March 2009 Archives

Yesterday the boys and I decided to show our appreciation of their daddy by making Indian food, which Michael loves. We chose Chicken Tikki Masala as our main course, and headed off to a local Indian market for spices. We spent the afternoon making marinade, naan dough, and skewering chicken, as well as making a key lime pie for dessert. I know people might not consider key lime pie as a traditional Indian dessert, but lime tastes so good after a spicy Indian meal, and we love key lime pie, so why not?

The meal was a complete success, but spicy! The naan was delicious, and fun to make, and both boys had fun getting involved in all the cooking. And that key lime pie was just perfect. The chicken tikka masala was divine. A total meal winner! And most importantly, Michael was happy.  :)

Ok, I didn't cycle. There, I confessed. My back was unhappy, and I didn't want to aggravate it. I did manage to get my cycling clothes on, though, so that should count for something!

By afternoon my back felt a little better, so I ventured out to work on the butterfly garden. I was careful! Trying to get the garden under control so that we can have a real butterfly and hummingbird garden this spring. As it turns out, the dogs might have trampled over many of the plants over the fall, but they didn't kill off all of them. I'd say about 40% are making a comeback. The weeds tried to overtake, but I'd say the war has shifted in my favor at this point.

I did go swimming this morning, despite the fact that a cold front was blowing through at the very same time. The temperature dropped about 20 degrees in the time it took me to leave my house, get to the pool, swim, and get out. Add to that strong winds and rain! I guess that was my punishment for not cycling yesterday? Tomorrow I start physical therapy, yay!

Spring is arriving, and with it comes new hope for activity, both physical and fun. But somehow our family likes to make things complicated, and we enter spring with physical ailments. Nolan fell off his scooter last week and after a week with his left arm in a splint is now in a cast for three more.

My various woes involving calf, back, and occasional hip and knee pain over the past 3 years finally progressed to very bad back issues, though likely it was bad back that caused it all. I finally went and had my back x-rayed, and sure enough there is some compression between the L4 and L5 vertebrae. Suffice it to say, I'm starting physical therapy on Thursday for a few weeks. We'll see how it goes from there. If pain continues, I get to have an MRI done.

On the plus side, I finally got back into the pool yesterday. Today I'm going cycling. Running is likely to be an activity of the past, and while I've never been fond of running, I'll admit that I'm sad that it's not even an option anymore. We'll see. Perhaps there can be some short distance running in my future. But not any time soon.