Updates

I have had intermittent back pain since we lived in Santa Clarita over ten years ago, but for the past six months or so it's been more or less constant, some days worse than others. My doctor told me essentially that my discs are a mess and there's nothing he (or anyone else) can do to make it go away. Awesome! 

And then we went to Spain, where spending every day on my feet and every night sleeping on rock hard beds made me feel like a normal person for the first time in ages. It didn't hurt at all! A week after we got back, though, it was back to being terrible again. We decided our old pillowtop mattress had to go. Last weekend we went mattress shopping and ended up with a Tempur-Pedic, which was undeniably the best of all the ones we tried. It kind of annoys me somehow when the most expensive option turns out to be actually worth the money. 

Unfortunately, our old box springs barely fit up our stairs when we moved in and we knew we would never get them back out of there. Benjamin got to spend Thursday night sawing them apart. The cats were VERY interested in the entire process and played in the remnants all night long.

A lot of people told me it takes time to get used to a Tempur-Pedic but we both love it already. I start looking forward to bedtime at around 7:00 pm! 

I have also started walking religiously every day and the difference it makes in my back is incredible. Even a 45 minute walk can mean the difference between a terrible day and one in which I hardly notice it. So I guess I have to keep that up now - I'm going to try getting up before work this week because I think it will make my workdays, sitting in an office chair for nine hours, a lot more pleasant.

And here is my inheritance from Grandma Betty! Since she was trying to make her rural Missourian grandchildren eat weird stirfry back in the 1980s, I think she would appreciate my weekly menu of vegan dinners being held up by her magnet.