I've Been a Good Girl

Early in December, I bought a recumbent exercise bicycle. I used it sporadically throughout the month, and then slacked off during the holidays. I told myself that I was going to get on track before I went back to school after Christmas. We got home from Florida on December 30, and I started riding again on December 31. I've ridden every day except two; I set my goal for twenty minutes each day, and I've beaten my goal every day except two. I am keeping up with my minutes and with my food intake on SparkPeople.com; I'm not doing quite as well with my food, but I think I'm doing better than I was before I started keeping a record. I have a couple of personal weaknesses that I haven't indulged at all since the first of the year, and I can tell that I feel much better.

I am an adult diabetic, and I have learned to judge my blood sugar level by the way I feel before I check it with my monitor. Since I've begun exercising again regularly, my blood sugar is much better, and I feel better in several other ways. I am in the midst of a rough patch of days--my dad died three years ago today; DH went to the hospital a year ago on January 21; DH's birthday would have been February 1; the anniversary of his death will be March 10. The exercise has helped me emotionally; I still have days when I cry while I'm taking a shower, but I haven't had as many of those, and I am sleeping better most of the time.

I kept a paper journal for several years before I married DH. I got away from it after we married, and only did it sporadically when my parents and DH were hospitalized for long periods (keeping a record of all information, visitors, etc.). I have started again on a regular basis, and plan to keep that up through the year. I can type faster than I can write, but there's something about the flow of ink on paper that can't be duplicated online.

I have a stack of pictures waiting to be scrapped. I started in that direction Thursday night when I started working on some all-occasion cards to have ready when I need one. While we were in Florida after Christmas, I visited the Scrapbook Clearance Center in Destin, and bought about $50 in supplies. I've enjoyed looking at them; maybe soon I'll be using them again.

We had an VERY slight accumulation of snow Wednesday evening, so I have those pictures, plus the pictures of my great-niece as she explored the beach in Destin, and when she got to eat with the grownups at a "real" restaurant (as oppposed to fast food!). I've put lots of my pictures of her into small photo albums so I could show them off at work, but her mother and uncle love looking at the books I've made over the years, so I need to get her one of her own to enjoy when she's a little older (she's almost twenty months old).