Yes, I went back for round two of Zen acupuncture. No regrets!
Zen acupuncture: 2
My stress: 0
There’s still a slight unnerving feeling when the needles go in, but that is gone in an instant, and since it’s Zen acupuncture, they are small needles and don’t go very deep. It’s 30 minute getaway. What can I say? I work hard! I deserve this.
Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. Ah, the holidays draw near, we get time off, and we forget what day it is! Never mind that my chai latte has already been consumed before I can get to this! Grab your favorite beverage and pull up a chair…
My routine was topsy turvy Saturday morning, as I had to be awake at 6:30, get dressed, and leave the house without breakfast or coffee. I’ll use that as my excuse for not posting Saturday! I had to take a fasting lipids blood test. No, the lipids weren’t fasting, I was. 😉 I think it interfered with my sleep Saturday night, knowing I had to wake up and do that. Needless to say, my breakfast afterward tasted great!
Once I ate and had my chai latte, I was in a wonderful mood. Yesterday was the day for my school’s drama club to put on their play, a dinner theater style lunch of lasagna to start it off. Scrumptious! My boyfriend accompanied me and met several of my coworkers, friends,and my boss, who told him that I’m ” a treasure.” Nice!
We all really enjoyed it! My friend Jen, her husband, and her son met Chris. He had a great time and enjoyed meeting everybody. The superintendent was there, and I’m sure she was quite impressed with the play as well!
Now, on to health, a thread as common as writing used to be for me . I made a good attempt to sleep Saturday, and despite the tossing and turning due to leg nerve pain, kept getting back to sleep. My shoulder has much better motion, but my pain gets worse with cooler weather change, which happened this week. I’m still in shoulder physical therapy, and I’m seeing a specialist on Dec. 14th about the nerve pain and overall chronic pain. I’ve been trying to take extra vitamins, like B12, and to eat healthy. You might appreciate this week’s random post on my experience: https://wp.me/p7aqV2-33W
I wish I had more to share on writing, but healthy living attempts seem a full time hobby in addition to full-time teaching lately. Hopefully the holiday vacation will allow some time to write. I joined Planet Fitness, as I can’t stand working out in the outdoors while it’s cold. So I bike in the gym and type blog entries. Their fees are low, too. Maybe I’ll get answers soon.
On the bright side, I have a wonderful family, things are great for my son, I have wonderful friends, a loving boyfriend, and the funniest dog. I ordered the new technology with my classroom grant, so my already rewarding job is starting to become more interesting!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone, and have a great Thanksgiving!
9 a.m.: Welcome to my weekend coffee share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. It’s gray outside, but the birds are singing. I’m enjoying some chai tea. Pull up a chair with your favorite beverage, and I’ll catch you up.
It was a really busy week with work, two doctor appointments, and a dentist appointment. I had good substitutes who worked with my kids. The orthopedic doctor was happy with my shoulder progress; he gave me another cortisone shot in the anterior shoulder and prescribed 5 more weeks of physical therapy. This is good…I don’t want surgery!
Last sunday, as I drove back from the grocery store, I got inspired to write a short story about two aliens and their observations of humans during the Halloween season. I’d love it if you gave it a read: https://wp.me/p7aqV2-33e
While we’re on the topic of writing, I gave my boyfriend the 60 pages I have written of Ellie’s time travel story. It’s a disjointed mess, but I wanted to know what questions should be answered. So, he gave those opinions, which is good, but now I need the stamina and for my pain to subside. Maybe over the holidays, but if not, next summer.
I’ve had some new students join the news club at school, and many of them just don’t know where to start. So, I guess that’s my first job with them, giving them ideas on something to find out about the world or their community. They start searching and get interested, so they write, and I help them from there. I’ve thought about giving summer writing camps. It may be a retirement idea!
So, it being Halloween weekend, my boyfriend and I are going to the Zoo Spooktaculor event tonight. I look forward to it!
I hope you all have a great weekend, Halloween, or a blessed fall season!
8:30 p.m. –Hello from the Jax. Zoo Spooktacular!
Ciao!
Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. Pull up a chair for a coffee chat!
It has been a busy week with my health goals and work. My personal time mostly involved paying bills and trying to consciously relax myself in order to sleep at night. Part of that process has been essential blue oils and breathing exercises. One night it all worked, the next it didn’t. The night I added yoga to the mix made falling asleep easy! I still woke up way too early, though.
Of course, waking and then tossing and turning is a result of my shoulder issue. However, Wednesday afternoon the orthopedic doc gave me an intra-articular steroid shot through into my shoulder joint. Well, the next day I could move it more, and my spirits sure felt better! I’ve been assigned to 5 more weeks of physical therapy.
Hopefully, it all works so I won’t need surgery. Good thing I did get some relief, because Friday, I coordinated picture day at school. It was quite a busy day, but I had some student helpers and other staff also helped. I was glad when it was over!
My son is starting orientation for a new job Monday. Such happy news! We celebrated with a good dinner Thursday.
Besides having my son’s job to celebrate, I’m glad to report that this weekend was packed full with activities designed to de-stress and relax me!
Saturday was a great day for a massage; I started with green matcha tea and juice, ending the day with a dinner of Japanese Hibachi with my boyfriend. Sunday, I had brunch with some gal pals, and it was scrumptious! I hadn’t seen some of these ladies in a few years, so it’s great to have a regular brunch meetup with them now. I had quiche, grits , salad, and an indulgent cup of coffee ( a rare treat for me these days)!
Later in the day, I had the honor of attending the Van Gogh Immersive Exhibit. Our neighbor got us tickets. It was a beautiful, touching experience, and I’m so thankful I got this chance!
I hope you all have a great week ahead!
Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. Pull up a chair in your favorite beverage. It’s a green tazo tea day for me, because I am moving at my own pace. Let’s enjoy a little chat.
It’s a 3-day weekend for me, and yesterday was a payday, so I rang in the weekend by going to St Mary’s seafood and having a delicious dinner. My mother and our neighbor Bonnie met me there. There was ’80s music playing in the background, so it really put me in a cheery mood to start this weekend.:)
Grilled Alaskan Pollock, sauteed green beans, rice pilaf and some hush puppies. Scrumptious! I told my boyfriend about it, and he said he really wished he could have been there. He has been fighting sinus troubles and a bad cold.
Work is starting to get a little stressful, but I am going to relax and be lazy with reckless abandon this weekend, because I deserve it. My dog seems to approve of that sentiment.
If you know me, then you know that I feel creatively challenged right now because of my hand arm and shoulder pain/ impingement, which is taking too long to resolve; writing is really hard to do right now. I did get an idea to share a photo of Bixby in a chilled out mood sitting on the stoop. I posted it as a social media story with the Rolling Stones song, Waiting For A Friend. Perfect!
That song to me seems to start out so relaxed and unassuming, just the guy sitting on a stoop watching his surroundings on a weekend evening. Somewhere, somehow, at the end, we get the horn playing and suddenly the song just sounds so magical to me. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always loved it! 🙂
I plan to do more of these with Bixby, maybe with the advent of every weekend and giving him a different caption.
I mean, the look on his face! It could be taken so many different ways. I am having fun with this, I hope other people see the humor that I see. If not, I’m just glad I can see things the way I see them, and y’all are missing out. LOL. At least I can make myself laugh. 🙂
I think we’ll end this conversation on that note. Life is always laughable, right? At times, I have said “Life is a Seinfeld episode.” Or, Seinfeld is life. It gets me through the trying times!
Thanks for listening. I hope all is well with you all and that you find a smile or laugh in your coffee cup this morning. Take care!
Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. I have just a few minutes before getting ready to go get a massage, so this is a breakfast/ coffee chat. Grab whatever beverage you like!
Do you think I use enough anti-inflammatory foods in my breakfast? That’s turmeric powder on my cereal and in the background is an ashwagandha chocolate powder that I put in my hot tea. It actually tastes pretty good! I’m still dealing with the shoulder/arm/hand pain though, and I’m going to see the orthopedic doc this week. At least we’ll see if this needs surgery or is just an inflammatory problem (said appointment is in September. One thing at a time)!
I think I eat pretty healthy foods. My only change I could make is sugar free juice and gluten free cereal. 😠I’ll only do that if I have to. Time will tell.
In brighter news, Bixby dog got a haircut this week! He’s always a little nervous after going through that sort of day, so I make sure to give him extra attention for looking so cute. As you might guess, he loves it!
School is going well and we’re getting used to an online textbook. I think I’m getting the hang of it! So, today I pamper myself: massage and pedicure. I’m worth it and I work hard for my paycheck.
I also posted today about my book, Undercurrents in Time, because, after all, I am a writer and author, despite my current physical setback. News club will meet after school Monday, so I can encourage a whole new set of young writers, and that warms my heart!
Have a great weekend and a better week to come!
Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Antoinette at
This is the last Coffee Share of 2019! I am so looking forward to 2020, and instead of a resolution, I decided to choose a word: Limitless. I have had so many limits this year and put so many limits on my life. It has almost gotten me down at some points. I have also accomplished a few things: I encouraged my son to get a low level job in a new field, and he loves it! I published/produced two books into audio. I celebrated my boyfriend’s 57th birthday, my 51st, and my mom’s 78th. I actively sought to deal with my back and pain issues and sought help with it; as a result, I am now doing squats (among other things) several times a week. Squats! It is a shocker. However, I draw the line at Burpees. 🙂 My family are in on my new health kick, well, at least on supporting me. My boyfriend got me a vertical mouse which is ergonomic and more comfortable for the hand and arm. I am really getting the hang of it! (Google it and check it out). So maybe I can write even more, pain-free. Mom got me an upright desk, it just isn’t assembled yet….
I did not feel much Christmas spirit due to the loss of a few dear people, but I did find opportunities to help others and the community, which made it feel more like Christmas. Now I get to greet a New Year, and live out my personal goal of a being more of a limitless person.
A blogger friend wrote a beautiful Weekend Coffee post on New Year’s resolutions, to be more loving, like Christ. It’s a wonderful post, and you can read it here: https://garyawilsonstories.wordpress.com/coffee-share-191227/Â
Since it is Winter Break, and I have time off, I have been writing some short and flash-fiction. I am proud of this piece here, which involves aliens: https://pamelascanepa.wordpress.com/2019/12/27/popular-opinion-fiction-fowc/ and was written in response to the Fandango One Word Challenge; the word was ‘popular.’ I personally love those one-word challenges and have tried them with some of my students who like writing.
These are two books I have read lately. One, very traumatic, yet hopeful. The other, just all out bawdy humor by one of my favorite humorous authors, and I loved it as well! I needed that after a Holocaust novel, and I loved both of them equally.
I also was able to meet up with an old friend who lives out of town. She lost her husband of three years to an illness. I read recently about the healing power of laughter. She and I laughed a lot this time, as always. It was wonderful to see her and her daughter. The Insomnniac’s Diary is still in progress, but I think it is more of a personal thing now; in other words, I believe I am accepting a new normal. As long as I can fall asleep at night and get at least four hours of sleep, I can handle it. I am still logging the basics, though. I mean, I was on 5 hours when I met my friend for dinner. We had a great time for about two hours, and then I went home to relax and get ready for bed. No problem!
I hope you have enjoyed a wonderful holiday season and will have a safe, fun New Year with many pleasant surprises.
-Pamela
pamelascanepa 