{{{Deena}}} Heart~ma to your dad.

{{{Shrift}}}}

That's all I've got. My brain and my motivation appear to be vacationing elsewhere. I hope there's a beach.

I'm having weight issues too right now. I tend to want to eat when stressed and my life has been kinda stressful for awhile. I hate it when I eat something and then think, "Hey I'm only doing this becuase I stressed." Gotta think first, eat things later.

I'm trying to get my exercising back in place, but that's hard with a rough homelife right now.

Iliac crest = the bone on your side at the top of your hip. Or part of bone. Part of the pelvis? Anyway, if you put your hand on your side at the borrom of your ribcage and slide down your torso, you'll hit the iliac crest. It's where your hip belt should rest when you are wearing a backpack, so that the weight of the pack is mostly carried by your hips and not your shoulders. Which I put in as explanation of why I know the name. Anatomy is notmy field of expertise.

That paper said you were putting on your ranty pants? That doesn't seem like a proper journalistic term.

I hope your brain and motivation are enjoying the cabana boys, Ginger.

The Iliac Crest that part that--at least in pictures of scrumptious guys--that curves so nicely at the hipline. Most often peeking up coyly over the waistbands of low-slung jeans. Guaranteed to make me think naughty Mrs. Robinson thoughts when the sons of friends show up in their slouchy clothes.

edit: And -t has the official definition.

I'm having MAJOR weight issues (like 30 pounds overweight) and I finally had an AHA! last night. I am taking both Elavil and Propanolol, and they're the only drugs that finally shot my migraines down to a tolerable level.

They're both notorious for causing weight gain.

Okay, I can live with that tradeoff. I am trying to change diet, and I am exercising more, but I'm also realizing that this isn't really under my control.

Ouch ouch ouch.

My back was already a little sore from Wednesday, when I think I had Annabel a little out of balance in the sling going to or from the ballpark. And then last night I remembered I'd left my library books in the car, so I went out to get them just before midnight. It's been rainy here--hard, soaking rains rather than the standard-issue Seattle drizzle. Our cars are parked at road level, down a low but steep little bank from our yard. There are steps on the path to our door, but I usually just go up and down the bank, since the steps are kinda awkward.

Coming back from the car, I thought I was coming up the bank, but misjudged in the dark and hit the steps. Which were slippery, even more so than all the wet grass. I wiped out and landed hard with my hip on the bottom step and my shoulder on the top. I fell so hard I was actually surprised to be able to stand up and move. But today my lower back twinges practically every time I shift. And the wedding coordinator gig involves a lot of lifting and carrying, some of it heavy and/or awkward stuff. I'm always sore by the end.

I guess I should just pop lots of ibuprofen and stretch every chance I get...

I'm also far more overweight than I'd like to be - more than I have been before, other than a few weeks ago before I started dieting, which I'm not really doing right now because it's too hard with the moving and the not cooking, etc. But I decided I would get jeans that fit me now rather than wait to lose weight, and my office mate said she'd tried on low-rise jeans and they made her stomach flatter, so I thought I'd give 'em a try. DH likes 'em. I don't know when I'll feel comfortable wearing them without an untucked shirt over them.

Oh, Susan, ow! Heat pack, maybe?

Timelies. I have good news.

This is the tale of my father and the medical community.

He didn't like his doctor because he didn't feel the doctor did what ought to be done when he went last time complaining of some oddity, and so didn't want to go again for a check-up, despite some worrisome symptoms. Mom finally threatened to make the appt. and take him herself if she had to hog-tie him, so he made an appt. for Wed. On Wed., his EKG was good, his cholesterol level was stellar and he was scheduled for a stress test.

On Thursday he went and planted things in his garden all morning. When he and mom got too hot, they went inside and he drank some lemonade. He got terrible indigestion, but the pain wouldn't go away. Mom convinced him to go to the hospital in case the pain was something more important than indigestion. Half way there, he talked her into stopping at the doctor's office instead, so he could show the doctor just what those pesky symptoms he'd been having were like now that he was having them.

Of course, the doctor told him they were classic heart attack symptoms and he needed to get to the hospital. Of course, he argued with the doctor and said it would pass, he just wanted to figure out why he gets such bad indigestion. Between mom and the doctor (and taking into account the fact that mom was driving), they convinced him to go to the hospital where they'd just figure out what was going on.

He was having a heart attack, as we now know. He argued with the nurse when she tried to give him nitro. But, again, mom prevailed, and then they took him in for some exploratory surgery, discovered that his left artery was almost completely stopped up and put in a stent. The stent wasn't working properly when they left it, so they had to re-evaluate it this morning. This morning it's working just fine. The plan now is to move him to a regular room tonight, keep him one more night for observation, get him to promise to be careful and see his doctor for follow-up and send him home tomorrow. Mom said it's a good thing she talked him into going yesterday or it would have been massive and could have killed him. There's some damage, don't know how much yet or what it all means to his life and lifestyle, but for now, he's going to be just fine.

Thank you guys, so much, for the ~ma and the love. I know it helped. It certainly helped me a lot.

I'm also too fat to be happy with any of my clothing that normally would be right to me

Oh, me too. And it's spring, so there's so much more *me* showing. I realized my jeans were tight the other day, too, and they weren't a month ago. But I am a major comfort eater (and shouldn't be because, hey, diabetic) and when I'm stressed (like now, with money issues and a book deadline), I find myself eating every time I turn around. It doesn't help to be home all day, either. When I was working, I had to actually decide if I wanted to get up, go down sixteen floors and outside to the deli before snacking, so that helped.

Here, the fridge is twelve feet away. Sigh

only to be quoted in the paper as saying she was putting on her "ranty pants"

Oh my good God. They said that?! Although, also, kind of funny.

{{Deena}} Lot's of heart healing ~ma to your Dad.

Yikes, Susan!

The sun is out today. Work is going to drag.