In Praise of Bodies

 Nothing happening Saturday, just me coughing.

Sunday is uneventful.

However, let me tell you about my people watching. My obsession with one aspect of people is something you might understand. I notice with keen interest how people walk so easily. I marvel that legs, knees, ankles all work together to make an easy transition from the street to the curb. I remember when I could do this. The change comes on so subtly. My lack of coordination and pain on movement has been a long time developing. 

Barely-walking babies have walking mastered. Some spry older people never struggle to walk or step on the curb. I suppose they have never had a significant injury. 

I imagine that none were thwarted getting adequate treatment by a workman's comp program that stopped all proper treatment. I will forever be resentful of workman's comp nurse who denied my treatment. I also imagine that a spouse was helpful in getting proper treatment. Yes, I have a lot of resentment when I actually think of my condition. 

But, mostly I admire the beautiful workings of a healthy body gliding along with ease, doing what a body was designed to do. I don't wish ill health or faulty working bodies on anyone. I just wish I had been so lucky. 

I won't entertain any Pollyanna attitudes or blaming me for my condition. 

These admirations of bodies have absolutely nothing sexual about them. I just marvel at the way we were made to work. The swinging of hips, the flexing of muscles, the swing of arms, all are just marvelous. No matter how well I take care of myself from now on, no matter how attentive doctors are to my condition, I will never have any of these actions restored to me. 

This post is not meant to be sad, but a praise of the beautiful workings of bodies. 

Do you ever watch bodies working perfectly and reflect on the mechanisms that come into play?

Walking Time and Yeast

Tommy was correct. We both timed my walk and it was under three minutes and over a minute and a half. That is disappointing. Honestly, the walk felt much longer! I was exhausted and my legs were trembling and I was winded. My back hurt for hours. Pathetic!

Next time, I will walk until he tells me I have walked for four minutes. I have him come out to watch me because I am so wobbly walking and feel like I will pass out from the exertion. Yes, pretty bad.

Buying the book about railroads proved to be a good choice for Tommy. He was reading from it before he even sat down in his chair. Everyday, he gets it and reads more. It is the type book that he can read from by choosing the section he wants. Reading is a much better alternative to just watching TV. He is mostly open to alternatives I bring up.

Did you know that "Chattanooga Choo Choo" was the first record to sell a million copies? Neither did I.

It is so rainy and stormy here that we have stayed inside all day today and all of the last few days. I don't even need to go out to water my plants. Right now--4:30 pm, it is 73F and the humidity is 91%. The humidity is palpable.

The ads for stores are not much this week. Hopefully, this next week will be better. Don't get me wrong, there are good sales, just not anything I want to buy.

The coupons are great, especially the ones for Ball jars, lids, and rings. So far, I have two copies of the ads, so two sets of Ball coupons.

I forgot to weigh today.

Fleischman's yeast, the little three pack, is abundant here. If anyone wants me to purchase and mail any, i will.

Weight, Exercise, Fingernails, and Blogger

Yesterday, Monday, I did not walk due to all the rain and the fact I slept a lot. Plus, I sort of forgot. I asked Tommy on Saturday how long I walked--he said 2 or 3 minutes. Nope, more than that, I hope. I need to walk 15 minutes every day. So, I am hoping it was more like 10 minutes. Whatever time it was, I will have to work up to my goal.

When I awoke Sunday, I weighed myself in only my panties and before I ate. I was down 1 pound more than I have been in years. Monday, after eating breakfast and lunch and drinking 10 ounces of milk and 16 ounces of water, I weighed 3 pounds less than Sunday. I wonder.

I have consistently had four slices of bread each day. I know. That is a lot. However, eating lean chicken and vegetables and fruit seems to have made a difference in my weight. Well, the chicken two days was full of Feta and the next was in some sort of breading with cheese.

Sleep has come more easily since I cut back on the Melatonin. Now, my back itches most of the night until i give in and take allergy meds.

Is there a place to check spelling on Blogger? Why do i have to come back to the present post to start a new post? Is there are place to solve these two problems? Surely, there is a spellcheck.

Why does the "i" sometimes capitalize itself and sometimes not?

I decided to buy a glove for my left hand before i cut off a finger. It is metal and mesh. It is like ones used in the meat department and in the produce department in the grocery store.

Speaking of cutting my finger off, I asked the doctor last Wednesday about my accident. I told her i let it bleed freely several times, washed it in soap and water, held it closed, wrapped it tightly to help stanch the bleeding, put mupiricin on it, kept it very dry with a glove for three days.

She said i did "exactly the right thing." Since it still hurts deep inside, she took a look at it and said it was going to be fine. But i still need the metal mesh glove! I have too much cutting to do to take any chances.

I just noticed that my fingernails are incredibly stronger/thicker now. Usually, my index fingernail is not hard and bends easily. Now, it is steel hard like the other nails. I have lethal weapons on the fingertips. The only difference is the 50,000 units of Vitamin D that I have been taking since. February 2020. I just now noticed the index finger nails because I hurt my eye with an index fingernail. 

Hot, Bright Day and Lots of Things Accomplished

I could count this as a failure at day one. I did not water the plants even once. I did not take a walk. AND, I did not sleep a wink last night. The baby squash are growing. So, this was a win since I did not die and got sooo much accomplished.

We went to the food giveaway and got lots of vegetables and fruits and two gallons of milk. Plus, we got a box for the people next door. The day was brilliant with a few small clouds against a blue, blue sky.

I spent about $100 on stocking up and used 7 coupons that gave me $20 off my total--3 $6 coupons and 2 $2 coupons. And, I used a card with $37 on it...all free to me. In the end, I spent oop about $35. I picked up a print-out of my meds for the last 18 months at WG. Bought my favorite bread for $.99 at bread store.

At Publix, I bought two half gallons of milk, 2@$4.49, and cheese, 2@$3.

We took a sandwich with us, so we had that and spent no money eating out. Water was good.

Tommy paid a bill in person, and I mailed coupons to a friend.

As for the "failures." I probably walked my 400 ft. but not in one go. I may water some of the plants about 10pm.

Then, I lost two cards, credit card and another. I am very upset about this. Edit: I found both cards stuck in some papers.

At 5:30 I told Tommy where the chicken and carrots were in the refrigerator. He chopped a tomato for his Romaine salad. Well, I was in bed and asleep before he ate or even went to the kitchen. I awoke at 9 pm and it's about 10 pm and my bedtime.

We saw the remains of a wreck on the interstate. All three vehicles were still there. One car had impressions on the top, front to back. Scary! A flatbed had obviously mounted it. The other car was ripped up from hitting the concrete median.

I heard a bird I do not recognize. The song was in like four parts. So, now I need to study bird calls...lol.

Beauty After the Storm and Walking Plans

Yesterday, Saturday, saw tornadoes and death, but today dawned with a lovely blue sky and pretty clouds. Even though it was in the low 50s, I did not wear a coat and only wore sandals without knee highs. I stuck my toes under the American Airlines throw/blanket and was not cold at all. After church we decided to go for a drive and got burgers.

When Tommy was ordering, I knew his blood sugar was dropping. I tried to get him to stop in a parking lot to eat. Then, all spacey, he refused a bite of his burger and insisted on holding it, which he did for 5 minutes, driving crazy with one hand. It was falling apart and dripping on him. He did not care!

We got onto two-lane road that had very few shoulder areas. He tried to ride the outer white line, then swerved back toward traffic. Finally, I said I had to go to the bathroom and he passed all the gas stations. I begged him to pull into a church were there were still cars. He passed them all. Then, I told him to pull into a driveway. He asked why. Because I want to go to the house. Finally, I gave a bloodcurdling scream as he headed off the road. After demanding he stop now, he pulled over to a wide shoulder. I got out, grabbed my purse, braced myself and grabbed the keys from the ignition.

While I can barely get from house to car, I walked to a house, got no answer, walked across the highway and up a driveway to another house. A guy answered the door and called 911 for a welfare check. I knew Tommy's blood sugar had gone up with the passing of time after the hamburger.

When I got back to the car, Tommy offered to let me drive. He said it was since I was so insistent. It has to be his idea...lol. He did get out of the car and use the roof rack to get to the passenger side. I followed him along and behind him since I never know if he will fall or just decide to step into traffic. (I cannot help him up, but I might drag him off the pavement all the time trying to get traffic to miss him.) Then, we just waited.

A firetruck blocked the highway and ambulance followed to shoulder. I got out and told the guys what was going on. I knew his blood sugar had risen--100 was what it registered. Tommy knew who he was, who was president and his birthday. The guys said between 60 and 100 was what they used for determining if he was okay. Tommy told them he would let me drive.

He told them he could be the navigator because I was frantic not knowing where I was. So, with me driving and him giving me crazy directions, we got back to civilization. When I stopped at a store for bread, I took the keys since I was a little gun shy about his mental state.

As we drove back, he told me he knew something was wrong because he had a funny taste in his mouth. If he does not kill us both, I may be able to convince him sooner each time that he is in trouble. That is the first time he has admitted he knew something was wrong.

Of course, I never take oj and pb crackers to church. That changes now. We have been home for two hours after the incident, and I am still shaking.

Yesterday, I decided I would take my walker and walk past two houses and then come back here. It will hurt me, but maybe it will build some stamina. I may only be able to walk to the next driveway at first. We will see. After the distance I walked today, I may not be able to walk for several days. Walking will not cure my back problems and might make it worse.

The wind and rain were fierce here yesterday, beating the porch, front door and all the front windows. Thankfully, no tornadoes came our way even though several touched down and killed three people near here. This morning, I found everything on the front porch was on the ground. I have found pots overturned, but never on the ground, always on the porch. How did the weather affect your area, home? Area?