Hi Friends. Happy November!

I’ve never voted in this manner before, but I dropped my ballot off last week! Have you voted?

I am SO loving the fall colors. Here is a little view of my recent walks in the neighborhood.

Last Monday we had just a little bit of snow to add to the beauty of the season.

I never took my pj’s off that day. I spent the day sipping coffee and lounging while watching The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix.! It’s one season and I thought it was great! It the story of a young girl sent to an orphanage after losing her mother and how she discovers the game of Chess while at the orphanage. I know nothing at all about the game of Chess, but I loved this series. Our next project? Old Man is going to give me Chess lessons.

Mike turned 60 on Halloween. That’s right. I now just call him….Old Man. At least for a couple of weeks anyhow. The kids and I went back and forth on whether to get together to celebrate or not due to the damn Rona. We didn’t want to be irresponsible but we so wanted to celebrate him. We decided to have a small celebration and we surprised Old Man. I met them up the street after telling Mike I was going to pick us up some dinner. We all dressed as him and walked up to the porch together. When he answered the door he look so confused but also happy to see us all standing there dressed as him. It was hilarious.

These are my favorite pics! They decided to represent different era’s of Mike. Ha!

A good time was had by all. The temp was in the 40’s and we had the back doors open to the screened in deck with a fire going in the fireplace and the propane heater going. Hopefully we were successful in celebrating safely.

Covid sucks.

Speaking of Covid sucking, another one of my WW Virtual Workshops will be closing. My Monday night group met for the last time tonight. I now have only one Virtual Workshop on Friday morning. I feel so grateful to still have a job that I feel passionate about, but my job is changing regularly and the uncertainty of when things will even out is daunting to say the least.

I still have two Wednesday workshops that meet in person with limited attendance allowed, but honestly I’m not loving those either as I can’t seem to move past the claustrophobic feeling of wearing the mask. Also, I miss the larger workshops and the energy that brought to the workshops.

WW will be keeping the Virtual Workshops moving forward and that is such great news for members moving forward.

It makes it easier to find time to fit in a Workshop without the drive time.
Perfect for those that still do not have a Studio open close to them.
So many options to offer throughout the week as far as time of day and day of the week!

I have applied for a new position within the company that will keep me coaching on a regular basis, but I know I’m applying with a lot of competition. The fact that I deleted all of my social media accounts one week before learning of this new position, did me NO favors whatsoever. So….if it’s meant to be, it will be. If not, well then, in the wise words of Old Man, it is what it is.

I’m participating in the #100daysofwhy on the WW App in Connect, the social media part of the WW App. I gave up Facebook and Instagram and other social media outlets and apparently traded them in for the social media part of the WW App! One of my jobs for WW is the role of admin for one of the Connect groups, so it seemed appropriate for me to start spending a little more time on Connect and try to stay connected with the members that I’m no longer able to see on a regular basis.

We are currently doing a six week series with WW titled “Fan Favorites”

Week 1 was “Visiting your Why”. It is one of my favorite topics. My Why is my health, but in digging deeper it is about what being healthy looks like for me and what being healthy allows me to do. It is an anchor for me to continue to come back to when I’m needing it. I decided to participate in the trending #100daysofwhy on Connect as a reminder of how WW has changed so many things for me. I’m posting for 100 days reasons why I continue on this journey. Today was post number 14.

Here are my first three post. Powerful messages to myself!

The walks and yoga are feeling better and better and better with each day that I continue to take a break from sugar, dairy and nightshades along with a list of other foods for the time being.

Update on the rheumatologist and hand surgeon.

I tested positive for RNP antibodies. This can be an indication of MCTD (Mixed Connective Tissue Disease), an auto immune disease, which I think sounds worse than it is. Tell me I have any kind of disease and that just sounds awful. I had a telehealth appointment via Zoom to go over my lab work with the rheumatologist and he suggested one of the following…..

Prescription anti-inflammatory
Steroids
Hydroxychloroquine
Have an MRI to see the extent of the disease and pick the best of the above options

I suggested I continue eating the way that I am eating for November and December since I’m feeling so much better than when we first met and check back in early January and see how I am feeling then. He agreed that was a good plan. I don’t want to take any meds if I can avoid it. I really do believe that cutting out the sugar and the dairy has made a huge difference for me with the inflammation. I am also putting collagen peptides (supposed to help with joint pain) in my coffee each morning and using CBD oil (supposed to help with inflammation) every night before bed, so who really knows what’s working or if it’s just a combo of all of it. Whatever it is, I feel SO much better! It’s nice to finally have some answers and hopefully changing up the diet is all it will take to continue to feel better.

After we hung up I made the mistake of getting lost in Google looking for information on RNP and Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, and I came up with a lot more questions. Don’t Google your diagnosis. It did give me a list of questions though to ask in January.

I had minor thumb surgery (release of trigger thumb) on October 19th and had the stitches removed on the 28th, apparently a few days early! Ooops. As she was taking out the three small stitches, she says…..”Now don’t be concerned when you look at this. The bottom layer has healed nicely but the top layer appears to still be open, so keep this cleaned, dry and covered.” Well, she was right. Not the best thing to look at! Also, my thumb is numb. Kinda tingly like it’s asleep? Not all over, but 80%? I go back the first of January to see if the numbness is gone. Typically trigger finger release is an “in office” procedure, but if it’s the thumb, the procedure is done in the hospital with anesthesia as there is a nerve in the thumb that makes this a little more invasive than the trigger finger. Looks like maybe that nerve got in the way?

Looking forward into November.

My daughter Tess lives in Dallas and pre-Covid we would get together about every 4-6 weeks over the last six years. We haven’t seen each other since March. Next week we are meeting halfway at a cute little cabin we found online in Oklahoma and I am so excited!! It is going to be a beautiful drive for me as it will take me through the Ozark National Forest and the trees are just gorgeous right now! The cabin we are staying in is called the Sunrise Cabin. It’s a cute little A-frame and I am so looking forward to seeing my girl!

Old Man and I may be camping one night this weekend. We cancelled a reservation we did have as it was about a 4 hour drive and anticipating a light snow I didn’t want to commit to pulling the trailer, so if it’s nice, we’ll find something close and camp one night this weekend.

I’m keeping food really simple right now but eating all the food that I love. I seem to be satisfied with two meals a day. Eggs, Avocado, Berries, Salads, Chicken, Ground Turkey for Meatloaf or Burgers, Shrimp, Mahi-Mahi, Salmon, a variety of roasted veggies and a handful of nuts daily. Oh, and I’m down 11 pounds since September 1st.

When I want a sweet treat………..