Rajah's exercise journal (comments very welcome :) )

[Rajah]

Hi Doe, thanks.

My back is getting better. Still have that "kink" in my neck which is keeping me from full range of motion, but it's not nearly as bad as it was and I know from past experience it'll go away shortly.

Actually, the weekend turned out to be very good, even though I'm *exhausted* from it.

Saturday morning my mom called and said let's go somewhere, so she and I took off (even though we didn't get out of town until just after noon) and drove up to Brenham 3 hours away to do some wildflower sight-seeing again. It was later than we've gone in previous years, so the flowers were a little different, but still beautiful.

Then we stopped by the Antique Rose Emporium just past Brenham and spent a while looking around there and I picked up 4 roses for our back yard. (DH should watch what he says when he says "I like roses, why don't we have any roses, I want some roses". LOL! I'll take him seriously!)

The only bad part of Saturday was the drive home, which was in pretty heavy rain and a few slightly-flooded streets. Like rim-deep on the wheels type flooded. That was a bit nerve-wracking since I hate driving in the rain, but the good of getting out of the house and a bit of different scenery (not to mention getting ROSES! ) was worth the rain.

Sunday we pretty much took it easy. Didn't make it to church (okay by me, I wanted to avoid the crowds) but did go to brunch with some friends, watched the Nashville Star episode we recorded, then my mom helped me figure out where to put our roses.

Then yesterday I went all over after work trying to find just the right pot for the one rose we want to make a container rose.

Exercise-wise, that meant a *lot* of outdoor exercise on Saturday, plus a full round of Tai Chi to try and loosen up after the drive in the rain. Then Sunday didn't really do much. Yesterday was lifting pots and bags of potting soil and stuff.

 

[Rajah]

Ouch.

I don't know what I did (or didn't do?) but my foot and calf cramped this evening. I did do some more walking and lifting in the form of getting more gardening materials (I really better stop that method of exercise and start with the method of PLANTING said flowers!!). Then after my leg cramped, I figured some Tai Chi focusing on my back, neck, and that leg would be a good idea. Helped a little but not much. I need to do that some more and more often again.

 

[Rajah]

Okay, getting caught up since I'm *way* behind...

Don't remember what I did Thursday. I think something in the garden or related to the garden, but I don't remember

Friday I toured some gardens with my mom, got a lot of neat ideas.

Saturday I pretty much took it easy all day. Did just a little bit of garden-related stuff, but pretty much just crashed for the night.

Yesterday (Sunday) we did a lot. First helped my mom finish putting up her curtains (and that's harder work than it sounds!! Mental note: No more draw-string curtain rods!!), then went to Lowe's and got some garden stuff, then went home and planted our roses.

Today, I'm stiff and sore and my throat hurts. I hope only because of allergies from doing the roses.

 

[Rajah]

Nothing special yesterday. Just wandered around a nursery for about 30-45 minutes looking at flowers. Didn't find what I wanted, but I did get some walking in.

 

[Rajah]

Did some more nursery-walking yesterday, and followed up with one round of Tai Chi warmup and exercises yesterday. I really need to get back active on that. I'm getting my exercise with planting flowers and stuff, but it's not as effective as even 15 minutes of Tai Chi nightly was being.

 

[DoeWDW]

Tammi, you're going to have to make a rule of "no TV before Tai Chi" or some other rule that will compel you to take that 15 minutes which you KNOW will help you feel better. I know it's easier said than done - I've tried it myself!

You're going to have such a beautiful yard with all that gardening work! I have a black thumb and kill everything .

I hope your Monday is turning out to be a good one!

 

[Rajah]

LOL! When I wasn't sick, I was doing Tai Chi *during* TV. But with this infection I'm still fighting, I'm just too exhausted.

 

[DoeWDW]

Tammi, I hope you're feeling physically better. I also hope things with your mom are manageable - am keeping her in my prayers.

Don't forget how good you feel when you get a little exercise in - even 5 minutes is better than none!!

and

 

[Rajah]

Yeah, I've been doing very poorly lately in getting my exercise in, and my back's starting to tell me about it. Still haven't gotten rid of this bug or infection entirely.

I have been doing some gardening, though, so that counts. Nothing regular, though. Just haven't had the energy. :/

 

[Rajah]

Not exactly the type of exercise I *want* to get, but I got a *lot* last night.

It's been raining pretty badly here the past few days, and we discovered a small leak in our roof that had soaked the drywall. Our attic is easy to get around in, so DH was able to find and put a temporary patch around it until it stops raining long enough to have a roofer in to fix it. Well, finding that got my mom hunting in her house, and *she* found a leak. Only she can't go up in her attic very well and doesn't want to do so by herself, so we went over to her house to help. (See, this is one of the good reasons to live nearby)

Well, her attic only has "walkways" to get to the main section of the A/C and heater. Other than that, it's open attic, and guess who got to be the one to "walk the balance beam" to get to the far back corner of the attic and find the leak.

Took about 30 minutes of hunting, but I did find it and got to do all sorts of deep knee bends and stuff to get down and fix it. She's also going to have to have a roofer come out, but at least now it's leaking onto a bucket instead of the drywall.