Let's be real here. As I tried to write a simple post about my happiness in April I realized I didn't have a whole lot. It was another rough month. I kept making just enough progress to keep my chiropractor from ordering an MRI, but not enough to where I felt like I was actually getting better. The weather here is perfect this time of month and I've been spending my days fighting through work and then coming home and crashing, hard. Not a whole lot of climbing or hiking for us. I've been exhausted and in pain all month long. Needless to say it's been a fairly depressing and very stressful month for both me and Chad.
Like I posted yesterday, I am getting better, and I've made a lot of progress in the past week, thanks to Chad. Now that we have found exercises and stretches that work (and I've stopped going to the chiropractor) I'm very hopeful about finally getting better. My goal is to be able to stand up by the time Val and Bill get out here.
I have learned one very big important lesson through this whole ugly experience. One that I hear all the time but hasn't ever effected me so much, health is everything. Everything. Once I can get this problem fixed I need to get to work. I have a finicky SI joint, tight psoas muscles, an overworked piriformis and a weaker core and glutes. It is what it is. Sitting all day has not been kind to me. I have never been so excited to know what parts of my body are not pulling their weight!
Part of this lesson is learning that I need to care for my body better. Not just sneak in some vitamins here and there and work out on the weekends. I need to create a better lifestyle for myself. To be honest I don't think I had a horrible lifestyle before, I just need to do better. I need to listen to what my body needs on a daily basis: water, rest, exercise, sun, fruits, veggies, the list goes on . I need to make taking care of my body one of my very top priorities.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Lucky Duckies
This past weekend Chad and I have had an amazing string of luck.
First, and most importantly, I now have a keyboard!!! AHHHH! I am overwhelmingly excited! Chad was looking on craigslist for camera gear and whatever he typed in his search randomly pulled up this keyboard. It was decently priced so on Sunday we decided to go and check it out. It was fantastic! Touch sensitive keys - I am over the moon! A Dixie State student was trying to sell it before he moved back to Hong Kong. We ended up paying less than half of what these used keyboards go for on Amazon. #Winning! Finding this gem at the price we paid was pure and complete luck! I haven't really played the piano in well over 2 years, so I am very excited to get back into it. I can also plug in my headphones so when it's evident I haven't played in 2 years so I won't have to assault Chad's ears.
My back had kinda stalled out on improving lately. So after a couple very, very rough days, Chad took matters into his own hands. We abandoned the stretches that my chiropractor gave me, they apparently were overstretching everything, and Chad found some killer websites all about my lovely SI Joint problem. After doing the stretches once, ONCE, I iced, napped, and then was standing almost straight. A freaking miracle. After doing these stretches all weekend and during the day on Monday, I am almost upright and the pain is slowly starting to disappear. Slowly but surely. I really am lucky to have an amazing hubby who has worked his butt off trying to help me get better, and when I get better, it will all be because of him. Thank you Chad, and thank you internet.
While this may not be luck, it is amazing. A Culver's opened up in St. George. Maybe it's lucky that it's just far enough away that we won't be tempted to eat their every stinkin' day but close enough now that I can have fried cheese curds and all of the frozen custard!
We have made best friends with the coolest woman who works in the climbing store. Seriously, I want to be her, but that's a whole other post. The best part of this is that we actually remember the first time we met her because she was that rude. Now, I want to bring her Christmas presents and go out to lunch with her. Anyways.... now that we are BFF's she gives us a discount every single time we buy something there. And not like, oh here's 5% off, yesterday she gave us 20% off of our purchase. Thank you very much!
First, and most importantly, I now have a keyboard!!! AHHHH! I am overwhelmingly excited! Chad was looking on craigslist for camera gear and whatever he typed in his search randomly pulled up this keyboard. It was decently priced so on Sunday we decided to go and check it out. It was fantastic! Touch sensitive keys - I am over the moon! A Dixie State student was trying to sell it before he moved back to Hong Kong. We ended up paying less than half of what these used keyboards go for on Amazon. #Winning! Finding this gem at the price we paid was pure and complete luck! I haven't really played the piano in well over 2 years, so I am very excited to get back into it. I can also plug in my headphones so when it's evident I haven't played in 2 years so I won't have to assault Chad's ears.
My back had kinda stalled out on improving lately. So after a couple very, very rough days, Chad took matters into his own hands. We abandoned the stretches that my chiropractor gave me, they apparently were overstretching everything, and Chad found some killer websites all about my lovely SI Joint problem. After doing the stretches once, ONCE, I iced, napped, and then was standing almost straight. A freaking miracle. After doing these stretches all weekend and during the day on Monday, I am almost upright and the pain is slowly starting to disappear. Slowly but surely. I really am lucky to have an amazing hubby who has worked his butt off trying to help me get better, and when I get better, it will all be because of him. Thank you Chad, and thank you internet.
While this may not be luck, it is amazing. A Culver's opened up in St. George. Maybe it's lucky that it's just far enough away that we won't be tempted to eat their every stinkin' day but close enough now that I can have fried cheese curds and all of the frozen custard!
We have made best friends with the coolest woman who works in the climbing store. Seriously, I want to be her, but that's a whole other post. The best part of this is that we actually remember the first time we met her because she was that rude. Now, I want to bring her Christmas presents and go out to lunch with her. Anyways.... now that we are BFF's she gives us a discount every single time we buy something there. And not like, oh here's 5% off, yesterday she gave us 20% off of our purchase. Thank you very much!
Friday, April 25, 2014
5 {Pins} Friday
Oh Pinterest, how I love you. You give me so much hope and ambition that, if we are being honest, really never actually gets fulfilled. I am an avid pinner but a horrible doer of the pins. Here are 5 that I'm going to do! Hopefully... maybe.
1. Pad Thai. I loooove it. And I should really learn how to make a killer version. I've got a few different recipes pinned, I'm gonna try to find the best one. If you happen to have a dynamite recipe for this please share!!!!
2. Do something with my hair. I need to do something now before I see Cheryl and chop it all off.
3. You can never have enough headbands. Never.
4. Chad would be so happy if I wore any makeup. Poor guy. I'd like to try this out since I feel like you can never see what color eye shadow I'm wearing.
5. Much like I'm searching for a recipe close to Panera's chocolate chip cookies, I'm also looking for a sugar cookie recipe that's close to either the Clarkston Bakeries or Swig. I'll let you know if I find either one :)
1. Pad Thai. I loooove it. And I should really learn how to make a killer version. I've got a few different recipes pinned, I'm gonna try to find the best one. If you happen to have a dynamite recipe for this please share!!!!
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| Just a Taste |
2. Do something with my hair. I need to do something now before I see Cheryl and chop it all off.
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| XO, Angelina |
3. You can never have enough headbands. Never.
5. Much like I'm searching for a recipe close to Panera's chocolate chip cookies, I'm also looking for a sugar cookie recipe that's close to either the Clarkston Bakeries or Swig. I'll let you know if I find either one :)
 |
| Vintage Revivals |
Let me know if they've worked out for you or if you've had other Pinterest successes lately!!!
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Awkward and Awesome Thursday
- Waking up at 2 am in a lake of very cold ice water in my bed. I fell asleep while icing my back/hip and clearly the Ziploc baggies couldn't handle it. SO cold and SO wet. Then my hip hurt, not from pain but from how ice cold it was (and for how long it had been that cold). As you know, we've since made better ice bags. Brrrr
- A large group of people hiking up to the wall where we were climbing didn't expect to be attacked by a giant fluffy black bear. They didn't see us and didn't think anyone was there... until Rukia went barreling towards them and scared the crap out of them. They were good sports about it and ended up playing with her so it was all pretty funny in the end.
- The crabbiest lady IN THE WORLD (yup, I'm feeling dramatic today, but seriously, crabby pants) yelled at me at the nursing home yesterday, telling me to pull my shirt down because she could see almost an inch of my back (no, my butt was NOT hanging out!). I just laughed as she told me I was offending her and the guy sitting next to her. He responds "I didn't even notice it until you pointed it out. But now that you mention it... nope, it doesn't bother me".
- The Sno Cone shacks are open! Let summer officially begin!
- Getting a gross looking pizza from Dominos and then having them give us a second one for free. Nothing wrong with one pizza per person.
- Moving the TV in to our bedroom. We've discovered we really could mange just fine in a loft.
- We have consistently been in the 80's this month.
- Tax Returns! Procrastinating our taxes means we've successfully "saved" enough money for our crazy months of May/June.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Ice Ice Baby
I've gone through a lot of ice lately. Finally a few weekends ago we broke down and went to the drug store to get an ice pack. My sandwich bags were leaking all over the place and sitting on a bunch of ice cubes in a pool of water isn't the most comfy. What we found were $20 ice packs. Ha! Thanks but no thanks!
Instead we got some decent ziplock bags and alcohol. We figured if we could lower the freezing point of water we could make some stellar ice packs ourselves. You could use salt too! We got home and mixed 3 parts water with 1 part alcohol and let the ice packs freeze over night.
Let me just tell you, they are rockin' awesome. They don't freeze completely solid, which makes it nice to bend around my hip. Also, lowering the freezing point means that this ice pack is COLD. Real cold. And it stays cold a lot longer. Make sure you wrap it up in a towel first because that sucker will stick to your skin. So if you're ever in need of some ice packs try it out, it works great and is slightly less than $20 :)
Instead we got some decent ziplock bags and alcohol. We figured if we could lower the freezing point of water we could make some stellar ice packs ourselves. You could use salt too! We got home and mixed 3 parts water with 1 part alcohol and let the ice packs freeze over night.
Let me just tell you, they are rockin' awesome. They don't freeze completely solid, which makes it nice to bend around my hip. Also, lowering the freezing point means that this ice pack is COLD. Real cold. And it stays cold a lot longer. Make sure you wrap it up in a towel first because that sucker will stick to your skin. So if you're ever in need of some ice packs try it out, it works great and is slightly less than $20 :)
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Go Hug a Tree
Around here every day is earth day! It's hard not to be grateful when you live in such a beautiful place. There is little else that can fill me with such a sense of peace, happiness, wonder and spirituality as the great outdoors.
Happy Earth Day friends!
"Natures peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees" John Muir
Monday, April 21, 2014
Daydreaming
of red rocks
of tents and sleeping bags
of a puppy covered in dirt and us freckled and tan
of smores and bonfires
of lakes and rivers
of oceans and beaches
of green forests
of mountains
of hikes followed by naps in the shade
of climbing up cliff walls
of biking down rocky trails
of swimming in waves
of tank tops, short shorts, bathing suits, and hoodies at night
of hawks and eagles
of blue skies
of summits and canyons
of a renovated little bus
of driving... everywhere
and photographing everything.
of tents and sleeping bags
of a puppy covered in dirt and us freckled and tan
of smores and bonfires
of lakes and rivers
of oceans and beaches
of green forests
of mountains
of hikes followed by naps in the shade
of climbing up cliff walls
of biking down rocky trails
of swimming in waves
of tank tops, short shorts, bathing suits, and hoodies at night
of hawks and eagles
of blue skies
of summits and canyons
of a renovated little bus
of driving... everywhere
and photographing everything.
What are you dreaming about today?
Monday, April 14, 2014
Dinner in Bed
This weekend was full of laziness, with little bursts of energy/productiveness. Sleeping in until noon, but after an afternoon of climbing. A day of laying out in the sun, followed by finally doing our taxes. Watching an outrageous amount of The Office, but we found a new and faster hiking route to one of our favorite crags. See, little machine gun bursts of sobs energy.
Chad was thoroughly assaulted on one of his climbs. It was the hardest one he's tried yet, and it kicked both of our butts. He was swinging around, monkey climbing the rope at the end with rope burns on his chest and a bloody hand, and I was swinging around just as crazy beneath him. We were quite the sight. At one point Chad was dangling by a rope in a bush. Ridiculous. Luckily we were the only ones there so we didn't make complete fools of ourselves. All of a sudden 80 degrees is too hot for these desert folk to climb in. Works out fine for us!
By the time Sunday rolled around we were both exhausted. So we slept in as long as possible and then were as lazy as possible. Yay Sunday! We hauled the tv out onto the patio and then laid out in the sun while we watched the office. It was brilliant. When we were too hot and red to stay out there any longer we moved the whole setup upstairs to the bedroom. Pizza and cake in bed for dinner makes for a great Sunday night. To make up for our relaxing day we finally did our taxes. Every year we have the best intentions of doing them early and it just never happens. Once a procrastinator....
We'll see if we can carry over this semi-productiveness into the week. Chad's got a photography job he's working on and we've got a room full of clean clothes that should probably be put away sometime soon. But like I said, the tv is currently in our bedroom sooooo we may be having dinner in bed again tonight ;)
Chad was thoroughly assaulted on one of his climbs. It was the hardest one he's tried yet, and it kicked both of our butts. He was swinging around, monkey climbing the rope at the end with rope burns on his chest and a bloody hand, and I was swinging around just as crazy beneath him. We were quite the sight. At one point Chad was dangling by a rope in a bush. Ridiculous. Luckily we were the only ones there so we didn't make complete fools of ourselves. All of a sudden 80 degrees is too hot for these desert folk to climb in. Works out fine for us!
By the time Sunday rolled around we were both exhausted. So we slept in as long as possible and then were as lazy as possible. Yay Sunday! We hauled the tv out onto the patio and then laid out in the sun while we watched the office. It was brilliant. When we were too hot and red to stay out there any longer we moved the whole setup upstairs to the bedroom. Pizza and cake in bed for dinner makes for a great Sunday night. To make up for our relaxing day we finally did our taxes. Every year we have the best intentions of doing them early and it just never happens. Once a procrastinator....
We'll see if we can carry over this semi-productiveness into the week. Chad's got a photography job he's working on and we've got a room full of clean clothes that should probably be put away sometime soon. But like I said, the tv is currently in our bedroom sooooo we may be having dinner in bed again tonight ;)
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Awkward and Awesome Thursday
Awkward:
- Realizing your blue bra is on display through your white shirt at 3:30 in the afternoon at work. Luckily the Dr. was out of the office so it was just me and my office manager. Didn't realize it this morning because it's not see through when your hunched over and your flowy shirt is just hanging off you.
- Rukia and Penny have both decided they are throw up machines. Inside, outside, on our bed, on towels, in the kitchen, on the patio. There's nothing better than waking up in the morning to your dog puking on your bed.
- Waking up and checking my phone to find that it's.... 9:00 am. On a Wednesday. Good thing the Dr. was in Nevada. It's easy to sneak into work late when your the only one at the office that day. phew.
- The Walking Dead season finale. I know I'm late on this one but I'm super excited for Bad Ass Rick to be back.
- Easter Box from the parents. Loaded with candy! And a cute maxi skirt for me! Made our week!
- Chad makes me stretch every day. I'm always very angry with him afterwards. That shiz hurts you guys. He's going to need a prize when this is all over.
- Really though, Chad's been ridiculously awesome. I'm getting better, but standing is hard. Which means for over a month Chad has tackled the laundry, dishes, dinner and all the cleaning solo style. I told you he needs a prize.
- Since I'm obviously not moving much we've started marathon watching The Office. I forgot how funny that show was.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Calm Before the Storm
Before the fiery, fiery storm.
We are closely approaching the time of year when I go from bragging about the awesome weather here to complaining about how I'm about to burst into flames.
I'm trying to have a better attitude about it this year. Trying to be happy :) We may not have A/C in our car, but we do in our house. I will be brown and tan and my face will soon be stuffed with sno cones. Mmmmm sno cones. There will be pool lounging and volleyball bumping. And camping! We have big plans to get mega use out of our little tent, just as soon as we get some sleeping bags. And climbing? Oh yes, there will be climbing.
We may miss our beloved lakes when it gets to be this time of year, but we are still happy to be desert rats for the time being. So when it's 110 and I'm complaining and whining and dreaming of Lake Michigan, I will go get a giant sno cone and bask in the beauty of the fiery red rocks and gladly pay my dues for a mild, warm winter ;)
We are closely approaching the time of year when I go from bragging about the awesome weather here to complaining about how I'm about to burst into flames.
I'm trying to have a better attitude about it this year. Trying to be happy :) We may not have A/C in our car, but we do in our house. I will be brown and tan and my face will soon be stuffed with sno cones. Mmmmm sno cones. There will be pool lounging and volleyball bumping. And camping! We have big plans to get mega use out of our little tent, just as soon as we get some sleeping bags. And climbing? Oh yes, there will be climbing.
We may miss our beloved lakes when it gets to be this time of year, but we are still happy to be desert rats for the time being. So when it's 110 and I'm complaining and whining and dreaming of Lake Michigan, I will go get a giant sno cone and bask in the beauty of the fiery red rocks and gladly pay my dues for a mild, warm winter ;)
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Taking the Long Way
Now that I'm doing a little better standing wise we've been able to get out and do a little bit more than the nothing we have been doing. We've gone out twice this weekend to rock climb! Chad climbed, I belayed and then we watched his friend, Taylor, work on his crazy hard climb.
Saturday we headed out with Taylor to Cougar Cliffs. I was assured it was a 5 minute hike to the crag. 5 minutes. It was in fact much longer than the promised 5 minutes. I was originally going to stay home so I could relax and recoup and lay out in the sun, but I figured I could lay out in the sun while watching them climb up cliffs. Chad's poor friend. He had to deal with a slow crippled lady and a dog that is not a great climber/jumper/hiker. It took soooo long to get down where we needed to be. Soooo long. We had to go up and around and then all the way down and back over. Once we were there it was great though! The sun shined, I got some sun, the boys climbed, Rukia ran around, and no one got hurt.
Then we had to hike back. Which should have been fine, we found a trail that was right next to where we were, saving us the ridiculous hike back. Except Rukia really couldn't hack it. Chad had hauled her up to a certain point in the rocks when he realized they were both stuck. Our poor Rukia was not built for climbing rocks. After struggling for a while Rukia and Chad both remembered that she was a dog and she scampered back down. So we let Chad's very patient friend hike up that way while we went all the way around and met up with him at the top.
We finally made it home and Chad got a text that his friend had left his shoes at the crag. We felt SO bad. Until he texted back that it took him, a normal person with a functioning back and no crazy animals, 10 minutes to get down and find them. Ha. Next time I think Rukia and I will stay home and nap.
Saturday we headed out with Taylor to Cougar Cliffs. I was assured it was a 5 minute hike to the crag. 5 minutes. It was in fact much longer than the promised 5 minutes. I was originally going to stay home so I could relax and recoup and lay out in the sun, but I figured I could lay out in the sun while watching them climb up cliffs. Chad's poor friend. He had to deal with a slow crippled lady and a dog that is not a great climber/jumper/hiker. It took soooo long to get down where we needed to be. Soooo long. We had to go up and around and then all the way down and back over. Once we were there it was great though! The sun shined, I got some sun, the boys climbed, Rukia ran around, and no one got hurt.
Then we had to hike back. Which should have been fine, we found a trail that was right next to where we were, saving us the ridiculous hike back. Except Rukia really couldn't hack it. Chad had hauled her up to a certain point in the rocks when he realized they were both stuck. Our poor Rukia was not built for climbing rocks. After struggling for a while Rukia and Chad both remembered that she was a dog and she scampered back down. So we let Chad's very patient friend hike up that way while we went all the way around and met up with him at the top.
We finally made it home and Chad got a text that his friend had left his shoes at the crag. We felt SO bad. Until he texted back that it took him, a normal person with a functioning back and no crazy animals, 10 minutes to get down and find them. Ha. Next time I think Rukia and I will stay home and nap.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Awkward and Awesome Thursday
Awkward:
- The number of donuts we've been eating lately. And the fact that the best bakery in town is Kroger.
- One of our patients getting convicted of prescription fraud. Patients pretending to be the doctor leads to some pretty awkward pharmacy phone calls as of late.
- Trying to belay Chad when I can't quite stand up. Granted I do succeed, but I look ridiculous.
- The number of looks I get everyday from hobbling around. Strangers have actually started offering me advil. Oh wow, I hadn't thought about taking that. J/K I've taken 12 and it's noon.
- A patient exclaiming, "Hey! Are you making fun of me" as I was walking him back to a patient room. He was also hunched over and walking funny (due to physical disability), we both laughed as my office manager made a horrified face thinking that he was serious. This just happens to be our prescription fraud dude.
- The owner of Kneaders knows Chad so well now that he just gave him his French toast for free last week.
- Café Rio also knows us very well. In addition to knowing exactly what we order, one of the managers gave us our burrito for free last time we were in. It was a good free food week.
- Our car is in the picture of our Climbing Store's website. We just happened there when they took a picture of the store front. We are strangely very proud and overly excited about this.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
The Last Hurrah!
Every time I go in to see the chiropractor his medical assistant always asks me if I've been up to anything fun, or have any fun plans for the weekend. Every time he asks I want to punch him in the face. Does it look like I'm capable of anything fun right now? However, two weekends ago I did have fun plans!
Ash and Pat came down Friday afternoon! They were only able to stay until Sunday morning so we packed our weekend full. We tracked down a peacock at a nearby park, fed ducks, wandered around Petco, watched Frozen, fell asleep to it, and then rewatched it while playing Munchkins. Made chicken nachos, went to our beloved Chinese food buffet, and ate way too much dessert.
Every time they come down we have to do something crazy outside. We've hiked Angel's Landing and rock climbed before. This time we were hoping to go to an exotic petting zoo down in Nevada but unfortunately they were closed. So we took them rappelling instead. If we don't frighten them with some sort of outdoor activity we haven't done our job. lol
They both rappelled, twice, like champs! I was the official photographer for the day since I was crippled and drugged. Hopefully we'll be able to head up to see them in Provo one last time before they move to Portland. And if not, we've got California in the works :)
Ash and Pat came down Friday afternoon! They were only able to stay until Sunday morning so we packed our weekend full. We tracked down a peacock at a nearby park, fed ducks, wandered around Petco, watched Frozen, fell asleep to it, and then rewatched it while playing Munchkins. Made chicken nachos, went to our beloved Chinese food buffet, and ate way too much dessert.
Every time they come down we have to do something crazy outside. We've hiked Angel's Landing and rock climbed before. This time we were hoping to go to an exotic petting zoo down in Nevada but unfortunately they were closed. So we took them rappelling instead. If we don't frighten them with some sort of outdoor activity we haven't done our job. lol
They both rappelled, twice, like champs! I was the official photographer for the day since I was crippled and drugged. Hopefully we'll be able to head up to see them in Provo one last time before they move to Portland. And if not, we've got California in the works :)
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