and you can bet I am the first person there to hold the door, to bring a meal or offer any help I can!

9. Listen to your gut: be proactively involved in your care: I kept track of a lot of questions and asked them at my appointments as we went along. I also got a second opinion several times as needed from a neighbor podiatrist and most recently my doctor prescribed a drug to deal with my ongoing swelling and pain that sounded like something I did not want to be taking due to side effects. I consulted with my physical therapist on that one and decided not to get the prescription but continue to do all the other good things I was doing.

I did not feel comfortable potentially experiencing the mind-altering side-effects that medicine could bring on - that was the last thing I needed was more problems. So I made a decision on my own behalf and I feel good about it. This obviously was a situation where I knew the existing situation without the medication and knew there would not be increased harm if I did not take the medication. Again use wisdom.

10. Right at the beginning, get all the gear that will help you (properly fitted crutches, knee scooter, iWalk crutch, handicap placard). Those four items made a world of difference for me.

For the few few weeks my crutches were not properly sized but how would I know that? Once I adjusted them, they were so much less painful and I realized that I should not have been suffering so much using them for those first few weeks.

Knee scooter took forever to get and make all the difference! It allowed me to travel for business, go on weekend adventures with my family and get around the office much easier! You have to get a prescription from your doctor and there is a lot of back and forth with insurance to get it done. Push to get it. Push a lot!

iWalk crutch was a life changer at home and when out shopping, etc. Definitely check it out. It's not covered by insurance but you'll be glad you paid the $150 the first day you have it. I would gladly have paide $150 every day I used that thing! It was the best mental health boost I could've had because it totally restored my mobility in so many ways.

As soon as we got my boot cast on and left the doctor's office we went to the DMV for a handicap placard. You have to get a prescription for it from your doctor, but do not leave your first appointment without it. This was huge for me, especially since the parking lot to my office was two blocks from my desk. With the placard I could part right at the entrance to our building, that was huge. Plus it's amazing how gigantic megastore parking lots feel when you are in a cast. Save yourself the grief!

So that is my gigantic "Life-saving advice for people who break their foot" recap. I hope for all of you who find yourself with a broken foot in the future, it will be a big help to you. Sending you the very best wishes for health and a quick recovery! And for those of you who are so lucky as to not have a broken foot, pass this along to anyone you know who might find themselves injured!

Saying Goodbye To Stuff: Little Girl Clothes

We are focused completely on decluttering, organization and living a more minimal lifestyle right now. That means a lot of work and decisions on what to let go of, where to put things and finding a home for every belonging.

It's been a very delayed process, after our somewhat tumultuous first half of 2016, with broken foot and other things happening including winter weather, but we're finally going through stuff that we hastily packed when we left LA with just a couple of weeks notice in early 2015 and are getting our life back to a somewhat organized state.

It's been interesting to let go of things...stuff. One of the things I've been having a tough time letting go was all our beautiful little girl clothes. I think the sadness there is two-fold. One, we're letting go of our once little girl's clothes and learning to adapt to a pre-teen world of hormones, more independence and finding the place where effective parenting happens while allowing a young person to find herself, develop her life all the while still obviously needing parents to guide whether she's excited about that or not.

The second reason it's been hard is that we kept all our favorite little girl clothes hoping there would be another little girl who could wear those. That didn't happen and that is a heartbreaker. I was at a church function a few days ago and the word posterity came up and it just hit me a little bit that I would have no biological posterity in this life. I teared up. By no means do I overlook or am I ungrateful for the opportunity I've had to mother a child in my life. That has been a beautiful blessing, but when you realize you will never have your own biological children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren, and it's something you always wanted and expected you would have, that is sad.

We've joked in out family that the minute we give all those clothes away a little girl will somehow fall out of the sky into our family. If for some miracle we pull an Abraham and Sariah then the kid can have new clothes. She will have earned it.

I think one of the reasons it's been hard to give those kinds of things away is that we are giving away a big part of our history all at once. If I we had been giving stuff away little by little over the past few years it wouldn't sting as much because we wouldn't be looking at years of history. Now we're seeing The Bug's clothing she was wearing at three and four years old while in the same day doing laundry for a tall, gangly ten-and-a-half year-old girl who is all pre-teen smiles, hormones, grumpiness and horrifyingly embarrassed (at least half the time). It's a pretty stark contrast.

But I am trying to stay in a mindset that as we give away old things we're holding on to, whether they be belongings or just mental junk, that we open ourselves up to be filled up with new things we need. We make place in our lives for the present day and the future.

Last Saturday I took an entire (small) carload of things to the thrift store. It felt a little intense but I will say I have felt 99.9% relief (with only a smidgen of sadness) over having it all gone. That's a lot of space to open up for our lives. There had also been a good amount of stuff that has gone into the trash, and there will yet be further trips to the thrift store. But we're are definitely making progress which is so fantastic. I have to celebrate that progress every day. Every new empty box is a milestone and we've been emptying a lot of boxes the past few weeks. After merging two residences and a storage unit, we're doing pretty well.

So we keep chugging along and we're feeling encouraged. Last year at this time it had been about a month since we'd closed on our house and we were working like crazy. We had beautified the garage floor with the gray sprinkled epoxy protective coating, pulled out the giant planters in the kitchen and had the floors redone. We had removed the brick from the laundry room and put in new flooring there and the two downstairs bedrooms had been painted. Since then I don't think we've accomplished any big projects but now it's just getting everything in the house in it's place. In the future there will definitely be a lot of painting of the entire main floor - family room, living room, kitchen and dining room. We'll paint our master bedroom someday and the kitchen will definitely need some work. The tile countertops have a couple of spots that are losing grout with our daily use, so they'll need attention soon.

Oh, one quick note. Many of you have heard of the world famous Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta held here the first two weeks of October each year. We have a two bedroom, two bath townhouse vacation rental that is available, on a very last minute opportunity, for the entirety of the Balloon Fiesta as well as going forward. We'll be posting it on AirBnB but if you or anyone you know is interested let me know.

Thanks for coming by. I have a bunch of good posts in the works and look forward to sharing them soon.

Shoes For Summer And Fall: Clogs

I should've posted a story yesterday about an encounter I had last week with a rattlesnake but writing it stressed me out so much I couldn't finish it. Agh. Traumatized. So instead I'll post a pretty shoe update. Since the broken foot and cast season which has lasted pretty much the first seven months of this year -- and I still haven't started official physical therapy sessions yet.  Anyway, the foot is still causing problems and the daily swelling still makes it impossible for me to wear most of my shoes. So I was definitely in need of some new footwear that doesn't make me feel like Frankenstein or look like I'm headed for the beach.

I have been wanting some medium height clog sandals all year so I finally went for yesterday. These are all Clarks brand 'm going to share by the way. I got a good sale price by doing some price comparisons online. I love these, they're named Ledella Trail. I don't know why but I seem to have a thing for footwear in funky colors.  I think these will look great with jeans, a skirt or dressier pants as well. Fun color for summer and fall. Now I just need to get a pedicure. Pedis aren't lasting as long as usual being in the pool multiple times per week

These also come in a black and tan. I couldn't find a good deal on the tan but I did also pick up the black pair. I am a girl who buys multiples when I find things I like and I thought a black pair would go with anything this grenadine color doesn't.

Heeled clogs always seem to work for me and just make me feel very much myself. I've been a clogs fan since birth I think or at least since I was very, very young. I may be half Polynesian, but my quarter Danish side - the sweater and clog loving side - is definitely strong.  I haven't had a pair that I really loved for a while, even though I do have a few pair -- in fact one very high pair were what I was wearing when I broke my foot...eeek. Anyway I always love a good classic pair of brown leather shoes for fall when everything feels tweedy, wooly and cozy. I saw these and sensed perfection.

Don't these just shout "Back to School" and wool tights and cable knit sweaters! They're named Ledella York and the color is Nutmeg - a perfect name for a fall shoe, no? Can't wait to get all of these. I got free expedited shipping so they should be here by the end of the week. Just in time for the weekend and an upcoming little trip.

I ended up ordering all three pair in a size larger than normal to accommodate foot swelling which I anticipate will be happening for a while still. By the end of the day my foot always hurts and is swollen. My right foot had been painful this year as well after taking on so much wear and tear while my left foot was immobile and then continuing to heal. Poor tired feet. Well I know these new additions to the closet will be just the ticket for helping my poor feet get back to their normal spunky selves!

Now my next move is that I need to sell some shoes. I have a few pairs that I have purchased that I am not wearing and know that I'm not going to be wearing. So they are headed for ebay or some other shoe resale site very soon.

In the stores there are already Christmas decorations going up. Back-to-School sales flyers are already everywhere. Are you ready for fall, school, and the holidays or can you stay sanely in summer for a while longer. I feel like I just started summer at the beginning of July so I have a lot to do still before I think about fall. But it terrifies me a bit that the first day of school is a month from today. So not ready for that! But let's not talk about it.

Heights House 12: Enjoying A Walk In Our Yard

One of the things I've most enjoyed since being able to start walking is to be outside a little more and to talk walks around our yard and neighborhood. So good  for the soul after a long winter!

One of the big adjustments of moving from coastal California to the high desert is definitely climate. Say goodbye to the green grass, hibiscus, plumeria, citrus trees and bougainvillea everywhere. But there is so much beauty to enjoy here that I am learning to appreciate as well.

Taking my first walk around the yard since late last fall, it was fun to take photos that tell stories about what has been happening in the yard over the winter. I came across all these stools who seemed to be having some sort of gathering against the front wall of the house. Ha. Had to snap that colorful shot!

Much of the cactus is gone after many backbreaking hours of work by The Man. He has removed hundreds of pounds of cactus using a wide variety of tools especially the shovels. I think he's broken a few on that chore. While cactus can be pretty, it is also a nightmare when you have a kid and a dog adventuring around the yard. I can't tell you how many hours have been sent removing cactus spines from family members and the dog -- especially the dog...with a headlamp, magnifying glass and tweezers. Not to mention a vet visit to remove infected ones. So we will enjoy cactus in our neighbors' yards from a distance. 

The extent of my involvement in the development of the yard has been minimal, but The Man has put in probably hundreds of hours at this point. The property was definitely suffering from a lack of TLC over the past few years. With a new wall of trees on the north and east sides of the property we now have even more privacy and the yard feels more our own.

I wandered down to the very back corners of the property for the first time on the very narrow deer trail that winds down both sides of the house to the bottom of lot. It is pretty narrow and was not the easiest jaunt for my first day on my feet without my cast but I did it with only one yucca stabbing to my ankles. It seems like that stuff will jump out and stab you no matter how hard you try to avoid it. Thankfully it didn't sting for a long time like it usually does...like for hours.

The brick pile on the side of the yard reminded me of our adventures filling in the planters and removing the brick flooring from the laundry room last fall. Boy was that a massive job. The brick pile also reminds me that we still have a long, long way to go. Early one morning this week I pulled out a few decor items from my wall of stored lamps, boxes, trays, candles and more and tried to decorate a few small areas in the living room including the small bookshelves and for lack of a better term, the mantle -- which is actually the top of an open wall above our fireplace. Still works in progress for sure, but at least it's a little progress.

I keep reminding The Man that there is no deadline and no "finished" when it comes to a house. We have time and we have certainly faced some interesting challenges to getting settled. There is no due date we have to meet, so we can take it as it comes. Life lesson in a million ways!

Last Sunday I spent a good hour or more in the backyard watering plants with the spray hose. It was therapeutic and the flowers definitely needed it. I realized that some of the tulips, daffodils and irises did not bloom for lack of water. I also noticed that grass is overtaking several of the flowerbeds and there is a creeping vine of some sort that is overtaking some other flower beds. So as soon as I can I need to get out there on my knees with a hand trowel and start fighting back the overgrowing invaders. On Monday the sprinkler guys came and checked out all the drip irrigation around the yard and I've seen the water running in the mornings and evenings so hopefully the yard is getting watered a little better now.

The trees are mostly filled in with leaves now and even the late leafing vines are starting to come in. Things we thought might be dead have come back to life so that is encouraging. We have quite an interesting assortment of plants in the yard and we are learning how they develop and grow throughout the seasons. I was so thrilled to have a small hydrangea bush growing on edge of the patio and then over the winter it was dead right down to the soil. I thought that was a little weird and that perhaps it was too small to survive the cold season. But a few weeks ago I saw a few sprigs poking up out of the ground and now the bush is about two feet tall and noticeably taller every week. Looking forward to hydrangeas later this summer.

We are still having our windy season here in New Mexico...strong winds at least several days a week during the spring. Looking forward to that ending. Without the wind the weather is fantastic. It comes and goes in waves. I think living in the hills we get an extra dose of the wind perhaps. Everyone seems to be at their wits end about the springtime winds now, here's hoping that season ends soon.

Hope you friends are doing well and enjoying the most of the seasons wherever you are. Next post I'm working on is all about shoes for summer.

Broken Foot, The Final Step: Two Shoes

In what will be one of the last big recovery steps from the five fractures in my foot, I'm wearing two shoes as of Saturday morning. Happily this was not as challenging as going from no weight to walking in the cast - which was basically learning to walk all over again. At first I thought it was not even hurting and then after five minutes my foot was pretty grumpy, I immediately went in and took some pain meds and despite the meds it is pretty painful. But it's moving, working and I'm walking so this is great.

I'm being reminded again that one has to take thing slowly. I'd love to just run off into the sunset now but after just a couple of hours on my feet it was pretty obvious that this is going to require lots of ice, ibuprofen and patience. I'm not just going to be on the go-go all day on my feet right off the bat.

Gosh I'm impatient. Maybe it's just because so much of my life has been on hold for the better part of five months now. But I have to say, I made it! I got through 12 weeks of non-weight-bearing, learned to walk again, suffered through a LOT of pain, slept with my foot up on four pillows for over 100 nights, sat and watched people do things I wanted to be doing, fell hard on my crutches once and had one crash on my scooter, shed a few tears along the way and continued to smile and laugh my way through difficult times.

The gifts I received along the way were lessons in patience, enduring pain and suffering and learning to improvise in a million ways so that I could make things less painful and less difficult. I learned to ask for what I needed. I learned to let other people help me, I learned to receive service gracefully and I learned that there are good people everywhere who will see you and reach out to help if you let them. I probably said "thank you" at least a million times in the past few months.

One thing that is weird is now I'm not the girl in the cast anymore. I became known to so many people at my local stores where we shop, downtown where I work. You can imagine the first thing that started just about every conversation I've had over the past few months was either "what happened?" or "how is it going with that leg?" I had so many strangers asking me when I was going to get out of that cast. Now I'm just back to a regular person who just walks a little oddly. It's strange how much that cast, and the crutches and scooter became part of my identity. It's a little weird to feel like I need to reinvent myself a bit or rediscover who I am now after thousands of conversations about my foot seeming to dominate every human interaction I've had in 2016. As weird as that sounds it really is true.

I have a list of rehab exercises I need to start doing and I am trying to talk walks as much as possible now. I think I will start swimming again because I feel like that would be a great workout for not only my foot but my entire body. I may start out wearing fins. A swim teacher I had once taught us to use our fins sometimes because it helped create a fluid rhythm to our strokes. I think it would help both take some of the pressure off my foot and at the same time really help with it's flexibility and strength.

I am still learning to take it slowly and not over do it. That seems to be one lesson I started to learn this past few months but still have a lot way to go at. I like to move fast, do lots of things and stay busy. Somehow I have a feeling the universe will keep giving me experiences to work on that skill. That's how it seems to work. Haha.

I'm going to go take a little rest off my feet right now. Seems like the right thing to do. I'm working on a few posts that I will share with you soon, one from our yard on my first adventure out, a little shoe shopping inspiration and I'm working on a wrap up of all the good things I learned from my broken foot. I found other's articles on that topic to be invaluable to me, so I definitely want to pay it forward and share some life hacks and survival techniques I learned. I also have some musings on home decor to share. Sending you my best wishes. Thanks for coming by!

Broken Foot Progress: Back On Two Feet

A week ago Tuesday I got the go ahead to start walking on my cast after 12 weeks on crutches, crutch and scooter. The one problem was I couldn't actually walk. So I literally had to learn to walk all over again and I was back on crutches and walker for a few days. My goal was to be on two feet by Monday, but I got there before the weekend started on Friday. Yay!

It is painful and uncomfortable but I think it's one of those "no pain, no gain" situations. When I first start walking it is very stiff and painful. And it does hurt to walk on it, sometimes just weird little pains and other times big stabbing-like pains. Good times. But every step is therapy and getting me closer to the getting back to regular, daily life and wearing two shoes! Yay!

Finding the right shoe for a walking cast is a bit of a challenge. Right now the only thing that is working in my Dansko clog. I would've thought a sandal with an inch of heel would work, but nope - needs to be higher.  It's a little crazy that I've worn out one shoe of three of my pairs of shoes while in a cast this winter. The left shoe of each pair is in perfect condition. I'm wearing a pair of FitFlops (okay just the right shoe) that I picked up a few days ago. Not the greatest because as we all know flip flops don't provide a lot of stability but the deep, cushy sole is comfortable.

Glad this whole situation is moving forward. It's hard to believe this all started the first week of January. Argh. It's mid-April already! The leaves have filled out on the trees, flowers are blooming and the year is moving along. Can you believe 2016 is already almost 1/3 over?!

There Really Are Good People Everywhere

If I can attest to one thing I have experienced over the past nine weeks of life with a broken foot, being in a cast, parking in handicap stalls, being on crutches or a scooter and having a challenging time getting around it's this -- There are kind, good, helpful people - total strangers -- everywhere.

Today's post is my warm-hearted, big-embrace of a thank you to all the many, many kind people who have stopped along there way to ask if they could help me. I have truly had people from all walks of life stop and ask if they could help me in stores, getting into my car, in elevators, doorways and as I stood looking down or up at steps that impeded my way.

These kind souls have carried things for me, reached things on high and low shelves that I could not reach, emptied shopping baskets onto cash register counters for me -- and have just been like angels all around me throughout my day.

I have written several times on this blog about my challenges accepting help from others. I never want to bother anyone and I'm sure part of it is some misguided sense of feeling failure or weakness if I can't do everything myself. I have learned very clearly over the years that allowing others to help us blesses them and us! It's the most amazing way to build meaningful relationships with others in this life. Saying no robs them of the good feelings they could've had from serving you - and robs you of the results of their service and a sense of gratitude you could have enjoyed from their service.

Well guess what I have been cured of for good -- my inability to accept help from others! Gone. Done. I say yes every time I can and I offer big thank yous afterwards as well. Necessity is the mother of life lessons I guess. I am happy to just say yes and not fight getting help from other people anymore.

I'll share two quick stories. One night I was in Wal-Mart and in front of me was a young man that was VERY stoned. His eyes were watery and red and he was a mess. Then he turned to me as we were waiting in line and asked if he could unload my motorized scooter basket onto the belt for me. Melted my judgmental heart right then and there. Moments later, in the parking a lot, a car that looked like it had been left for lost on the side of a highway for years pulled in next to me. A rough looking young man got out and walked past, then turned and asked if he could help me return the motorized scooter to the store for me. Angel in disguise yet again. Heart humbled and melted.

 A coworker of mine is lucky enough to have her husband drop her off and pick her up each day from work. The first time he saw me getting my scooter into my car, he jumped out of his car to help. Such a good guy! Now anytime he is there picking her up and sees me he is standing next to my car offering help before I even see he's there. The other day I saw a man walk up to me out of the corner of my eye. My first instinct was "there's a man standing next to me...yikes." Then I looked up and saw if was Husband Wonderful and my heart said, "it's a good man!" And he nestled my scooter right into my little trunk for me again that day. Super grateful for his attentive, serving heart.

My coworkers at the office have been beyond kind helping me get in and out each day when they run into me and when we are moving around the building. Such good folks!

I hope God has blessed every soul who has served or even thought to serve me in the past three months in a great way. It has been beautiful to see people so inspired and attentive to even see my potential needs and stop to ask if they could help. From homeless people to the best dressed businessmen I have been surrounded by angels at every turn and for this I an eternally grateful. Thank you to everyone for your kindness. God bless!

*I guess I never gave a broken foot update after a big disappointment almost two weeks ago. My doctor had said that perhaps in late February I could start walking on my cast. I was very hopeful but when I went in for my appointment the doctors said they would like to see me go 5-6 MORE weeks non-weight-bearing. That's a total of 12-13 weeks -- this all started the first week of January!

After the doctor gave me the news and walked out of the room, tears started falling down my face. I was trying to breath and hold them in. I had to go back to work so I couldn't even call The Man and tell him because I knew I would burst out into tears and be a mess. So I texted him and I texted my mom in tears as I grabbed some lunch from a drive-thru. Silly girl.

Now I'm in my ninth full week of non-weight-bearing and have a little less than 4 weeks to go. In the next week I am hosting a birthday party, having a gospel study group at my house and have just taught a lesson at church standing up on my iWalk crutch. At some point I had to go back to a few more regular life duties, some unavoidably timed, but these events coming up make me a little nervous.

Planning A Tween Birthday Party

We are smack dab in the middle of planning our first big friend birthday party and to make things even more interesting it is going to be a tween birthday party with 18 girls invited. This should be interesting, dramatic and energetic. Yikes.

We are inviting all the girls Bug's age from church and from her school class. I just didn't see a way to cut the numbers down but of course I am sure we can anticipate that there will be some who cannot attend so the number should be a little smaller.

The image above is a little nod to the invitations I designed for the party. I will post a blank version of the invitation in the next few days. Unfortunately my program crashed just as I was going to start doing that so I have to basically redesign the invite to share with you. Ergh.

Designing the invitation and getting envelopes addressed is really the only major creative endeavor I will do for the upcoming party. Getting the invitations printed was the hardest part. It seems that going to either of the two big box office supply stores to get a little job printed anymore is definitely not as easy as it once was. I went to one brand and they were having computer problems so I wasted 30 minutes standing there for nothing when they offered me the chance to pick them up the next day. They I went to the other brand and they couldn't do them before overnight as well. Super frustrating since I used to be able to pop in and have a quick job like that done in five to ten minutes. Not sure what's changed exactly as far as how they process jobs or whether they have less equipment what. Now it's an overnight project for them to print 12 sheets of paper in color on cardstock apparently. Ergh.

Because of my work schedule AND the fact that I'm now in my third month (!!!) of being in a cast and non-weight-bearing - on crutches, crutch or scooter I am trying to do as little labor for this party as possible. To further complicate this month I am teaching a lesson at church this coming Sunday, have a church activity at our house three days after the party and I have taken on a little side project opportunity that I would be insane to pass up due to its long-term potential benefits.

Everything else has been planned to be very simple. We are ordering pizza and salad and will get a store bought cake and ice cream. Even thought we're buying everything we're buying good quality stuff so we'll eat well and healthy. The great thing is that after doing the budget, I don't think it would be possible for me to make an equally good meal for less money - and this way I'm avoiding a lot of work. Just holding the party will be exhausting enough without taking on a mountain of set up, clean up and more.

We're staying on a tight budget because I have learned how quickly this kind of thing can balloon out of control costwise. There's always one more cute thing you can do, one more darling decoration you can't pass up. I'm doing everything I can to keep that under control.

I think I've come up with a cool craft we can do that will actually not cost anything. Love that. I think they will enjoy it and it's something they can take home with them and enjoy for a while too. The one challenge I am facing is that we don't currently have an outdoor table. Don't tell The Man this but I'm thinking about how I can easily and quickly DIY a table and benches that we can use. I know that sounds crazy but then we'd have something outside for the entire summer. Maybe I can do something like this for a table and benches along this style. Another table option would be something like this. Nothing too crazy. I've been studying up on waterproof sealers that would help a simple DIY table last a little longer I hope.

This weekend will be the time to get the back patio set up. We'll see how it goes. (Okay I just went down a rabbit hole on Pinterest looking at sawhorse tables....and need to get to bed!) I will share more of the party soon. But it's been fun to share the planning phase today. This is going to be a pretty big adventure.

Hope you are well and enjoying your happy, simple, stylish life!