Elf-ercise

As my health seems to be rapidly in decline lately, the elf here is to remind us all of a good exercise regiment each day.  To that extent, he's got that little Santa's cap there as an energetic instructor, getting not only the Jingle Bell but his reindeer Snowflake and a few friends to join in on a nice little twelve-minute exercise session.  

On top of that, we now have a treadmill in that very room, not far from this work-out area, in fact.  Those little interlocking floor mats have come in handy.  You can see one above, but we locked several of them together, and have the treadmill on top of that.  Now we can go for long walks even indoors.  I'm hoping to get something to watch or actually do as I walk, but for now, just walking is fine.

Madison had taekwondo leadership tonight, pretty much the last class to swing a sword around in for a while.  I believe they go back to the first weapon next, spending another cycle there.  But she was getting the hang of the sword rather well by the end of this one.

I came to taekwondo with Nana, the two of us sitting back there looking through the observation windows.    Mom was at home working on a fish dinner for us, one that was really good!  I brought a book along, although the action was hard to look away from today!

Tomorrow is her testing for round two, and she feels ready for that.  It's amazing each year how all this stuff compiles at once:  piano recitals or ballet recitals, testing for belts, and of course the written tests in school throughout the week.  That's all this week.

But in some ways, this is a nice break from all the school work - which she still doesn't seem to have a problem with.  She gets to go hang out with friends... and kick them in the head.  Seriously though, she has a good time.

Today I was at the doctor's office, and there has been an improvement with the blood pressure.  There's simultaneously been a wild case of insomnia though, and that's obviously not good.  Last night I didn't get much sleep at all, so tonight's Christmas specials were short ones, starting out with the Claymation Christmas, which is still so much fun to me.  I love the details on Rex and Herb, the Carol of the Bells being an obvious highlight, followed by the the skating walrus, Joy to the World, Oh Christmas Tree, and wrapping up with a completely epic visit by the California Raisons.  Nana probably had no idea what she was watching, but Mom and I were loving it.

Madison was studying.  For a bit.  Most of the rest of the evening, however, she was talking with friends on the phone.  Hopefully she'll do okay in school this week, and not burn out here at the finish line.  I myself was in bed fairly quickly tonight, before everyone else.  I was given some medication at the doctor's office that was to help me sleep.  It did... until 4am.  But that is more sleep than I've gotten in five days, so I'll take it.  Baby steps!

We didn't get to Narnia tonight, but we'll pick up on that tomorrow, where hopefully Jill, Eustace and Puddleglum will get out of that castle and the upcoming Autumn Feast, and then head to the spot Aslan told them to go.  How distracted we all get from what's really important, right?  There are so many messages within Narnia that it would be so easy to have a sermon booklet about it.

Anyway, we had a full day today.  Madison starts her tests tomorrow, including the belt testing, so it should be even fuller.  The doctor's visit today made things a little more hopeful, but there's a lot going on this time of year as always, and there's still so much to do.  One thing at a time...!