In Which I Have a Pain in the Neck

Well, actually make that two pains. I will tell you about each one.

1. An ACTUAL pain in my neck. 

Remember I had that horrible headache on Christmas day? well, it was Jan. 2 before I could get myself to my atlas chiropractor. She's so wonderful. I knew my atlas was out of place and I was right. It took 2 trips to get it back in place but my head hasn't hurt since. Headaches are so awful and they can truly be debilitating. I don't know how people live with them. I'm a little worried each time my neck hurts or I start to have a headache but I know there are other reasons for headaches and neck aches. It's not always going to be my atlas. I wouldn't even mind going to the chiropractor that much, but it's pretty far from our house. After having that much pain, I am very thankful to be pain free!

2. Cooking. And planning what to cook. And buying the food to cook. And cleaning up from the food we cooked. And doing it all again in a few hours.

So, some changes at husband's work resulted in some insurance changes, which resulted in us having to pay out of pocket for medicine this year. My husband has Type 2 Diabetes, which means his meds would cost us about $1,300 a month. Clearly, that's not do-able. So ever since New Year's Eve, we have been working on getting him off of some of his meds. 

The way I decided to do this was with Trim Healthy Mama. I know the plan. I know it works (I lost a lot of weight about 3-4 years ago BEFORE my dad died and BEFORE we found out our second-born daughter had food allergies. After that, I concentrated on learning to cook for her allergies and gained a lot back. Sigh) So we started THM and he is already off of his short-acting insulin! We are so happy about that! However, if the cost is not monetary, the cost is time. 

I am fixing THM breakfast and supper each day for him as well as planning and packing snacks and lunch. That's everything he eats, seven days a week. It's a LOT. Big deal you say? Perhaps you do that already. But there is never a time he can just grab some to-go food to give a break or just buy something at the convenience store when he's hungry. There is not a time for me to sleep in, either. This morning he did fix his own scrambled eggs and I got to sleep until just after 7. It was heavenly. 

It affects our lives greatly is what I'm saying. We have to go to bed earlier so we can get up earlier so we can do all the food things. 

The good news is that in comparison to all this meal stuff, homeschool is a breeze! We had our second day back today and its going fine. More on that later. 

I'm going to read a little now before I start cooking the next meal. 

P.S. I'm so busy I don't even post pictures on here! If you want to see what's going on with Project: Family, follow me on Instagram! 

Signing off, 

A Story

Once upon a time there was a family who had a very good holiday season. Thanksgiving was stressful for the Mother as it has been since her father died. Her father had always done so much that his daughter had always considered Thanksgiving a vacation. No more. Thanksgiving is not very much fun when you have to do all the work. And spend that much money.

And of course as soon as that holiday is over, it's time to prepare for the big one: Christmas. And although the Mother enjoyed Christmas and picking out presents for her loved ones, and although she was filled with gratitude and thankfulness the whole month because of all the blessings her family had, it was a bit stressful too.

There had been a houseguest that month and of course shopping and presents and cleaning and cooking--so much cooking. There was upcoming stress of the next year to think about as well.

So that on Christmas afternoon, when all the festivities were quite over, the Mother developed a bit of a headache and said that she thought she would lie down.

And the headache grew and she felt quite bad and the lying down turned into nearly the whole evening and the Mother went to bed at 10:30. When she awoke the next morning at 8:45, she felt better. Can you imagine needing that much sleep?

The mother feels better now. And she is also going to do something she never, ever does. She is going to make today a vacation day.

There will be no self-imposed guilt about her husband working so she should be working too, like usual.
There will be no worries about all the things that need doing about the house.

The Mother is going to sit and watch movies and do nothing responsible all day long.

The End.

In Which My Neck and Back Get Fixed

I have not been feeling good this week. Did I already complain about that? Oh well. Yesterday it occurred to me that maybe my atlas was out of whack.

Do you know where your atlas is? It's the bone at the top of your spine that holds your whole heavy head up. Here's a good pic. There are special chiropractors who will align your atlas bone without any popping or twisting or turning. Dr. Roy Sweat developed the method and it's totally pain free, but looks somewhat like a torture device. It's amusing.

So I called this morning and thankfully, our wonderful doctor had an appointment for me. She not only adjusted my atlas, which was, in fact, out of place, she also used the "jackhammer" on my back and did some other instruments to get my spine realigned where it was hurting.

I have some other issues that are making me not feel too good, but hopefully that will all help. I've been sitting here tonight diffusing essential oils and trying to rest. And, I took another nap today. Seriously, I've got to get to feeling better. I was fine on Sunday!

Tomorrow is not a stay home day, either. So I hope and pray I wake up feeling better and able to do all the things I need to do.

We released another episode of our podcast today! Did you know I had a podcast with my husband? It's called the Uplift Podcast and this week we are talking about camping and our need for sleep. Please go check it out so we have more people listening than I have fingers. That would make us really happy! And hopefully, it will be entertaining for you! Here's the link.

Signing off,