Just catching up

Not too much to report, but I've often started off a post that way and then end up writing all sorts of things.

Let's start with the health front. All summer I've been dealing with a twinge in my lower abdomen that really hasn't impacted me much except towards the end of a round of golf and then just at random times. It was a tightness of sorts, not much pain, but limiting my mobility and ability to twist for sure. Workouts at the gym weren't impacted, so it was fine and I was waiting for it to pass. The other week though, I woke up and it was suddenly debilitating. Walking was a real chore and sitting up or tying my shoes was a real struggle. Two days later I had a doctor's appointment and he felt like it might be a hernia. Ugh. Insurance delays prevented me from even scheduling a specialist appointment until today and the appointment isn't for a few weeks. That's unacceptable to me from a working out standpoint, so workout I did. No trouble today, so I'll keep doing it at this level until the doctor's visit.

Between now and that visit is wood cutting weekend up at Ricardo's cabin. Four or five of us go up there to chop down trees, split wood and stack it for drying for the following winter (not this one but next year). In theory, those who use the cabin are supposed to help keep the wood stocked, but the reality is it's just the four of us and I almost never even use the cabin (I think I've gone once or maybe twice when it WASN'T wood cutting weekend). I did try one year, but other people had already reserved it. It's a good time though and the only relevance to this post is that now I have this potential hernia. And I'm not alone on the injury list! Ricardo has a bum knee, Bill the Bear had shoulder surgery just a few months ago, Markakis hurt his rib cage I think and Smitty has something wrong with him too, but I can't remember what it is. Not sure how that weekend is going to turn out!!

LL caught a cold (I think due to stress of starting her new job and waking up in the middle of the night with Marissa). Colds are the worst, but especially if you're busy and we're all busy. Marissa seems to have avoided it so far, knock on wood. Marissa has several teeth now with more coming in and she's finally eating some paste-like food. For a while we though we may end up with the only teenager still on breast milk. These next few months are going to be crazy though as she eats more, subsequently poops more, crawls, walks and communicates better. Whew, quite the whirlwind I'm sure.

Kudos to my niece who got confirmed into the Catholic church the other weekend. I was her sponsor and it was a pretty good day. She was confirmed in the morning and had her first homecoming dance in the evening!  That's a big day!