I woke up Friday morning and it was like something changed! I am beginning to feel so much better and I’ve slowly been cutting back the dosage of the pain killers. I can’t believe how things are turning around. A week ago, I couldn’t have imagined that I’d be feeling this good.

Friday was my first day out of the house since March 6th – the date of my back surgery. Rob had the day off from work, so he took me out to lunch to see how I’d do. I was feeling quite good, so we even went to Ikea AND grocery shopping. It felt great to be out of the house and the walking did me well, too. I think I’m going to start walking on the treadmill, too, to get in some exercise and strengthen my back. Walking is highly encouraged.

Speaking of walking, have you signed up for the Challenge Obesity 5k Run/Walk yet? It’s on Sunday, April 21st in St. Paul.  You can register here. Click on the right to register and choose Team Registration. When prompted, choose Season It Already as your team!

I honestly don’t intend on running (that is the week of my 6-week post-op doctor appointment), but I do want to walk it! And the absolute worst case scenario, I will be a spectator cheering you all on. But really, that’s my last resort. I don’t want to sit this one out.

I’m going to step away from the online food journal for a while. I think taking pictures and recording everything on my blog made me obsess and think about food the entire time I was cooped up in the house. I haven’t yet weighed myself, but I can tell that I’ve put on a few pounds. {I know I have to give myself a break with the lack of movement I had.} And since I actually put real pants on on Friday, I could feel it in my clothes, too.

This weekend, in addition to my lunch out, IKEA stop and grocery shopping, I made some Crockpot Corned Beef and Cabbage using *this recipe* in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

I didn’t grow up eating Corned Beef & Cabbage and I don’t think I ever really had it for the first time until after college. It’s not something I ever crave, but I made it the first time last year for St. Patrick’s Day because my husband loves it. I used the recipe above and he enjoyed it so much that I decided not to change it up. In fact, I really like it, too. This will be the recipe I’ll be using year after year!

On Saturday, I was feeling so good that I felt up to going out to dinner and to see a band. We made sure that I had a seat, so that I wouldn’t be pushed around in a crowd. However, on Sunday morning, I decided that I probably had pushed it too far. I had plans of things to get done on Sunday, but didn’t end up doing any of them. I spent much of the day in bed sleeping and on the couch watching TV.

The thing was that I had every intention of going back to work today. But although I went to bed early last night, I didn’t wake up until 8:30 this morning. And I don’t feel so hot. It’s more my stomach than anything, but I was a little sore, too. So we’ll see. Maybe I’ll make it there for a few hours. Maybe I’ll give it another day. It just goes to show that even if you are feeling significantly better, you shouldn’t push it. There’s no point in going backwards. Still, I am quite anxious to get back to work.

And although spring isn’t quite here yet in Minnesota, I have an extreme urge to do some spring cleaning, organizing and purging. I’ve already started with cleaning out our coffee/tea cupboard, but I’m still trying to hold myself back and not do too much.

Are you itching to clean or reorganize this time of year?

If so, do you have any rituals or things in particular that you do?

Cheers~

Carrie