The Dark Side

Sometimes Gillian just blows me away.

She is sooooo very intense. Tonight as I tucked her in she said that she wanted to talk to me about something. She was crying and she said that she did something today that she was ashamed of. There was a reading contest at school through the library and if you read a certain amount and handed in your reading log you got a prize. Her friends told her that she should just take one anyway, even though she didn't do the contest. She felt that she couldn't say no and she took the prize. It was wrapped up and she opened it and put it in her backpack. She said that on the way home she felt terrible and like she had "gone to the dark side". The guilt was wracking my poor girl's soul! She said that she felt better that she told me and she really wants to return the prize to the library teacher and say sorry. I'm so proud of her and I can only hope that her sensitivity to right and wrong will stay with her through her life. All of my kids are constantly teaching me lessons, even though they likely don't know it. I'm so grateful that I have them to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Dr. Gross

My friend Kathy, who owns the CrossFit gym I go to, suggested that I go see her "chiropractor" named Dr. Gross. Yes, that's his real name. She forewarned me that he does not do any spinal manipulation but somehow he works miracles. At this point I was willing to try anything. And I feel that I have tried everything, what's one more doctor? Wow. I have been in chronic pain for many many years. It has become a way of life for me, something that I always just deal with. Lately though it has really been dragging me down. Usually my hips are all locked up, shooting pains down my legs, and of course my neck issues. I didn't know what to expect but I kept an open mind. He does what he calls "functional neurology", or something like that. He's studied humans and animals for 28 years and is very sensitive to energy in the body. What he said that he was going to do sounded like voodoo to me but what the heck? What could it hurt? He needed to test me to see how many degrees out of rotation the second vertebrae in my neck is. He did this by me standing at the end of his hall and he walked away from me until he could no longer feel the extra energy that my body was emitting. He ended up in the parking lot right outside his front door. The he counts his steps as he walks back toward me and my number was 55. 55 degrees of rotation that my neck is out and you're supposed to be at 2 or below. What does this mean? I have no idea but I know it's not a good thing. Feeling skeptical at this point and most of what he says goes way over my head. I just want out of pain! Please crack my neck or SOMETHING!!! So he lays me on my back on the table and tests my reflexes and looseness in my hips and shoulders. Then he presses lightly on some points on my head, goes back to my legs, goes back to my shoulders, puts me in "neutral" and leaves me there for 5 minutes. Then I walk around and he does it again. Still slightly skeptical. He said that everyone's neurological system should be able to heal our ailments but a lifetime of experiences can build up the wrong patterns and cause all kinds of harm. I left the office feeling.....well......fine. I felt different. The pain eventually came back, and he said it would, but it was different. I felt for the first time in a very long time that my body was not at war with itself. I had a follow up appt. this morning and he did the same thing. I feel so much more relaxed and able to deal with the pain, and the pain is much less. I went to CrossFit tonight and Coach Nick was so amazed at the difference in the way I carried myself. I flew through the workout without pain! Unbelievable. I'm very hopeful that this will help me. Yay for Dr. Gross!

Think Pink

I've never really been a girly girl. So why oh why would I paint Gillian's bedroom pink? Well, For one, I find her completely irresistible (sometimes, like when she's not whining). She was soooo thrilled that I actually did it. After all, it wouldn't be fair if Drew got her room painted yellow and Gillian didn't get to pick a color for her room. I had to steer her away from some of the Pepto-type colors she had chosen to a more muted pink. I think that it turned out just how she wanted. One night Darren called me in with my camera to take a picture of Gill in her sleep mask. Silly cute girl!

"Crazy Kid" Day at school

Batman

I've got crazy neck again. Richard and I like to call it Batman neck because you have to turn your whole body to look at something. When I showed up to CrossFit last night Nick took a picture of me to show me that indeed I do NOT look like a person that should be working out. I didn't believe him until I looked at the picture of my posture. He said that I look like I have scoliosis. Why does it take a picture to prove to me that I should not work out? Stubborn (and stupid) I guess.

So Cal birthday

I had a wonderful birthday last Monday, even though I turned 42. My parents flew me down to Newport Beach to stay with them at the Mariott Newport Coast Villas. So beautiful and sunny. We had a fantastic view of the ocean from out suite. Suzy, Laura, and Rob all visited. And best of all, Mary and Georgia had a sleepover on Friday and Saturday night. They are so darn cute. Alice and Suzy visited during the day and went to the pool. Alice was not so fond of wearing clothes.

I had a good long run on the beach at Crystal Cove on my birthday.

On Friday we waited at the beach for the tsunami that never came after the huge earthquake in Japan. No tsunami but plenty of sun!

Corn Silk

Drew has been after me for a while to paint her room. She finally decided on a happy yellow color named Corn Silk. She said she wants sunshine in her room, I don't blame her. We have a severe lack of sun here. The nice thing is that she wanted to help me and now she's old enough to do so. I have always painted alone so it was nice to have the help. Today we will be spending the day finishing up.

Image

Drew had her first riding lesson yesterday on an arabian horse named Image. She learned how to care for the horse, tack it, and finally ride around the ring by herself. She was so excited and caught on pretty quick. After a while I lost all feeling in my fingers and toes due to the cold but it was well worth it. Forecast this week is snow, we've had some off and on today already.