Thoughtful Thursday

Boring title...every Thursday is thoughtful in Melanie's world. It's when my wheels start turning about things to accomplish on the weekend.

Alas, a shift in the thinking this week, because sure enough, we are going to SC to visit Husby's folks. I pushed it a bit, because I get to thinking about Grandma...I'm out of grandparents, but Grandma's still kicking on Les's side, and she's almost 89 with questionable health. So even if she's around another 10 years, it's important to get these visits in, because Les is the type of guy who would torture himself with regret if she woke up dead one day, because we have been blatantly avoiding visiting up there. We avoid because of lack of funds, but mainly because it's not the most pleasant experience, visiting his folks, while his sister, sig other, and niece occupy the house with them. They are addicts who refuse to take responsibility for their lives, and my inlaws can't handle the prospect of kicking them out, so they all avoid each other as much as possible and keep their mouths shut. It's not a healthy house, hasn't been for years now. I know it's easy for me to judge, not having kids of my own yet, but I also know that while I'm not a religious person, I probably would've given the problem to God by now and tossed all 3 of them out the front door. So we visit, and I spend lots of time outdoors and hold my tongue. This is the South, where you respect your elders no matter what, or at least fake it convincingly.

The need to have something in my hands to distract me from the drama had me trolling for patterns yesterday. I've got my eye on a cardigan pattern for myself (above), that I'm thinking of starting this weekend...I'm going to make it with sock yarn, because I'm looking for something lightweight (your only hope of wearing a sweater in the South) and I have several color options in my stash. Just hope the dye lot won't be too far off when I go to order the rest...looking forward to getting something back on needles again.

Noticed the sun damage spot on my face has gotten larger ... my hair's been lightening too, since my last color job. Don't mind the hair, but definitely going to be more diligent about using sunblock. I walk slowly on my way into and out of work, savoring the good weather, how it feels on my body.

Did not work out last night...my body was telling me it needed a rest after Tuesday's beating. But it got me thinking about all the different exercises I should be incorporating into a cross-training regimen, so I pulled out the Kathy Smith books and my yoga for arthritis tome, and I'm going to spend this weekend attempting to create a journal that lays out my different workouts, so I can alternate days, not spend too much time on any one muscle group at a time, etc. It feels like habit now, it's something I itch to do everyday (thank god!), but doing too much and making my body hurt more than it should, spreads out those off days until I'm out of the habit again. I'm determined to make this work, determined to get healthy.

So I'm offline til Tuesday probably, unless I crack and go to the library while I'm up there...his folks still have dial-up, so I haven't the patience to connect to the Web at the house. Y'all be good...I'll be hugging trees, knitting, playing with an almost-4-year-old, and remembering how good I have it.

image snitched from interweaveknits.com