Be Your Own Superhero - Oct 31

One of my favorite lines from any song is from King Of Anything by Sara Bareilles

I hate to break it to you, babe
But I'm not drowning
There's no one here to save

Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning, but I'm not.  I always have the option to stand up and walk myself out of the situation I am in.  Getting in shape can be overwhelming.  It's huge and daunting to go from super morbidly obese to morbidly obese, then just regular obese.  My goal at the moment is just to make it into overweight.  I have to do it for myself and by myself.  Sure it's good to have a support team and friends - but they can't do it for me.  Every choice is mine.  I choose what to eat and what not to eat.  I choose to workout or to sit.  

Today's superhero thought is

Today I'll focus on the choices that give me the life I want, not the one I currently have.  

Recovery & a hard picture to look at, just warning you

yesterday's walk was so much harder than it should have been.  The good news is that my recovery was faster.  I got up this morning to only a little soreness and was able to get a mile done.  Not striving for more than a mile a day this week.  My ankle still feels fragile.

I have made a collage of rather icky photos to remind myself of what CAN happen if I don't keep my gout in check.  I have a tendency to forget the pain when the pain is gone.  Sometimes the bacon wins the battle - stomach overwhelms brain.

I keep a copy of this on my phone and am printing out one on for my fridge.

Those are tophi.  I consequence to having high uric acid levels for an extended period of time.  They don't just form where the gout attacks are.  You can get them on your ear, elbow...all sorts of places.

I work with my hands, so these are the most terrifying photos I could find.  no hands = no work.

I'm working hard to keep my diet in check and my exercise up.  This attack lasted so much longer than any in the past.  Gout isn't fatal.  I got it much younger than most women do.  I am only 47 and my grandparents all lived into their late 80s.  I do not want 40 years of attacks, actually I want ZERO years of further attacks, so it's something I have to get a handle on.

Cola Rain -

Sugar Buildings - that's a LOT of wasted calories!

Yummy Coffee

The walk to pick my kid up from school was unfun to say the least.  The first quarter mile was like having my ankle sawed in half from the inside.  Then it loosened up and I was all 'this isn't so bad"  But by half a mile it was bad again.  Had time to relax while I waited for the kiddo and then things were back to "I can do this"  by the last quarter mile home I was back to the glass inside my joint cutting it's way out feeling.

BUT

I did it.

I survived and in a few days I'll be able to go even longer.

The ick of the walk was quickly forgotten when I got home.  My coffee from Red-Headed Philosopher was waiting for me!  Home all day except for that 30 min and I manage to miss them.

They put stickers on the bags.  It was a nice surprise when I unrolled them to smell the joy.

Today's latte was served in this

Not my new coffee - but I did just make a nice carafe of some.  No flavoring or creamer.  It's nice to enjoy the actual coffee flavor first.  The latte this morning was pumpkin spice.  

Coffee a Day

I collect

Corningware with a corn flower blue pattern

ways to make coffee

cups to drink coffee


I've started showing off my coffee mug collection on Instagram.  my profile is @shouldntsaythat - follow me there!

In the mean time - here's what I've posted so far!

Much more interesting on Instagram since I tell you about what I'm drinking too.  :-)  

My all time favorite is the bottom one with the leaf imprints.  I bought it at Irish Fest 2013.  I recently tracked down the artist so I can get another one in blue.

I also love the beaker.  It makes my coffee taste like science.  :-)  This one is a replacement.  My husband broke the first one.

Useless

I had my worst gout attack EVER and have been pretty much useless for nearly 3 weeks.  This one was in my right ankle - where it started and I hate ankle flare ups so much.  When it's the toe I can put on a slipper and still get around.  No way to avoid putting pressure on the ankle when walking, so like I said - useless.

I admire people who live with daily pain and manage to get through it and still have a life.  I don't know if I can be that tough!

This attack was brought on by the change in the weather. That's a common trigger for me and I didn't help by eating a couple of food triggers around the same time.

My workouts were not a bust though.  While I did have a day where I only walked 550 steps, I did do some upper body workouts and a few one legged squats.  If that's what you call them.  My left leg got quite a workout since it was supporting my weight.  The workout felt good and helped loosen it up.

Tomorrow I think I will be recovered enough to get a mile in.  I started wearing shoes yesterday, so that's a good sign!

Visual organizer

I don't always respond well to structured lists - telling me that I have to do this or that at a certain time.

I made this planner for that side of me.  It's divided into 4 6-hour sections.  I just list the things I need to do during that block of the day.  If I say that I MUST exercise at 7am and then do housework at 8am, I will do nothing until 10 and my day is shot.  

I figure I'm not the only person with this type of thinking, so I'm sharing this for anyone else who might need it.

Click here for pdf