Lost black cat named Pancake

Last seen: Carolina Trace/ Golf East, Sanford, NC 27332

If you think you see him, please call me at ANYtime!

210-887-5641

I have pretty much been horrible about working out. I’ve been really busy with work and while I know a workout would probably be the best thing for me, it seems to be the last thing I want to do after a long day. I usually just want to make dinner and do nothing. I am incredibly frustrated with my job right now. I like the work that I do, but the people who are supposed to be on my ‘team’ in a way are making work hell. One minute they say one thing about how something is supposed to be done and then when they screw something up (for whatever reason), they now want me to go against what I should be doing to basically cover their rear ends. I don’t want to do it so they’re calling me out as if I’m not a team player and it’s been hard for me not to cave in and do something I know I shouldn’t just to please everyone – but for now I’m still staying strong! I don’t want them to think that they can bully me into doing things that I know aren’t right (according to our national operating manual). From some comments I’ve heard, there are people at the company who want to do things their way whether they’re correct or not, and I made it clear from the beginning that I don’t play that game if I know better.

This morning I jogged/ walked a mile in 13:32 – definitely not very quickly but as usual, I couldn’t breathe well, so I did what I could. It felt great to have that ‘accomplishment’ before really starting my day. I may try to make that part of a routine once I’m able to get into a routine in about a month and a half.  I will try to keep it up for the next couple of weeks, but I don’t think that’s long enough to call it ‘part of the routine’ and there will be a definite interruption on 10 November.

I was contemplating keeping this to myself and some close friends, but I feel like I’ll end up having to explain for some reason or another, so I’m putting it out this way first. I know that not too many people read this, so it seems like a safe way to test the waters I suppose. I am having surgery on 10 November and was told that I can’t (shouldn’t? will get more clarification on this soon!) work out for a month following the surgery. I’m having a septoplasty and bilateral turbinate reduction done so hopefully –fingers crossed– I will be able to breathe like a normal person soon. I get so frustrated when working out because I’m huffing and puffing way too quickly and then after that the energy and motivation falls apart. It’s frustrating when walking to the car or up a flight of stairs and ending up winded when I shouldn’t be. I’m ready to be able to breathe. The outside appearance of my nose shouldn’t change (darn!), but based on the quick sketch by my doctor as he explained what he would be doing – there will be a drastic change inside. Steven has promised that he’ll take good care of me and if he takes any pictures, he’ll at least let me decide who gets to see them. I wish I could see into the future and would know how painful it will be and how long I’ll be loopy from the good drugs, but I don’t have a clue. It’s making me a bit nervous because I’m a horrible patient. Maybe I’ll get lucky and have an easy time with the surgery/ recovery like I did when I had my wisdom teeth extracted. I remember I slept a lot the day of and I only took one of the pain pills that they gave me – I didn’t need any more after that. I was swollen and a little uncomfortable, but not really in any pain as far as I remember…..it’ll be good for me if I have just enough discomfort to help me follow the rules.

Other than that, not too much is new. I spend way too much time working, trying to stay on top of things and figure things out, but that is probably going to slow down soon unless we continue to get a bunch of new contracts, which would be great! At least now I won’t be quite so clueless, so that should help!

I think our next two weekends will each be spent at a new track. Should be fun!! We’ll get to see some people on the 6th/7th that we haven’t seen in a while, but enjoyed meeting up in Ohio! I’m looking forward to it and am really really hoping that Steven doesn’t crash as now would be about the worst time possible for that! If he has to crash…..let’s hope for an easy lowside that only leaves a few scratches on the hardware. ;

Oh! Pretty sure Steven will be deploying with a reserve unit sometime January through March. It should be only like 60 days so it’s not too bad. The timing is what we would choose if we had to pick a time, so we can’t complain.

What really happened this week:
-Monday: ran a mile
-Tuesday: NROLFW – workout A
-Wednesday: ran a mile
-Thursday: NROLFW – workout B
-Friday: ran 1.25 miles
-Saturday: off
-Sunday: NROLFW – workout A

I’m proud of myself because I stuck with it for a full week for once! It feels great to be working out although I do wish I would see some changes. The timing of this week isn’t the best, but at the same time, it’s great because my expectations aren’t higher than they should be. I suppose I should give myself credit for making some progress -  my third run I decided to go a little longer and on my 2nd round of workout A, I went heavier on most of the exercises. I cleaned most of the day on Saturday, so even on my off day I was not a total bum!

Things are starting to happen with my job and I’m excited about it. I met with some people on Friday who are helping with the transition and start of this new company. This time feels much different than when I started my job back in February. We’re sort of in the same place, but I think everyone (the people helping this time are not the same group as before)  is on top of things and willing to make things happen. I go tomorrow to help find an office space, so unfortunately it looks like I’ll soon be losing my job without a commute, but I think that’s something I can live with. Steven and I will definitely need to adjust since working from home won’t have quite the same “hours” as working an hour away will, but I did it in San Antonio and Little Rock, so I know we can manage. I’m happy that I’ll soon have real work and a real office. As much as I have loved working at home, getting up and getting dressed/ going somewhere to work will probably be good for me. I enjoy feeling like a productive member of society and being able to work from home in my PJs doesn’t give me quite the same satisfaction as going to an office looking presentable to someone other than Big Kitty and Pancake.

I’m looking forward to being busy again. I don’t think I could do it with my out of whack thyroid, but now that that’s under control, I feel normal like I did when I was in San Antonio and very much able to juggle a job and other responsibilities. Steven now works more often so that’s a nice change from the time we spent in San Antonio when most of his “workday” was spent on the couch playing Halo or Rock Band since he had so much downtime during his training. It was tough some days to go to work while he was still in bed and only had to get up to play video games. I hope I can juggle work, all my volunteer activities, keeping the house clean, working out, and keeping us fed! I feel like I’ll be fine as long as I keep up with everything and stay organized. One thing I need to figure out how to add to the mix – my classes! I’m thinking I’ll just have to try to fit them in during lunch and maybe when I’m all caught up at work (if that ever happens?).

Off to get ready for a new week. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Well, we got a new DirecTV box for the treadmill tv and it’s been wonderful! I need to figure out a way to get the same new box to replace the other two because it’s much better! It’s cute and smaller, and seems to have a faster response time to browsing the guide and changing channels. The guy who ‘installed’ it was totally hitting on me – it was funny but I wasn’t sad to see him walk out the door. Running/ walking/ jogging is so much more pleasant when I’m watching something I enjoy on TV! I think much less about what I’m doing and just do it. I think it’s going to help me run more miles for sure.

I have also gotten a couple career plans approved on MyCAA and have received the course materials. I’m currently taking a photography course (a goal on my 101 list!) as well as a nutrition and wellness consultant course, certified personal trainer course and a yoga I instructor course. I need to make and stick to a schedule so that I get through them quickly so that I can start on the next round before I am unable to use the funding! I hope taking the nutrition courses will help answer some questions I have about my next career move. While I’m working on these courses I also plan to try and talk to a counselor on base to pick his brain a bit to get a better feel for whether being a counselor and military spouse could work and what some challenges might be, besides the obvious of course.

I took my trip to San Antonio! It was wonderful and crazy. I hung out with my parents, went to lunch with an old coworker from my job in SA, helped my mom a bit at the Kinetic Kids bike camp she was volunteering with, went to Abilene and saw my great grandmother/ grandma and her husband/ my uncle and grandpa, had a tire totally blowout on the way home and bust up my dad’s truck, my mom found a snake in our bathroom, saw a good friend who used to live across the street and another good friend from college. It was sorta nice to go without Steven. I did miss him and he missed me, but I think it was good for us to do our own thing for that week. He got a taste of being home alone for once, so he knows a little better what it’s like for me when he’s TDY/ deployed…so that was nice. He doesn’t think it’s quite as much fun as he did before he tried it.

Now that I’m back home and have no plans as of yet to go anywhere for a while, I’m going to work really hard to hop back on the workout wagon and take a nice long ride! I thought I’d start back to NROLFW on Sunday but I got lazy after we went to the shooting range (don’t mess with me, I have pretty good aim!! ) with Steven. Here’s my ‘plan’:
-Monday: run
-Tuesday: NROLFW
-Wednesday: yoga
-Thursday: NROLFW
-Friday: run
-Saturday: yoga/ off
-Sunday: NROLFW
I hope I am better at sticking with it than I have been!!

My current work situation is a strange one – not that that is really anything new these days. I have the best job in the world at the moment! I think that may be changing and that’s both good news and possibly not so good news. I am going to be transferring to another ‘sister’ company, but I don’t know many details at all yet. I’m waiting on a phone call and will possibly have a meeting to discuss more on Friday. I am hopeful that I’ll still be able to work from home because I have been spoiled not worrying about a commute! I know I could get so much done at home if I had real work. It’s hard to find ‘work’ to do though when you really don’t have any. I tried training for a while, but soon realized that I wasn’t remembering much since I wasn’t putting any of it to use.

I finally went to see the pulmonologist as well. He does not think I have asthma based on the things I told him, so he gave me more allergy meds to try and clear me out to see how that works. While I was there he had me do more breathing tests and take a brisk (normal for me) walk around the building with a nurse for 6 minutes while she checked my blood oxygen level and pulse every minute. All of those things seemed pretty normal apparently, I may have a slight obstruction or something but it doesn’t seem like asthma. I’m pretty sure that ‘obstruction’ is all the disgusting drainage from my jacked up nose! Even though I’m taking nose spray every morning and benadryl and zyrtec at night, I still have congestion. It’s crazy! I want to see an ENT because I feel like if I try to only breathe through my mouth, I am fine, but I want to be able to breathe like a normal person, through my nose, and not have my mouth hanging open to catch bugs just so I can breathe. The pulmonologist asked me to give him a call in 6 weeks to let him know how my breathing changed with the allergy meds. Hopefully if I tell him I can breathe better just through my mouth but not at all through my nose, he can send me over to an ENT?! We already know my nose is screwy so I’m not completely sure why my PCM wanted to start my breathing issues with a pulmonologist? haha I’m not a doctor and it’s free to me – so I’m not going to complain, but I’m also going to try to be my own advocate and not forget that I do have the right to ask questions and get the care I feel that I need.

Yesterday I took a friend to the hospital who has been dealing with lots of pain since April. Hopefully she’ll be feeling better soon! I don’t want to put more info about that on here because it’s not my story to tell, but it’s nice to have friends you can count on when you’re a military spouse, because often, that’s all we’ve got! I know I could count on her the same way she counted on me. It’s great to have friends like that. I’m SO thankful for all of my friends who I can count on around here!

Another thing that happened since I last posted is incredibly sad. We lost a friend who was racing. He was a really nice guy and left behind a wife and young son. It’s always really tough for me to hear things like that since it hits so close to home. Riding a motorcycle is something that can obviously be dangerous, but I know it’s also something that Steven loves and although he could get hurt, I’m in no position to try and take that away from him.

Well, that’s all I can think of for now – time to get back to work!

This morning we had DirecTV come out to install a box for us on our tv in front of the treadmill. We had basic (like 5 crappy channels with nothing ever on) cable, but figured out it would actually cost less to have an HD DVR with DirecTV added down there than to continue with the crappy cable! I’m excited about that and really hope it will get me on the treadmill more often/ longer. Unfortunately the box decided it didn’t want to work so we’ve got to wait for a replacement, but hopefully it’ll only be a couple of days without tv down there. I think we can manage because half of the time the shows that were on weren’t any better than staring at the wall anyway!

Last night we had a crazy lightening/ thunderstorm and it was awesome. It hardly rained, but I am so fascinated by lightening. If we had more coverage on our porch I probably would have sat out there and enjoyed the show.

I am not-so-patiently waiting to see if my ‘career plan’ has been approved. Recently, the My Career Advancement Account (MyCAA) has changed quite a bit to hopefully help more spouses find portable careers and help them contribute financially to their families. However, the changes mean that instead of being able to get up to $6000 in help for any certificate, license, or degree, it will change to $4000 and can only be used for a certificate, license, or associates degree. Also they have added some restrictions based on rank – which I’m guessing must be based more on an average age of spouses of certain ranks or something other than pay, because pay is definitely not ‘even’ across the stopping points. As a spouse of an officer, I can get the aid while he’s an O-1 to O-2 but that’s it, so that means until next May for us! I have given a lot of thought to my career path lately. I really do like my current job, but it’s not exactly what I had in mind for a career. I would love to be a counselor of some sort, but I don’t see that working with moves every few years. I already know that I wouldn’t want to leave people hanging, and I have found that it’s tough to find a good counselor. I have been hearing friends talk about appointments with nutritionists and that caught my attention a bit, then I found out about a Registered Dietitian. There’s more education involved to be an RD and just about anyone can call themselves a nutritionist. I absolutely loved my nutrition class at A&M – it was one of the very few classes where I actually read the textbook (and if you know me, that says a ton!). I feel like it might just be the best path for me given my military spouse situation. It’s like a ‘health counselor’ – or at least that’s how I’m looking at it. As an RD, I would get to work with people to help them become physically healthier and I see that as a more portable option. So – back to my ‘career plan’ on MyCAA – I added a bunch of classes so that I could get a certificate in a variety of nutrition courses (Nutrition and Wellness, Sports Nutrition, Weight Management) as well as some exercise courses (Personal Trainer, Yoga, Pre/Post Natal Exercise). I also threw in a Fundamentals of Digital Photography course for good measure. I figure it’s something I enjoy and if I get better at it, it could potentially be a side career. Now I just have to wait to see if all of that gets approved. I know those courses won’t get me to where I want to be as an RD directly, but I figure they may help me to find out if that’s REALLY the path that I want to take. I’m hopeful that the extra courses will help my chances at getting into a master’s program as well – I figure they are in the ‘might help, can’t hurt’ category.

Yoga last night was great. I’m actually a little bit sore in my obliques and hamstrings today, and I love that feeling!

I booked my flight today to go to San Antonio and I’m so excited! I’ll be headed there in August for a week and I’m really looking forward to it. I haven’t been home since we left Randolph AFB! I did at least make it to TX over Christmas when we were in Little Rock, but haven’t been back since then, so I’m overdue for a visit! I hope to hang out with my family and see some old friends and go to some of my favorite restaurants and HEB that I miss! Yippeeee!

I’m tired of being heavier and jigglier than I have ever been and I’m ready to do what it takes to change that!

Another piece of the workout puzzle that I’m working on is breathing. I cannot breathe as well as most people so I’ve talked to the doc about it. My PCM wants me to go to the pulmonologist for a PFT – pulmonary function test with a methacholine challenge because he wants to rule asthma in/ out. Yesterday I was able to do the PFT part but I apparently need to see the pulmonologist before I can do the methacholine part. The lady who did the PFT made the methacholine challenge sound like a lot of fun – she let me know that the Pulm. has to give the ok to do it because it can make you have an asthma attack and possibly stop breathing – so looking forward to it! At least if I do have an asthma attack, we’ll know what the problem is. It would be the first ever though so I’d be surprised if I do have asthma…I think I just need to get my stupid  nose fixed so I can suck in air better!

I went to yoga twice last week and while I can tell that I’m not as flexible as I was when I stopped going forever ago, I am still loving it! I think yoga is something I’m going to keep as part of my fitness routine no matter what else I end up doing. It’s so relaxing and it’s nice to get a good stretch a couple days a week. Saturday’s class kicked my butt! We did quite a few poses that my tight muscles made incredibly difficult, but it was probably good because other muscles -like my core- had to kick in and help out more than they otherwise would have. Another great thing about going to yoga is seeing friends in the class. If I am ever feeling lazy sometimes that’s the motivation I need to get my butt out the door.

I went for a ride with Steven on the new bike. It was fun and scary to be back on a bike! I would like to learn how to ride (drive?) at some point, but I will have to find an instructor with a small/ non-powerful bike that I can borrow. No way I’ll be riding Steven’s bikes – I think I’d kill myself. I’m good at hanging on though, so being on the back with him is fun. I’m soooo glad that soon this bike will be stripped down and no longer legal to be on the streets. The track is a much better place to ride!

On Friday I babysat for a friend. I thoroughly enjoy being around children and cannot wait to have my own! I also got my lab results – TSH, T3, and iron are all in the normal levels now – woo hoo!! I’m so relieved to hear that.

We had a great weekend. Started Saturday morning off with yoga, then we hung out, and did a few chores. We had dinner at Buku up in Raleigh for a friend’s birthday – the food and company were both fantastic. Sunday we didn’t do much other than get groceries. Steven doesn’t normally come with me to do that but we got lunch, and then he dropped me off while he got a haircut and then joined me when he was done. It was nice having his company.

So far today is also going well!

I hope to get back into regular workouts very soon, but I will take it easy with my other muscles – although I’m not sure how to do that since that’s what I thought I was doing on Tuesday! My ‘plan’ is to try to do yoga a couple times a week and start back up with C25k. Once I get a little bit further with C25k, I want to add in the New Rules of Lifting For Women (NROLFW) workouts as well. I just started reading the book, and I think the next chapter is about stepping away from the treadmill, so I’m curious to see what that says. I want to do both but maybe that’s not a good idea? My goal with working out is to be healthier – because I know along with that, I’ll feel better, look better, and be happier! I don’t see how running and lifting would be bad, but we’ll see what the ‘experts’ of NROLFW say!

I have been on a bit of a roller coaster since I found out that I have low iron and am hypothyroid. I definitely feel better now, I’m not constantly exhausted, but I am still not sure if I’m back to ‘normal’ because it’s been so long since I have felt that I’ve been at that ‘normal’ level. It took a while for me to notice a difference in how I felt, but then I was unsure if the progress was real or in my head since I was expecting it. I’m not fighting dozing off while at the computer all day anymore, so there is definitely progress. I’m sure I’d feel even better if I took all of the iron like I’m supposed to, but I hate those little red pills. If I take them without food as recommended, I get incredibly nauseous so I need to take them with something, but that’s limited by all the devil-pill rules. I go back to get more blood tests done on the 6th so I’ll see if my iron level has gone up at all even though I’ve been so horrible at taking those pills. I’m curious about the thyroid levels as well and I think a lab test was ordered to help determine the cause of it. I hope to get results back in time to talk to Dr. Puckett about everything before he leaves and that BRAC/ moving to Womack won’t complicate things too much – I can’t even remember when that happens, maybe the 12th?

I haven’t had much work lately. I need to get back into some training but it’s hard when I don’t get to practice what I’m learning…I just end up forgetting it. Oh well, at least it’s productive and maybe I’ll remember a couple of things from each lesson. If I had more work, I think I would really enjoy my actual job. Right now though, it’s perfect that I’m working from home. I’m seriously considering going back to school. I have always wanted to pursue a higher degree and while I intended to go into counseling with a master’s degree in psychology, I am exploring a few other options as well. I know that flexibility and portability are incredibly important for me as a military spouse so I’m trying to take that into account along with my interests. I don’t know how I’m going to choose!

This week I helped make a treat for Steven’s squadron. I really enjoy baking and if I help with the sweet and salty treat each month I get to bake but don’t have to eat all of whatever it is that we make. Trust me I never bake and give every bit of it away, I always have to at least taste one to make sure it won’t kill anyone. Kim had a great idea to do pretzel turtles for this month. The hardest part was unwrapping rolos, but it worked out perfectly since they were easy and only three of us were able to make them. Kim came and helped bag them up yesterday, which was fun – I always enjoy her company. I’m so glad I’m meeting more spouses and spending more time with some of the really genuinely nice ones! It’s PCS season and it seems like everyone I know is leaving really soon. I’m sad about a lot of them but it’s also quite a blessing to get rid of some.

A friend recommended that I do monthly goals like she does, and I like her idea, so I’m going to do it. Hopefully we’ll be able to encourage each other to get them all accomplished!

July Goals:

1. Complete 4 weeks of C25k
2. Make a new type of bread from scratch
3. Decide on a Master’s program
4. Make ice cream
5. Travel to TX
6. Complete one new 101 goal

I found out on 24 May that I have hypothyroidism. I wasn’t sure initially if I wanted to blog about that finding or just keep it to myself and obviously it took a while, but I chose to put it out there. When I first got the news I was upset, mad when I heard I’d have to take a daily pill the rest of my life (I HATE taking medicine), scared and then luckily after a little bit of research – relieved! http://www.endocrineweb.com/hypo1.html - has a lot of good and clear information on what exactly is going on when you have hypothyroidism. The list of symptoms:

Symptoms of Hypothyroidism

• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Weight gain or increased difficulty losing weight
• Coarse, dry hair
• Dry, rough pale skin
• Hair loss
• Cold intolerance (you can’t tolerate cold temperatures like those around you)
• Muscle cramps and frequent muscle aches
• Constipation
• Depression
• Irritability
• Memory loss
• Abnormal menstrual cycles
• Decreased libido

is the main reason I felt relief after doing some research. While I don’t have all of them, having hypothyroidism explains some things that I had attributed to happening because of stress or just being lazy. I don’t care for ‘lazy’ as an explanation and it didn’t really seem to fit, but I also couldn’t figure out why else I was so exhausted/ didn’t feel like working out. I started taking levothyroxine (synthroid) and I’m hopeful that it will help get me back to normal thyroid levels as well as back to feeling like I should with all the other symptoms out of the way!

Then, on 27 May, the last lab results came back and I found out that I also have low iron. UGH! My level was 8 and I asked if I could just try to correct that with being more conscious about my diet and the nurse started to name off some things I could eat but sounded unsure that would help so I asked what the normal range is and she said 14-150….and I’m at 8 -just give me another stinkin pill! I’m supposed to be taking the iron supplements 2x a day, but there are so many rules with those and the thyroid pills that I’ve just been taking one. I have to take both on an empty stomach. I can’t take the iron within 4 hours before or 4 hours after the synthroid. I can’t take the iron with dairy. I cannot drink tea/ coffee (soda is not listed but I’m assuming it’s the caffeine that’s the issue??) within 2 hours of taking the iron…. That might work ok for someone who eats just 3 meals a day, but I am eating/ drinking (and do not have an empty stomach) from the time I get up until I go to bed. I am taking synthroid at night and trying my best to not eat anything 2-3 hours prior to going to bed so I can take the pill on a truly empty stomach like I’m supposed to. The past two mornings (when I try to take the iron so I have an empty stomach/ follow the directions for at least one pill a day) I have been SO nauseous. I might have to start eating something with it  – it says I can but not dairy, which is what I usually like for breakfast. GRRR! I am really glad I’m working from home right now while I get all this figured out.

I’ve also still been dizzy and getting out of breath super quickly, but it is possible the hypothyroidism is playing a part in that so before I am referred over to an ENT we’re working on getting this issue under control, which is ok. I’m almost getting used to being dizzy since it’s been going on for 2 months now.

I have been on the synthroid for a week and I feel a little bit better already, but I think some of that may just be in my head due to the relief of knowing that my body has been fighting me on so many things and it’s about to be stopped…haha take that thyroid!

I am so very thankful that we have great health insurance through TriCare and I have some through work as well. I also found out this week that my work insurance benefits are even better than I thought! The company contributes $2250 to a FSA each year and it will cover things I need that TriCare does not – like contacts. Woohoo!

I may get in a run today, but we’ll see. I will be sure to post about it if I do!

Hope everyone is doing well!