This week I have a chiropractic appointment on Monday, an appointment with my sports’ medicine doctor on Thursday and I’m taking the day off on Friday. I may even schedule a massage on Friday too. I really hope I feel better at the end of it, because by Friday we’ll be in May and May is always a stressful month.
We’re rapidly approaching the end of the school year. My kids have five weeks left. I have seven weeks left. The end of the school year is always a busy time, and this year we have an 8th grader, and all the events that accompany ending middle school and starting high school.
My daughter is also in a higher group at swimming, which means she’s supposed to be there four days a week instead of three. That means I need to take her three days a week now, instead of two (she can get herself there on Wednesdays, when her school lets out early). Driving her to swim practice is the absolute pits. I have to bolt out of work minutes after the bell rings to get in front of the horrendous traffic in our parking lot. Then I have to pick up my daughter right when her school gets out and drive her across the city to downtown. She usually gets out of the car mere minutes before her group starts swimming. Then I drive back across town to pick up my son, and either take him home or to the dojo. On days when I take my daughter to swimming, I’m in the car for 2 or more hours straight. I hate it.
So while I’m so proud of her for reaching this goal, and so glad she can practice more, I am loathing the increased time in my car.
My back has a lot of complaints about it as well. My back has complaints about a lot of things these days (sitting, sleeping, just being), but it REALLY has a lot of shit to say when I’m driving. It makes that long stretch in the afternoons really awful.
I’m hoping the chiropractic appointment helps. It probably will, a little. I also plan to speak to my doctor about it on Thursday. I’m going to ask her when I can run again too. Please let it be soon! The weather has been beautiful and I miss running so much. I know it would help me feel so much better if I could just get out once a week. This Tuesday it will have been nine weeks since my injury. Someone at one point mentioned three months as the expected healing time for the tibial plateau fracture, which is the biggest concern when it comes to running. Obviously my ACL is also a concern, but with the success I’ve had on the mat, I think it can handle running on a flat surface (with the support of my brace) fine. At least for short distances. I also think it was maybe my physical therapist who floated three months, so maybe my doctor will feel differently? I’ve been so focused on taking my test, that I haven’t pushed running as much, but I’ll definitely be pushing it this Thursday.
I plan to be on the elliptical more, and to push harder on the elliptical, so I’m ready for running once I’m cleared to go again. I’ve really liked the stationary bike – more than I expected actually – but it’s in our dark little kitchen and I only have a few “equipment” classes I have to keep cycling through (I get three free with my cheaper membership, and I record them with zoom so I can keep taking them over and over). The classes are great – I like the music and the instructors and I really get my heart rate up. I love getting off the bike half way through for strength training (I do the “bike boot camp” classes), and I feel like they provide a super effective 30 or 45 minutes workout. But I’m ready to have more options. I really hope May is the month!
I also have to figure out what I’m doing at martial arts now that I don’t have the test looming. I sparred during my test and my knee felt fine. Having said that, I promised myself that I wouldn’t push it on the mat once my test was done. I feel incredibly lucky that I was able to test so soon after my knee, without making it worse, I would be gutted if I re-injured myself right before summer. So if my doctor says I need to wait a while longer before I can spar, I will likely respect that. Even though sparring is the reason I love martial arts. If I can start running again, that would make it a lot easier to stay away from sparring.
My husband and I are talking more about the house cleaner. I will admit, part of why I got so upset about the concert tickets was the fact that I have been putting off the regular house cleaning because I felt it wasn’t in our budget. I even waited longer than I should have to schedule the chiropractor appointment because $110 isn’t nothing, and I know if I go once I’ll probably go again soon. I’m always stressed out about spending money, and part of that is because I don’t have a solid budget I’m following (if I knew how much money I could spend, and am spending, I’d feel okay when I actually spend money), so I plan to work on that this summer. I feel like I’ve kind of lost track of what is a reasonable credit card bill, because I buy pretty much everything for myself, the kids and the pets. And yes, sometimes I buy them and myself things we don’t really need. Having a budget would help alleviate my stress, but it also seems like it would be a ton of work. Still, I’m 43 years old. I should learn this shit finally and use it.
Blerg, this post is all over the place. But I’m glad I used my time on the elliptical machine to work some stuff out instead of to get work done. I’ve worked a lot this weekend and I’m so over it. I still have work to do tonight, but it’s on paper. But I got a lot done today, around the house and for work, so I’m considering it a win. And now I need to clean the shower before I take one.
I hope you all have a smooth transition this week, into the month of May.
