Just a thought...

I realized today a couple of things. My children and I am probably the most athletic members of the Cattell family. Within the past year and a half, I have walked off 54 pounds and walked in my first 5K and have plans to do another one in March. Travis has now competed in his second Walt Disney Marathon. Not only did he start them both, he finished them both! This year he had Lindsea by his side and that is so neat to me I long for a permanent walking and exercise partner... Sarah can run 3 miles easily and the only reason that she did do the half marathon yesterday was her work schedule did not allow it. Knowing that exercise was once a dirty word for me and one of the things I was sure I was allergic to, I am so grateful that as the three of us are getting older, we can still find things that link us together-such as walking/running exercises. The Word of Wisdom does say that if we follow it, we "shall run and not be weary,and walk and not faint." I find myself anxious and eager to get back to walking again just as soon as I heal from this surgery.. Then, who knows...I may end up right up to your front door... so, LOOK OUT!! GET YOUR WALKING SHOES ON!

Now I know why:

I returned from the doctor's office just a short while ago. Now I know why I have been feeling more tired these past few days than usual.. It seems that the combination of removing the staples, the irritation from the staples that were not removed and the weight of the excess skin from my weight loss have combined to make a hole in my incision about the size of the top of my thumb. I have to pack it with medicated gauze on a daily basis from now until next week when i see the doc again. Caiti has been my nurse and has done an excellent job of applying betadine and gauze to my incision. However, I am not sure how she will do when she has to start poking some mediciny ( i know.. it is not a word) smelling gauze into a hole in my stomach with a Q-tip. Maybe I can bribe her with something she really wants... ! Oh, wait.. Christmas has just passed as well as her birthday and she now has everything she wants!! I must figure out Plan B quickly!!

How things change in just a few short days...

If you could see me know, you would see me singing and jumping for joy! The heater man is here with the part for the furnace!! This wouldn't be such a big deal except that the heater went out the day before the sub-freezing temperatures arrived... Thank heaven for space heaters, but even they did not help much... when you don't worry about putting something in the refrigerator to keep it cold because the temperature in the kitchen is about as cold as the temperature inside the refrigerator... that is too cold for me! I have not felt my feet in about a week!! So, here's to the men who brave those frigid temperatures outside to make my warm and toasty inside !! What am I saying.... here's to men in general !!! :-)

It just feels so weird...

Today is kinda surreal for me. I should be in school, surrounded by hundreds of eager (?) students who are anxiously awaiting the next morsel of wisdom to fall from my lips. Instead, I am at home and it is so totally quiet, it is almost unnerving. I have only my thoughts to keep me company at the moment and that may not be such a great thing! Then again, it is bitterly cold outside, my incision is not healing well because of persistent infection and I did not sleep well last night. Soooo, maybe it is a blessing that I am where I am, doing what I am doing.... This is actually kinda deep thinking for me on such a day as this. I think I'll go take a nap!! Till later...

Feeling Guilty... Nawwwwwww

I should feel really guilty... The teachers have to go back to school tomorrow, but I'm not going back yet for a couple more weeks. Feeling guilty... Nawwwwww. Wishing I had some other reason for staying out of school for two more weeks... Yeah.....

Jimmy will be my substitute... how cool is that... If he can survive this experience, he is a good man !!

A sad passing....

Other than my family, few things have been in my life for longer than 10 years. Until Skye... my Russian Blue cat I have had since she was a brand new kitten. I got her from a co worker who rescued her from the middle of Hwy 319 on her way into work one day in 1995. She was always a cat that could adapt to any situation. When we lived in the country, she was happy as an outdoor cat...When I lived in town, she was happy as an indoor cat who had taught herself to go to the bathroom outside... She was a tough cat.. She survived an encounter with an armadillo or some other pesky creature who took a bite out of her tail. That is why she had such a short tail the last 4 years of her life. She always acted as if she owed what ever piece of real estate she happened to be laying on at the time. But she always came running, or walked with cat-like steps, to get a good head scratching. She never would cuddle for long, hated car trips and didn't get too excited at the usual "cat" toys, but she was always "there." She died in a place where she was loved. She died having lived a good long life. She was the first pet my children ever had and was Sarah's "Skye Baby." I thought she was beautiful. She will be greatly missed...... Rest in Peace, Skye Baby...