Health kick, and a quick summary of May

I had half-caff coffee this morning and am therefore a little slow to start today. Need to grease up the wheels and get going, but eh... Monday. The managers are away this morning at a photoshoot, so I SHOULD be using the time to be productive, uninterrupted. I can't seem to do that just yet.

It's been a while, no? A busy couple of weeks there, at the end of May. We closed out the school year, I attended a local 2-day conference for work, Shawn got strep, I left him that very day to visit Jill in Seattle for her birthday weekend, he took the kids to Nanny's anyway (wore a surgical mask!), we began our Summer of Fun with Carli the Super-Babysitter, this past weekend we had my birthday and then dropped Kate off at WinShape, and here we are!

That paragraph doesn't seem like enough to illustrate those 20 days, but like I said, I'm less than fully awake. Jill doesn't drink caffeine much, so I feel like I should drink less. I'm also trying to be low-carb this week, and I vaguely remember from one of the low-carb diets that limiting caffeine is part of the deal. I do get headaches pretty badly when I don't have ANY caffeine, so maybe half-caff will be the way to wean myself from the addiction a bit. But ugh, it sucks right in this moment where I can't stop yawning.

*flits off to read more low-carb info online for a minute because you know how I love "studying" diet/nutrition ideas/rabbit-holes*

I do have some feelings about some of the previous weeks' events. Mainly:

• Kate being away at camp. Yes, I got teary when we left. My baby, so big. She expressed some understandable nervousness in the 2 weeks leading up to her departure yesterday, which in turn made me nervous. However, after many discussions with my parents and Shawn, we're all still convinced (I knew this going in, but sometimes emotions get in the way) that it's going to be wonderful for her. I think the independence from ME, in particular, will serve her well. She noticed her name on a chores list, when we were unpacking her stuff, and she was assigned to Mop. HA! I love it. Yes, indeed, teach the girl to mop and do all the other chores, please!! I realized that she's getting a small taste of what it will be like to move away from home when she's grown, and this is an invaluable lesson. I was lucky enough to have camps like this to prepare me, and so will my kids. I'm happy about that.
• My 42nd birthday. Some talks with a coworker recently about her health and getting older in general, as well as some personal body signals, have motivated me to reconsider (again again again) how I'm eating and that I must exercise. So. Low-carb for a bit. Eat LESS. Water. Vitamins. I walked 30 minutes last night and brought my shoes to work today. Let's do this.  (But let's not obsess or count or any of that ultimately deflating nonsense.)
• Visiting Jilly was fun. She's keeping busy, I can tell, and kept me busy, too, but she's also doing remarkably WELL for someone in her situation right now, and she is surrounded with the QUALITY friends that she needs and deserves, to help her if she needs help. I'm very proud of her and happy for her, and I promise, Mom and Dad, that you'll hear the bulk of the backstory soon. I learned that she was waiting for the final conclusion of the process, and that has happened. She told me that every time she tells it, she thinks it's good (meaning cleansing and healing).
• It was also fun because we did hot yoga! I was pretty intimidated but handled the WHOLE class - I didn't have to step out, although I did have to get used to dripping with sweat, something I have NEVER enjoyed. ;) But I could do the poses, even better than some of the other women in there (I know I know, yoga isn't about being "the best" but it's good to feel at least average). Also in my 42nd year I am going to try another yoga studio here. I AM, HEAR ME.