Do you remember the days when anything was possible?  I do.  I remember back in the day, I could do anything and I would be fine.  I have always been able to tackle anything with my hands.  You name it, I could figure it out, do it , no problem.

I have painted houses, built bookcases, lifted boxes, catered events for hundreds, you name, I did it.  I always hated paying people for things I could do.  I remember when I was a caterer; I did it all, nobody could do it as well as I could.  Now, of course, that probably was not true but I told myself that and consequently I killed myself with every catering job.  Food was great, I was exhausted.

The first time I realized I might not be superwoman any longer was a couple of years ago when I was painting my bedroom.  I was up on a ladder, fortunately not a tall one, and I lost my balance and had a full container of paint in one hand.  In that split second I decided to hurt myself and not spill the paint.  Well, I fell, held on to that paint and nearly broke my body.  I had gigantic black and blue marks that of course turned green and purple in  no time.  Worse than that was the pain I felt when I tried to move.  And, to top it off, the embarrassment of being a klutz.  Fortunately I was alone. However, never one to not tell an amusing story, this tale was told and laughed at over and over again.  Many questioning the decision to hurt myself rather than clean up spilled paint.

Which, brings me to my latest escapade.  My mother calls me a hoarder in training.  She probably is not far off.  I never like to throw things out.  I paid for them and they are mine!  Well, life has got a bit out of control and I started to feel a little claustrophobic, especially in my office.  So, I decide that I need to call the home shredder people and get shredding.  Anybody out there ever had so much paper they didn’t know what to do with it?  Well, I had 20 years of business papers.  I had applications with peoples personal information, bank information, my own bank and tax  information,  It was everywhere and needed to be gone.  So, I packed boxes with pounds of paper – 15 boxes in all – loaded with paper.  Anyone who has picked up a box of copier paper knows how heavy boxes of paper can be  I had 15 of them.  First I moved them into another room and then I spent several days moving them downstairs and outside.

You might wonder why I moved them to another room.  Good question.  I bought an exercise bike and it needed somewhere to live that would not make it a clothes hanger.  Who out there has done that?  I certainly have.  I had NordicTrack skier art in my bedroom for years until I actually used and loved it.  So, the bike was not going to suffer the same fate,  In the office it would be used daily.  That was the pledge to myself when I spent that unbelievable sum of money to get the machine.

Well, the machine arrived, I did get smart here, I paid to have it brought upstairs and put together.  Normally,  I would have decided not to do that.  I would take it upstairs and I would put it together.  Thank goodness I did not decide that because it would still be in the box.  It was way more complicated to put together than the ad said.  So now, it stands proudly ready to go but unused in the office.

Unused, you say.  Why unused as you have pledged to use it daily.  OK.  Remember those boxes,  yeah you do.  Well, I guess in my headI still think I am in my 20’s.  I pulled my back out.  Can’t move.  Spent that last week on a heating pad.  Lidocaine patches, essential oils rubbed in, and finally acupuncture.  The acupuncture helped a bit and hopefully will help to heal it quickly because next friday, I get to sit on an airplane for 7 hours.  So, lets hope all the remedies work!

Now, I have been asked if I learned my lessons.  I have a hard time with lessons.  I am stubborn and hard headed however, I believe that once you pass a certain age – in my case- 66, you need to learn that you no longer can do the things you used to do.  Everything in moderation and you need to open the wallet and pay for things you know will hurt you.  Hard lessons.  Pitiful.

So all of you folks out there in the cyberworld who can relate – hope you do better than me.

See you soon!