The Week That Was

It's winter in Indiana - at least this week. Last week wasn't winter. Next week may, or may not, be winter, but this week is definitely winter. Indiana appears to get winter in 1-2 week spurts, intersperced with late fall and early spring. So last week it was in the 50's and 60's, but this week we had two snow days (Tues. & Wed.). Which given that we had a half-day today and no school Monday, makes for some very short school time. It works out for us though, because Aaron isn't feeling great - not sick enough to keep home, per se, but he has a persistent cough and is a lot less energetic than usual. A short week followed by three and-a-half days off seems a good thing.

My FIL was up this week visiting. He's still very discombobulated by his wife's death, and scared by the way his competence has tanked in its wake. Apparently this kind of confusion and loss of capability is very common following a spousal death (one of the reasons why you shouldn't make any major decisions for about a year), but it's frightening to him to have trouble doing things that a year ago were simple (like driving three hours to our house), and I don't blame him. Rob will be going back down to visit him next weekend, and will keep up the every other weekend visiting for a while.

My endocrinologist appointment was Monday - fortunately one of only two days this week that wasn't scotched by weather or other events. Good news all around. My cholesterol is down another ten points to 163 (Remember, I started at 257), my triglycerides are down from 225 to 93, my HDL/LDL ratio is up, my thyroid levels are within tolerance, and my blood pressure has returned to normal (it's been slowly creeping up for the last few years) at 112/65. I'm up two pounds from my last visit, but I had gained nearly seven over the holidays (Mom, Dad? Remember all that Ben & Jerry's you keep stashing in your freezer? I'm looking at you!), so up two means that I've lost most of the holiday weight gain. I also found a very cool site, Fitday, to help track diet and exercise, and with any luck get back on track with dropping weight.

The dojo has made another interim move. The new interim place is right across the street from the new permanent place. Master B say another month, but unless the builders are extremely efficient, I'm thinking closer to two. The new interim place is in a much nicer part of town than the old one, which makes a lot of people happy. The floor, on the other hand, could use a serious upgrade. It's linoleum, very slick, and very cold. It's also prone to getting wet, which gives it all the traction of an ice-skating rink. I keep getting this urge to go stock my first-aid kit with sprain tape and ice packs.

Finally, I'm in the throws of deciding which of my articles at Damn Interesting I want to put up for inclusion in the book. Damn Interesting now has an official book contract with a traditional publisher - so it's really going to happen - and we've each been asked to nominate those of our own articles we deem worthy. If I were more comfortable with tooting my own horn, I'd probably have an easier time of it. As is, I've nominated a couple, but feel very reluctant to speak up about as many as I probably should. So if anybody has read DI and has any articles they remember liking under my moniker (Cynthia Wood, articles between Feb. 2006 and May 2007) let me know.