Rewards, Setbacks & Baseball

Hey everyone, I had my post 95% written when the news had "breaking news" that totally blew my thought process. Ken Griffey Jr. - my favorite baseball player ever - announced his retirement. I am in mourning!

Yes I know its silly. And yes, I definitely knew the day was coming... but still its sad to see one of the last true professionals in the game call it quits. I don't think I'm exaggerating to say that I was probably one of the happiest people in the area when he returned to Seattle. Seriously, I pre-ordered tickets to last year's home opener - which was an amazing experience - and immediately bought tickets to the final game of last season (anticipating that he would likely retire then). We totally intended to go to a game before The Husband left on deployment, but the Navy schedule didn't let that happen. Have to admit, I'm feeling a bit bitter toward the schedule that kept us from going at the moment... grrrr. Its time to dry my eyes and have my finger on the trigger for when they announce the date of the retirement ceremony at the stadium... cuz you can bet your last dollar I will be there.

Okay now, for my original post...

Do you ever feel like planning is the surest way to have something unexpected happen? I swear just about every time I have a concrete plan something interferes - and typically something major enough I have to alter my plans. Today is a classic example. My plan was to hit the gym this morning, deal with the furniture delivery/babysit in the afternoon and work for a few hours in the evening.

That pretty much all went out the window at 3:30am when I woke up with mystery pain. First the pain was just in the shoulder blade of my previously injured shoulder. By the time I got up with the boy one the pain had spread down my rib cage and the outside of my right "girl" was screaming... not to mention it hurt really bad to take a deep breath. I downed a couple Vicodin with breakfast - hoping that would knock the pain and that by evening I'd be okay to work & get in a condensed workout at least. Apparently, I didn't eat enough food with it because I ended up feeling soooooo sick - like I could hurl or pass out at any given moment. Or maybe it affects me differently with 50 pounds gone from my body... whatever it was not a pleasant experience. I'm feeling better, but think its probably best to take it easy for the evening... so that's what I'm gonna do.

Today has been a bit of a setback - between the pain keeping me out of the gym & just feeling generally icky for so much of the day. Tomorrow is a new day... hopefully a pain free one.

As promised, here's what I plan to do for my rewards for the Deployment Challenge. I'm going to build myself a charm bracelet - either Pandora or Chamilia. Something like this...




Each month will offer me the chance to earn three charms/beads: One for meeting the food goals, one for meeting the exercise goals and one for posting a loss for the month. I like this idea because I can totally customize it to fit my tastes and budget. Its something I will enjoy creating & having, but not something I would ever consider spending the money on just for kicks.

Debbie - I tried to email you about joining me in this... but it said your info was all private, so please email me. :)

I tried a new chicken recipe for dinner tonight. Time to go see how it came out...