Monday Blues

I had plans to go to the gym this morning, but those plans did not include sweeping my walkway and driveway clear of the inch of powder that accumulated overnight. It did not include the bone-chilling winds that made my fingertips numb inside my insulated fleece gloves as I swept. It didn't include the sciatic pain I have running from my right hip down to my toes. It's my belief that sitting for two and a half hours in a school auditorium, watching the Chinese school's New Year program is the culprit.

I just cannot sit for long periods of time anymore, even in a padded seat. Investigating the causes of sciatic pain, I've narrowed it down to two: Piriformis syndrome where "The sciatic nerve can get irritated as it runs under the piriformis muscle in the buttock. If the piriformis muscle irritates or pinches a nerve root that comprises the sciatic nerve, it can cause sciatica-type pain"; and/or Sacroiliac joint dysfunction where "Irritation of the sacroiliac joint—located at the bottom of the spine—can also irritate the L5 nerve, which lies on top of the sacroiliac joint, causing sciatica-type pain." (See Sciatica Causes link here.) I've taken a few ibuprofens to reduce the discomfort I'm attributing to nerve and muscle inflammation.

I know exercise is beneficial but since there's no school today, I'm limited by the gym's child care hours. My son isn't comfortable being left home alone, so I let him sleep in while I busy myself with chores. I'll probably make my son help me bring more firewood into the house later. Movement is good. And it'll get him off the couch where's he's playing video games.

SiriusXM internet radio has ended their Bowie tribute station. We watched Bowie videos last night on Palladia, an MTV station. I had the sudden urge to watch Labyrinth, but it's only available on Amazon now. I'm not even sure what Netflix has to offer these days because I can never find what I want to watch in their streaming library. I've had a week to process and I'm still as sad and achy as I was when I first heard the news. Grief is weird like that. 

As much as I resist, I'm tired of squinting to read the newspaper, or the nutrition labels on packages. So I finally bought my first pair of reading glasses at CVS. It's a 1X. Like everyone else, I had assumed that the numbers meant magnification levels, as in 1.25X. But these numbers, in fact, refer to diopter strength which changes the focus point of your eyes. I found a website that explains how this works and have included the link here even though it also sells prescription reading glasses. Luckily, my "readers" don't really change anything except make it easier to read small print. Suddenly I'm not squinting! I'll be 56 years old in a few months and I don't need any more wrinkles. Especially ones I can prevent by not squinting. I'm perfectly fine with everything else, including reading the screen of my desktop computer. My phone, an old Apple 5, is another matter, but I can't bear the thought of a bigger phone that doesn't fit into my pocket. Seriously. We all don't want to carry purses everywhere. But then I've never been the "girly girl".

There is school tomorrow, so I'll be going to the gym tomorrow. There is my son's kung fu and Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby, and the upcoming Klondike. I need to get more things done. Today.