On the mend

Today is a lazy Saturday. Maple is watching an animated Christmas movie, Sean is working, and I'm procrastinating. So what's new?

My ankle problem is much better and I'm starting to run longer again. Today I ran with the running club, before my first running club meeting. It was fun to run with other people and six miles went by very fast. On Thursday this week I ran at the track and did faster and more intervals than I'd thought I could, and then felt like I was on cocaine for the rest of the day. (Okay I don't even know what that feels like but I was high as a kite on endorphins.)

My MS relapse is gone but it left some vision damage behind. Fortunately it isn't too bad. I have stopped having desperate feelings about my life; I've gone back to ignoring my diagnosis altogether. It gets a little harder when I have new symptoms, but then some time goes by and I get used to the new normal. And knock on the wood, I have only had one cold this season.

Maple has become a voracious reader and reads chapter books faster than we can supply them. Fortunately she likes reading them over and over again. She also likes to dance and sing and read some more. And draw. Today she painted picture frames with her friend Julia while I was out running. She had strep throat for the first time last month, and it took us a while to catch on that it was more than just a cold. She missed a week of school! But it didn't do her any harm; she's doing pretty well at the three R's. She is almost done with this semester of ballet class, and she decided not to do it again after the holidays. She's going to try ice skating lessons instead.

I shopped for Christmas gifts for Maple last week. My usual strategy is not to buy too much because her grandparents usually buy her a lot. This year, I kept thinking "How much longer is she going to be into [some slightly babyish thing]? I should buy her one. Next year she'll be too cool for that. I'm not having any more kids, right? This is it! I must buy this! Now!" This led to the purchase of a much larger number of gifts than I intended.

Sean is back to getting one weekend day off every week, which is great because we get to spend more family time together than we did over the summer. Last night we all went to the movies and saw the new muppets movie, which was not good, but it was fun to go out with the family. Sean's still toiling at the fancy grocery store, and not really loving it. But he does a great job and people like him there. And then he comes home and gets liked a bit more. We think he's great, even if he gets no love from the great and powerful Oz.

Phoenix is aging gracefully - she still seems like a much younger dog. She just sleeps more than she used to.

We're all getting excited for Christmas. Maple has a chocolate advent calendar and I have Vince Guaraldi on repeat. I bought some delicata squash this morning and I swear I will cook it completely tonight. Maybe next weekend we'll get a tree and bake some cookies. And right now I think I'll take a nap.