LW: 128.4
TW: 128.6

Steady as she goes as far as my weight and I'm really grateful for that. Things are still pretty stressful here as we wait to find out more about the extent and costs of the sewage/plumbing fiasco. We got an estimate last night for part of it. That was close to $30K and it does not include replacing the flooring in our basement den or the drywall work or painting or the patio repair or the landscaping, and gosh knows what else. But I'm still trying to find reasons to be grateful, including the fact that none of these expenses are for health problems that money cannot fix. And mentioning health issues, I do have some good news there. On Friday, I finally got the results of my mammogram, and everything is okay. I have a lot of fibrocystic tissue and calcification, but everything appears benign. Having dense breast tissue does make it harder to detect a problem, however, so I guess I'll bite the bullet and go to annual mammograms rather than one every two years.

Sheesh, I'm envious of that upcoming vacation. With our unexpected expenses I don't anticipate taking a vacation this year, so have enough fun for both of us. Vacations have always been illusive for us. When I was working, my time off was typically spent traveling back and forth to NC to check on my Mom and my sister. Now that work is not an issue, I thought we'd finally get to do some fun traveling--and I'm sure we will, but probably not for a little while longer.

Like I said, I'm trying to keep a positive perspective. And there is something else positive. My back is finally feeling somewhat better. Yea!! Some days it hurts enough to need to get on the heating pad and take some Tylenol, but some days it doesn't hurt that much at all. I think it's just going to take some time. And of course, it aggravated that old injury to L1, but that injury gets aggravated every now and then anyway, and many times I can't figure out what is causing it to act up. I still plan to contact Costco to ask them to include more training to the employees who operate those cart carriers. They should know to look and make sure that everything is clear before they start them up again, particularly when they're where people are entering the store. If I was a child or had not had on that thick coat, I probably would have been badly injured.

Lois, I know you are having a great time in California. I'm happy that you are getting a break from work and getting some fun time with your sister. Hope your leg and foot are holding up. Love the photos you've shared. You just do not age!

Kelly, I know you're also having a good time in the sunshine at your brother's wedding. I'm looking forward to hearing about the trip.

Before I take off, here are my 7-day averages. When everyone gets back, we have to get some goals hammered out. I'm thinking about little changes I can make that will help me be healthier and feel better. And I know that when I tell you guys that I'll do something, the chances that I really will do it go way up!

Steps = 10,795
Kcals burned = 1,669
Steps = 12 floors

Still dreading my treadmill-less time when all that construction begins!!

Yes, Sheesh. I thinks it's the two of us, and I was really happy to see your post. I'm feeling kind of lonely and isolated today. I think it's the fact that it's super cloudy here, so pretty gloomy looking, and my lower back--or actually my rear end--is bothering me today. I have this odd sensation that my butt cheeks, for lack of a better way to describe it, are too heavy. There's just something not right, although the x-rays show no breaks. I am reminding myself that injuries always take longer to heal that you'd initially think. I remember how long it was before my right arm had healed as much as it did when I fell on the patio a few years back. And I regret now not reporting the incident to Costco when it happened, but that place was so terribly crowded that day and I was kind of in shock and just wanted to get home. Anyway, I'm struggling a bit today to keep myself from going down that rabbit hole of fear and self-pity.

Yesterday, in contrast was a good day. It was sunny and unseasonably warm, my back and back end felt reasonably okay, and so I took a shorter and slower walk on one of my less hilly paths. It felt so good to just breath fresh air and feel sun on my face.

But in another way, yesterday was a little sad. We learned that our long-time neighbor has been told that she cannot come back home, even with help. Apparently, her dementia is progressing rapidly. We went to see her in her new apartment at the assisted living campus last weekend, and for a time, she seemed like the old Lyn. Then she told us about an upcoming doctor's appointment and went on to tell us about it another six times before we left. And I think I've mentioned that she was a sports editor who loves to watch ball games, and she told me she does not remember much about December, January, or February (which we're barely into) and that she doesn't even remember the Super Bowl (which is this Sunday). I think her situation has made me realize how quickly life can change. A few months ago, she was living alone and doing reasonably well.

But I can't let myself get stuck in worry and sadness because it changes nothing. So I'm going to focus on what I can do. So we're looking at flooring and we've contacted the plumbing company to get dates for when they can start. We should hear something on Monday. We have a front coming through next week bringing heavy rain, so I expect they will want to wait until at least the following week. My dark sense of humor says at least the ground will be wet and soft! LOL

And regarding weight, I expect your muscle mass is greater than mine, so your weight would always be a little higher. And I saw 130.0 again on Thursday, oo I, too, need to focus on what I can do in this new year. I've said it before, but for some reason lately, my hunger is up and I'm having a harder time getting myself to wait for a little while after eating to let my brain and belly catch up with each other. I did notice that it was not so bad yesterday, so maybe there's some tie with the amount of daylight. Seems like this started when the days got really short. But there was still blue in the sky yesterday at 5:30 p.m.

Hope you have a good weekend. (And yes, the girl scouts are everywhere with their cookies now. Hope your grands sell a bunch!)

Well hello Ladies!!

So sorry to have deserted you both.

Sarah - eeek on your plumbing issues. That's a hard hit. And I just read that you did not report the accident to Costco? Well, I'm glad you're moving around a bit, but that stinks to high heaven. Making a note to myself - and to others - be sure to make accident report when shopping if something happens. With our aging selves, we just never really know how something is going to affect us. Yes, I'm aging along with you guys.

Sheesh - you are so creative with the family trivia games and stuff. That sounds like a lot of fun.

OK. So I'm still swamped with the new software rollout. I jumped on the test site and it doesn't look like anyone has really done much while I was out. Not really surprised, so I'm adjusting my calendar to offer times for me to go to each sales office and sit with the agents for a couple of hours at a time and get them going. We have to load up 62 homes that are under construction....

Disneyland - certainly a magical place. Due to the weather, I think I shared that I added another hotel night, that moved us from the Grand Californian to the Disneyland Hotel due to costs. And I also attempted to reschedule the entire trip to May with my sister the week before, but she wasn't keen on the idea - or even to the end of the week. That didn't go over well either. So, four nights at the DLH. We arrived Saturday and had a great time preliminary shopping and getting her used to using the scooter. We had a great lunch where they brought her a cupcake/candle for her bday. Sunday was GORGEOUS. The morning was crisp and no rain. If you're on FB you probably saw that she was able to get pics with the characters she wanted AND rode the two rides that she really wanted - multiple times. The rain arrived about 330ish...and by then, we truly had accomplished what we had wanted, so running around in the rain, was not an issue - we had ponchos and blankets, handwarmers, hats. We were ready. Well, I ended up replacing the poncho with a Micky Mouse raincoat as my sleeves were getting wet as I assisted my sister off/on the scooter. Her toes got soaked as they were peeking below the scooter poncho and the extra poncho/blanket we had on her lap. We called it a night about 815. Twelve hours in the park, 24k steps and we were so happy and excited for such an amazing day. The next day was a resort rest day. I had planned for us to visit the other two hotels (Pixar hotel had just opened) and shop and eat at Downtown Disney while it rained. Well, sis woke up feeling horrible. As the day progressed, she did not get out of bed. I did all of the planned stuff solo (which was fine). I just would pop back to the hotel to check in and bring food. 15k steps. Well as Monday progressed and she seemed to be yucky, she said she didn't want to go to the park on Tuesday. So I called a friend and he said yes, he'd love to meet up. After I brought dinner back, sis was extremely warm. So I ran downstairs and bought a thermometer. 101.6. Thankfully I did pack Dayquil, nyquil tylenol etc. as well as Liquid IV. So she was taking all of that. I decided that I needed to cancel the park day for Tuesday and had my friend change his ticket to Wednesday. Figure check out, go to the park and then drive to my daughters. Tuesday just before the scooter place was closing, sis decides she wants to go with us on Wednesday (this was against my better judgment, but I extended the scooter rental so she could join us). That was a mistake. I should have just gone to the park as planned with my friend on Tuesday. Her fever had broken. She would have been ok alone in the hotel room. So off I went around the resorts again on Tuesday. Wednesday at the park she was miserable. It was still cold (though the rain had stopped for the day). The park was extremely crowded and was challenging for her to navigate with the scooter. And, somehow the scooter didn't stay plugged in overnight so we had to find outlets to keep her charged up. I got so frustrated. She was grumpy, I got grumpy and we both said things we shouldn't have said. I was ready to just call the day at 10am. We'd had such a fabulous day on Sunday and I didn't want this frustrating day to be our lasting memory. Well, about 4pm, she called it a day and I walked her back to the hotel and got her luggage from my van. Returned the scooter and then rejoined my friend in the park. We did have a good time. Hubby always says we are only allowed 4 days together. And he is right. I called sis on Monday night, as I do each week. She thanked me again for a fabulous, memory making, dream come true trip and then said, maybe we should limit our time together to three days!!! YEP!!! She did go to the doc when she got home...simple cold. No flu, covid, pneumonia... she's doing great. I had a great day after with my daughter as we visited our 91 year old Auntie and then I drove home on Friday. Longer drive than usual as they had a lot of road construction, active and with police presence to keep us under 60. I was exhausted when I got home. I jumped on the computer Saturday to catch up and got sucked into work - for 4 hours plus. So I stayed away from the computer on Sunday.

Monday was insane - as in my four hours on Saturday, I only managed to respond to emails. Happily the sales team was on FIRE and we had new contracts and supporting stuff. That literally took me ALL day to process. So before I lose track of the day, I thought I'd pop on and say hello.


Sheesh - have an amazing trip this week.
Kelly - hoping you had an amazing trip as well.
Sarah - keeping you in my prayers my friend.

Goals,... yeah, not set.