Crippled

I'm crippled right now, and it really sucks.

So y'all know my history with my back pain. Last year I had really bad back pain, went to physical therapy and that helped. (I won't mention the part where I stopped doing my back exercises like I was supposed to after my physical therapy sessions ended........) Also tried acupuncture but that didn't really seem to help much either. My back is already "sensitive" to too much stress on it, so this previous Friday, I was hunched over cleaning bathrooms, hunched over mopping the floor, hunched over working in the yard. My back doesn't like hunching. So that night, when I was hunched over embracing my dear daughter in a hug, my back screamed at me. The muscles in my lower back tightened and cramped up and now i'm back to a year ago where my back hurt so bad I could barely move. (this is where I cry and kick myself for not doing my exercises like I'm supposed to.)

So Friday night I slept terrible. My back was throbbing with pain in the middle of the night and I laid in bed and did a few small stretches which calmed its screaming enough to let me get back to sleep.
Saturday though, we had obligations. It was Jadon's last day with his psychologist, who is leaving the state to pursue a new job as a dean. I didn't get to go since I was gimping along and couldn't get ready in time. So us girls stayed home and I sat on the heating pad.
Then after that, Jadon and I had to go to the Humane Society for orientation on volunteering. Started off sitting in cold, hard, metal chairs for 15 minutes there, then we were on our feet for an hour and a half while they showed us the ropes around the new facility. Needless to say, i'm extremely grateful to have heated seats in the minivan, because although it was over 90 degrees out, I had my seat heater on high to sooth my aching back after the orientation was over. The rest of Saturday, I literally spent the entire rest of the day in this same chair i'm in right now with the heating pad on my back.

Today it feels very slightly better. At least, its not throbbing anymore. But i'll still need to take it easy. And i'll start my exercises again, and hopefully I won't stop again.

My exercises are a pain because I have to spend 30-45 minutes laying on the floor doing stretches and muscle building exercises. When my back is killing me, its easy to do it because it helps my back get better. But when my back feels fine, its hard to do it because I have a million other things I could be doing than laying on the floor stretching a back that doesn't hurt. Not to mention, laying on the floor several times a day to do exercises always makes me sleepy.
So really this whole thing is my own fault for quitting the exercises after my back got better.
But thankfully it happened on the weekend and I have an amazing husband to take care of me and the kids. :)  He won't let me lift a finger.

Yesterday evening, the kids were out back playing, I was sitting here of course, and Derek was getting ready to make some dinner. Suddenly the kids were gone. Sometimes they get out of view from the windows but they are over on the sides of the house. Or, I've found Avery all the way up the hill at her friend Avery's house knocking on their door to see if Avery is home to play with Avery. Or across the culdesac at the other neighbors house saying hi to them and their dogs, or next door at the neighbors house playing with a visiting baby. One day I even found them all the way up at the mailboxes! They told me they saw a man that they thought was a neighbor up the road that we hadn't met before and they wanted to go say hi and see if he was nice!!!!! (WHAT THE HECK???? didn't anyone ever teach these kids about stranger danger????? The short answer is YES!!!! They've been taught many many many times about strangers!!!!!! The funny thing is, when we are in town at say the checkout, and the cashier talks to them, they hide their faces and don't say anything.) So they've been informed they are not allowed to go in the front yard by themselves (we can't see them out front), and they are not to leave the backyard.
So yesterday when I was sitting on the heating pad and Derek was getting ready to make dinner, and the kids went missing, he was running around the house frantically looking around all over outside for them with no sight of them. It was about that time that the neighbor next door texts and says she has the kids.
So what did they do? They went to her backyard and went up on her deck and to her back door.

Sigh.
Sometimes I feel these children have no sense in their noggins!  They are just so social, and always want to hang out with people and animals. Thankfully we have amazing neighbors who LOVE our kids (or so they say), and gladly let them come over and pester them. I'm thankful they are social, they certainly didn't get that from me! ;)

Another funny story, the kids were going to the neighbors house up the hill to play while Derek and I went to the school for curriculum night. Now, I had told them not to ask them for food because they do that a lot- eat people out of house and home. (you'd think I never feed them.) So I told them they didn't need to eat there because we just ate dinner. So Avery asks me some scenarios- what if I need a drink. My answer, you can ask for a drink of water. What if they give me something to eat? My answer, that's fine if they offer you something then you can accept it, but you don't need to ask them for anything other than water.
Now Jadon usually doesn't ask for things, but Avery has no shame in it. So when the neighbor mom was making cookies, Avery informed her that she wasn't allowed to eat one.... unless she offered her one, then she was allowed to eat it. Subtle hint Avery! ;)
She got the cookie.

Never a dull moment with those two!

So yes, Jadon and I are now official volunteers for the humane society! He's excited, and I am as well. To start we are going to go once a week for an hour to play with the kitties. Then I think we'll add some morning time to that, which is when they do the cleaning of cages, and perhaps we'll clean some kitties cages (it'll be good for Jadon.) Then eventually we may work our way up to the dogs.

Well that's it for now!