Ice Ice Baby...Thaw It Out!!

First...Dun Dun Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Dun Dun (or something close or maybe not close but you get the idea)...because you know that's what is going through your head right now.  Okay, done?  Moving on.

So, um, yeah, I finally made a doctor's appointment last week after having some pain for about the last two months.  You know what gets you a quick appointment?  Chest pains.  Apparently that's a red flag to those in the medical profession.  Who knew?!

I sauntered on over there after school today with my knitting in tow so I could occupy myself while I waited.  I love my doctor's office, but I usually have to wait a bit and they have really shitty magazines.  My new hobby is knitting, so it seemed like a good time to work on my oh-so-lovely scarf that will be a gift...that is if I ever get the thing finished.  I'm thinking short scarves should be the new trend...I could at least call this one as DONE!  But, alas, probably not going to happen.

I met the lovely, amazing, and genius NP at my doc's office.  Although I knew her prior to today, she was the parent of a student, not the lovely, amazing, and genius NP at my doc's office.  She hooked me up with the EKG just to make sure I was being honest...turns out I was!  Apparently being 25 pounds overweight AND eating crap for six months has not hurt me a bit...She totally described my heart as "good as any athlete."  Um, excuse me, have you looked at me? There are many words that come to mind when I look in the mirror, but athlete is not one of them.  (Although I'm going to impersonate a coach in a few months when I become Assistant Track Coach...here's to hoping no one catches on I'm only accessorizing with that whistle!)

So, you ask, what the hell is wrong with me, the girl who can lug around this extra poundage while still having the innards of Michael Phelps?  Apparently my left shoulder is a bit stuck in place...like frozen...like that acorn in Ice Age.  Guess what?  All those muscle-thingeys wrap around the chest and all around and stuff.  When they bind up (think a rubberband twisted round and round and round and round till it's about to pop), it apparently causes chest pain.  Dull, aching, burning, throbbing, holy-shit-this-hurts chest pain, BUT not holy-shit-I'm-dying chest pain.

I'm feeling quite a bit better now thanks to the lovely, amazing, and genius massage work of Nathan McCarter.  This post is sorta sponsored, I guess, by my lovely, amazing, and genius mother-in-law who was kind enough to get me a gift certificate for Christmas. Because I am totally psychic and intuitive and schtuff, I had already booked a massage for tonight (amazing timing, no?) so I got a start on thawing this bad boy out.  Hopefully the chest pains will be no more and my should will again start to feel like it's part of my body.  Just to make sure, though, I feel quite certain I will need a massage on a regular basis....for medical reasons only...not just to escape my crazy house...promise.  ;)

A New Day...This Is What I Know

Dear Peeps, 

When I was a kid, I did a great impersonation of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."  I used to do it to crack up my bestest little friends, the sisters.  I can still crack them up with it if I work really hard, I'd bet.




Whatever random television station I was watching last night played this immediately after the apple/shoe/peach fell to mark the beginning of the new year, and it reminded me of sitting outside of Wendy's waiting on our dads to bring out some cheeseburgers while this song played.  Funny how those moments sneak up on you when you least expect them.

The new year always brings with it so much promise, but I'm always a little sad to see the old one go away.  Not because they've always been great years, mind you, but because I know that year.  It was predictable and comfy, like my green houseshoes with the soles worn thin.  It fit me because I had adjusted to it.  I didn't have to think about it when I wrote checks; it was instinct.  Now I have to start all over again.

Just like most, I make the same promises every year....better health, more exercise, blah, blah, blah.  And, just like most, I stick with it for a bit, but then I give in to summer ice cream trips with the kids and emergency runs to the drive-thru.  Thus the cycle begins again....and again...and again.   I've decided I'm done with that.  Of course, I will clean out the fridge and buy the healthy foods because I need to do that for health reasons, but not because it's my resolution.  It's just what I need to do for my body, but not my soul.

My soul resolution this year is to take a weekend or at least one day each month and to do something to recharge my batteries, so to speak, and to be a better friend.  Simultaneously.  I think I'm a good friend to many and a great friend to a few.  I'm dependable.  I'll bail you out of jail, let you borrow my clothes, give you amazing unsolicited advice, and cook for you on occasion.  But, I compartmentalize my life.  My family is one box; my career is one box, and my friends are a box.  I try to keep these separate because, truly, sometimes I need to go to another box to save my sanity.  It's harder and harder to make time for all my boxes.  

I want to make 2013 the year of friendship.  My goal is to spend the time each month with at least one friend.  I want to travel to visit those people I always say, "We need to get together!" but then life takes over and we never do it.  I want my girlfriends to come over with all their damn kids (trust me, there are a lot of kids....13, not including mine!) and let them play games and chase each other around while we chat around the kitchen table.  I want to jump in the car and spend the day  with my peeps in the town an hour away.  I want to fly to the other side of the country to see my girlfriend and explore her new happiness.  

Life has always been a series of mundane events punctuated by some spectacular event....a wedding...a funeral....a birth....a milestone of importance, such as starting school or graduating one.  I have always lived for big events.  I love the planning for a big trip or the anticipation of a surprise, but I fail to live in the moment.  Life is about my baby girl coming into my room on a Saturday morning and cuddling in the crook of my arm.  It's about explaining the ups and downs of friendship to my son.  It's about watching my oldest grow into a beautiful and strong young woman.  Memories are nice, don't get me wrong, but I need to leave more than memories to my children.  I need to leave a legacy of love and caring about those who are important to them as part of their everyday lives.

For January we are taking the kids out of town for the day and I'm planning to invite the girls over for a night.  In February there is Sisters' Prom!!  i hope sometime this summer to make a trip out west if everything falls into place.  As for the rest, we'll see how it goes.  I'm sure I can conjure up something! 

Where will 2013 take you?

Smiles,
Breathe Chick