Milestones....

Made it past the one week anniversary of Rocky's death-phew! Was doing great until I receive a call while cooking dinner. Caller says, we have Rocky for you. What, what do you mean, he is reincarnated and running around? What kind of a joke is this? Ma'am, this is the crematorium and we have Rocky's remains. Gulp....uh, call my husband. That is one way to deal with it right!

My devoted husband agrees to be here to receive Rocky. I was suppose to be riding GWL but it was raining and we moved the ride by a day. So I was buys swimming and yogaing (I know, not a word but I like it) Delivery was 9-11am and I roll in around 11:15 and John is asleep in his car in our driveway. I startle him awake. Why are you in the car? House is freezing and it is warm out here. Of course....okay honey go back to work. I will wait for "him"

Close to noon, door bell rings and the man hands me a cedar box in a nice bag. He gives his condolences and when I take it from him I nearly drop it. It is heavier than a brick. So instead of crying I laugh, thinking of Rocky when he was his fattest, looking like a cow ready to give berth. I carry him in. Nice box closed with a dog tag that says Rocky and a plaster paw print (his I am assuming) We sit in the kitchen and I feel good to have him back. Where to put him...on the kitchen counter seemed appropriate as he spent a lot of time there in his younger days stealing food. Eventually we placed him on the mantle- seems that is where most ashes go. Right? It's not like we have a collection.

We were planning on scattering him on Dog Beach but we have decided we like him here for now. Somehow seems just right.

Okay the other milestone is my 3 week anniversary of giving up gum. Now I was not a closet gum chewer, most who know me, know I always had gum. But that was just the surface...I chewed packs upon packs daily in my office and car. Horrifying to see the trash when emptied, piled high with silver wrappers. I was addiced for years and to one brand only. IceBreakers. They use to sell it everywhere. I bought cases for years from Costco,. And then about a year ago it was only at Wall Mart- the store I hate became a weekly stop for me to buy as many 10 packs as they had. And then about 6 mos ago they quit carrying it. I was devastated and tried other brands to no avail. Quit? No I found it on Amazon and began ordering it monthly, auto ship in fact. It was out of control. I cannot imagine how much $$ I spent or the amount of trash I created single handily. I received a notice that even Amazon was no longer carrying the gum. In utter disbelief I wrote to Hershey and demanded an explanation....days went by and I was plotting how to escalate my request when it hit me. Julie, time to quit. I vistaed my stash and to my horror only had 2 10 packs. I debated, do I ration it out or just for for it. So I had one last binge and 2 days later it was gone. I told no one and woke up and quit, cold turkey. See there is not "patch" for gum.

So I did it.....3 weeks and no gum, no urges and I can be near people chewing gum and not want to rip it out of their mouth and have a chew. The bad news is I started smoking ;)

Training.....tired, hungry, tired, hungry. That sums it up. Swimming is coming along. Hard but making slow improvements. Running was rocking until Wed and the hip flared up - Damn! Walked home, pouted and am dealing with it. Saw KP for ART and went to PT. Feels much better but am giving it a few days before I test it again. Not panicking, okay I am but, pretending that I am not.

So I rode GWL + Descanso with Jen today to take my mind off the running set back. The sad thing is my legs are tired from the Mon/Tue runs and especially from the killer exercises at PT. 45 minutes of random torture exercises with bands of all colors. Strengthening muscles that support my hip and are most definitely underused, maybe never used but are necessary to ride as they were burning on our ride today. It was a double coffee ride- stopped in Descanso for a Double Shot and then hit Sbux when we got back to the car. Earned it indeed!

So PT is quite an experience. Most of the patients are older doing ROM exercises. My therapist is awesome but is tough as nails and funny. We cut it up and I complain like I am 2. Once she is done the assistant runs me through the drills. There are 10 PT's working around the room and it is relatively quiet. I am balancing on a wedge throwing a ball at a trampoline and catching it. Quite fun actually and suddenly my ass burning, the muscle that is. Suzy (my PT) who is helping an older many with his shoulder ROM (loudly) asks how I am doing and I (loudly) reply my ass is burning. Everyone looks at us and we cannot stop laughing. Okay, so maybe you had to be there but it was fun. Meanwhile I am asking, when do I get ice and stim? Anyway, back tomorrow and hoping for a cure ASAP.

Cheer's to Riley! A on her Algebra test- huge improvement and we are so proud of her. Instant reward and we jumped in the car and went to Cool Cravings for a delicious yogurt celebration!!!