Well, first, let me share the news that my eye is going to be just fine. I went back to the optometrist on Monday and he said he could still see where my cornea was scratched, but it appears to be healing just fine. And, in what was a real moment of triumph, I even wore mascara yesterday.
On Tuesday I woke up feeling so much better about my eye and life in general that I decided it was a good day to go back to Smart Barre. My original plan was to start at the beginning of January, but honestly I knew I was going to be so sore for the first few days that I never wanted to start because I couldn’t find a stretch of days when I wouldn’t mind that I might have to use the wall for leverage to get off the toilet. And so I procrastinated and then Caroline got sick and then I just wanted to sit on my couch and drink coffee instead of exercising.
But I finally realized I couldn’t put it off any longer. Mainly because it’s been in the 80’s here this week which made me realize there will come a day when I’ll want to wear shorts again.
So I went to Smart Barre and there was a moment when I was doing a plank that I had to accept that all the sugar cookies and wine over the Christmas holidays proved to be detrimental to my core strength. This was confirmed during ab work when the sweet instructor came to adjust the position of my legs to help me better target my lower abs and if I could have breathed or spoken at that moment I would have said, “It’s not that I don’t know where my legs should be as much as I can’t continue to do this exercise the right way or my guts will explode all over this room.”
In spite of that, I managed to get through the class and felt so energized afterwards that I came home and decided it was a good time to move the old armoire from our bedroom into Caroline’s closet. I won’t bore you with the game of non-musical chairs we’ve been playing with furniture right now, but the short version is we’re changing Caroline’s bedroom furniture and making room for a desk and decided that the best thing to do is to put a dresser in her closet. Then I remembered we have an armoire in our room that we aren’t using for anything. So I measured it and it turned out to be exactly the size I needed with even more storage than a dresser.
(So much for the short version. Good night. What is this? HGTV?)
Anyway, I got home from Smart Barre and, since P wasn’t home, decided to employ an old trick I read about from Martha Stewart years ago. I put beach towels under the armoire and dragged it across the house and into Caroline’s closet. That sentence makes the whole thing sound much simpler than it actually was so I’ll tell you there was a low point as I tried to wedge it into the corner of the closet that I wished I’d paid more attention in geometry. I felt the need to channel Ross Gellar and yell “PIVOT!” but it was just me and I was already pivoting for all I was worth.
Finally, I got the armoire positioned where I wanted it and then began the process of cleaning out her old dresser and moving all her clothes around. This led to making a pile of things she’s outgrown and things she just won’t wear which includes anything pink. And then the whole project essentially became a real life version of If You Give A Mouse A Cookie where one thing led to another and I wasn’t going to be satisfied until I had gotten rid of every single thing we don’t use or don’t need.
Before I knew it I had three full bags to take to Goodwill and two bags that went straight to the trash. And here’s a fact about me you may or may not know. There is nothing that makes me feel levels of pride and accomplishment like cleaning out some junk and loading bags in my car to haul it away. I mean I have written three books and I would never dream of mentioning it to a total stranger, but I will absolutely engage the lady checking out my purchases at Walgreens with my fascinating story of how I just cleaned out my daughter’s bedroom and playroom. Kind of like I’m doing in this blog post.
I spent the rest of the day on a productivity high and continued to marvel at the levels of neatness and organization I’d achieved. And you need to know it’s not even that impressive. I’m sure if an Elfa specialist from The Container Store came to review my work they would weep and tear their clothes in agony.
But I regret to inform you that I might have overdone it. I woke up Wednesday morning with a headache and achy feeling all over, but considering my guts almost exploded at Smart Barre the day before I didn’t give it much thought. However, I had plans to meet my friend Leah for lunch and I drove to meet her a little early so I could make a quick stop in Homegoods and could tell I was beginning to feel worse. After lunch I was going to run a few more errands and all of a sudden I had that feeling of I just want to be home RIGHT NOW.
And so I came home, took some Advil and laid on the couch until it was time to pick Caroline up from school. I think I’m either suffering from the beginning of a virus or a case of maybe you shouldn’t work out for the first time in months and then move an armoire across the house and clean out bags full of stuff from your house all in the same day.
I’ll let you know which one it is when I know for sure.