Weekly Mileage #95 and the Start of Sap Season

snowball!

We had a snow day on Monday, so we went sledding at a local park, but it wasn't great snow. It was melting into a slushy mess, so while we did some sledding, we weren't able to do the snowshoeing I'd hoped for.

the boys sledding down the hill

Ocean had more speech therapy appointments (he's going twice a week right now) and they're going well. We can hear a difference already, but a lot of that is because he can actually hear sounds clearly now. Because he can hear clearly, he can hear what the speech therapist is saying and is getting better at mimicking correct sounds. He's already losing the cute mispronunciations he's been using for so long. It's a good thing, but it's also a little sad. He's getting so big.

Sunshine and her tiny snowman

The sap is running. I tweaked the lines Tuesday after the sap started flowing. I had a long stretch that was unsupported, and once the sap started running it was just too heavy and it hung too low for the gravity vacuum to work. I knew this was a possibility, but I wanted to give it a try anyway. Getting rid of the unsupported section just means we have two collection points instead of one, so it's not that big a deal.

the bubbles indicate sap in the lines!

As of Sunday morning we've collected about 11 gallons of sap so far. I tried to boil the sap on Saturday, but all the wood was wet and covered in snow and it started raining. A sugar shack would really come in handy at times like this. I'll try again this afternoon.

first time I've been able to pack snow around a bucket of sap to help it stay cold- I don't need to put it in the freezer just yet

We got about an inch or so of snow Thursday evening, on top of what we got last weekend, which had started melting, but was still on the ground. The temps have been rising and Saturday's rain took care of more of the snow. Such a muddy mess. Our yard is just a mud pit now from all the rain we got last year plus the snow we've gotten this winter. We'll have to do some intensive re-seeding if it ever stops raining.

bucket full of sap, partially frozen

Friday night I realized that I've been more clear headed this week and more productive with my time. I've spent less time feeling fuzzy and unable to concentrate. I'm thinking this is due to the new supplement I started last Saturday. I upped the dose a smidge (you have to gradually increase till you reach the full dose) this Saturday, and I'm curious to see if I see any other improvements. It can take up to 6 months to see the full benefits, so I'm excited to be seeing results after less than a week.

foggy, snowy morning on Friday

Weekly Mileage
Tuesday- 1.00 miles walked
Thursday- 10.0 miles biked
total- 11.1 miles

3 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

8.40 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
20.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
28.40 miles total

Sunday Funny

Notice that there's no ornaments on the tree?

There were ornaments, but Ocean kept pulling them off and moving them around. That would have been ok, but he started breaking them as well. So a day and a half after they went on the tree, Sunshine got frustrated and pulled them all off.

She left the lights and garlands on the tree, but those didn't stay put either. By Christmas eve, the lights and garland on the bottom half of the tree had migrated to the bottom quarter of the tree. After the boys went to bed that night, Sunshine took it upon herself to rearrange the lights and garland back to their original spots.

I actually thought the tree looked fine without the ornaments- simple is good :)

Why I Decided to Use Tubing to Tap Our Trees

I was waffling earlier in the year, so why did I decide to use tubing to tap our trees after all? 'Cause it's not for the looks :)

1. Tubing + Gravity = A slight vacuum

That vacuum increases the amount of sap produced by each tree

2. The closed system of the tubing prevents rapid bacteria growth, which extends the length of the season versus tapping with a bucket and spile.

A longer tapping season means more sap collected.

view from the first black walnut on the line, there's two taps in this tree, so two drop lines lead into the mainline

3. Tubing can be left in place from year to year, which reduces the workload.

The taps and drops (tubing connecting the tap to the main line) have to be removed and replaced, but the rest can stay in place. I'll have to remove most, if not all, of the tubing since some of it's too close to the ground and little boys and squirrels would not be able to leave it alone. I'll mark the trees so I know where I placed the tubing, which will make putting it back a lot quicker.

It was less expensive than I anticipated, though I did skip the tool to quickly insert the drops into the mainline. It would have made my life so much easier and the process would have been faster, but I just couldn't justify the cost of the tool. Though I could re-sell it on eBay, so maybe I'll get it next year, since I won't need to buy more tubing.

At the end of the season, I'll compare the yield to previous years to see how much of a difference there is.

More Narcolepsy Thoughts

it's a meandering journey...

Have I given myself permission to slow down and take a break, or is it an excuse to lay around and do nothing? Honestly, it feels like the second, but it's really the first. My perfectionist, type A side has a really hard time stopping (or even slowing down) and relaxing, and I only tend to do so when I'm too exhausted to do anything else.

So I'm working on not pushing that hard, even if it goes against the grain. Years ago, I realized that if I kept moving, kept doing stuff, I could work past whatever exhaustion or pain I was dealing with. But as soon as I stopped and sat for a minute, it would all hit me like a ton of bricks, and it would be so difficult to get up and get going again. Trying to change that deeply ingrained habit isn't easy.

~~~

While doing some research into narcolepsy, I came across some lovely side effects. Weight gain (really? I've already got PCOS working against me in that arena, I need something else as well??) and short temper and irritability (constantly being tired will do that to you). Lovely.

~~~

I am very blessed to have a mild case, but it's still hard to deal with, and I know that it can (and most likely will) get worse as I get older.  I'm also very blessed to have doctors who have listened to me. This time around. Twenty years ago was a completely different story on so many levels- it was the classic "we don't know what's wrong with you, so it's all in your head" from multiple doctors in different states. So frustrating.

The nurse practitioner who saw me at our doctor's office took the time on a couple occasions to hash out what was going on, for how long, what I was/wasn't doing different, etc. She did the two rounds of blood work, and took the time to research possible diseases to test for in the second round (among others, they looked for mono and lyme). When she still couldn't find anything that would explain my symptoms, other than possible sleep apnea, she referred me to a sleep specialist for more testing.

I'm seeing the nurse practitioner in the sleep specialist's office, but both she and the doctor are quite knowledgeable. The doc has quite the list of credentials and has done a lot of research and consulting about sleep and athletics for sports teams. He's the one who set up the sleep study clinic that I went to for my testing about 15 years ago.

So far, I don't feel like meds are being pushed on me, though it has definitely been presented as an option, and I brought home a big packet of info on the super heavy duty sleep meds, so I could read through it. The NP mentioned trying the keto diet and finding support groups as ways to cope with the disease. So many people on the narcolepsy groups are having the exact opposite experiences from what I've had this time around. So getting diagnosed while we live here, where a knowledgeable specialist can help me, is such a blessing. Right time, right place.

Breaking my foot has also been serendipitous in this case. The fatigue got a lot worse a couple weeks before my half marathon, but I pushed through and finished my training and the race. Breaking my foot right afterwards forced me to sit and and rest, and showed the doc that the half marathon training wasn't the cause of the constant exhaustion, since I was still always tired, even while just sitting on my bum all day.

~~~

It's nice to know why it's so hard to get stuff done sometimes- I'm too tired and fighting the sleep. Since I've spent years fighting naps, I have a hard time taking them, but I do end up zoning out and not being productive. I've been working on taking naps, but it's hard to allow myself to do so when the boys are running around making noise. It's a process. The times I've managed it, I've been a bit more functional later in the afternoon.

~~~

Looking back, I think my symptoms started getting worse after the boys were born. I was chalking up my inability to get as much done to being tired from chasing after the boys while no longer being a spring chicken, but I don't think that's really the case.

~~~

Autoimmune diseases really suck. The more I learn about them, the more I realize just how badly they can impact your quality of life. And they're "invisible disabilities", so they are frequently minimized or brushed off as not a big deal or all in your head. But they can mean pain, fatigue, an inability to work or to even function. Divorce and depression are not uncommon side effects, as is poverty. That's the one that I keep seeing in the narcolepsy groups- depression and poverty, which go hand in hand. Depressed because you can't work, poverty because you're stuck relying on government handouts because you can't work. Frequent doctor visits. Medication refills. Insurance denials. Paperwork out the wazoo. Meds that don't work or cause unpleasant side effects.

And this is why I keep working to be as functional as possible.

Weekly Mileage #94 and the First Snow of the Year

little bridge and stairs on the trail

This week we started getting back into our routine. I like flexibility, but having a routine makes it easier for me to find times to be functional and get stuff done. I'm figuring out how to work around the low points and to take advantage of the times I actually feel ok.

On Monday preschool and co-op started up again, signaling the start of getting back on schedule. I went for a solo hike after dropping everyone off, and explored some trails we haven't been on yet at the nature preserve.

Wednesday Ocean had his first speech therapy appointment. The therapist thinks he'll make rapid progress now that he's got his tubes in and is hearing so much better. And it turns out that she has narcolepsy too. In fact, this week I also found out that there's someone at church who has narcolepsy. Small world.

Sunshine had to go to the orthodontist to get a new retainer to fit over the teeth that are growing in weird. She still needs to get four more teeth pulled, but we have to pay for the <expensive> anesthesia up front, so that's on hold for a bit. This will be the third time pulling teeth, and I'm really hoping she can finally get braces after this round of teeth pulling.

Thursday I had a followup with my sleep specialist. She's impressed with how functional I am, and even double checked the MSLT (the daytime sleep study) results to confirm that I do indeed have narcolepsy. There's a lot of things I'm doing to be as functional as I am, so it's certainly not without effort. She did give me a script for another type of stimulant, since the first one gave me a migraine, but I'm waiting to fill it. I'm trying something else first, which I started on Saturday. I don't need to go back for awhile unless I decide to take the stimulant and it doesn't work and I need to try something different.

Friday Sunshine got to go to a youth fireside where Elder Christofferson and an area authority seventy spoke. Super cool opportunity for her.

I also started running the tubing for sap collection. Getting the elevation change correct proved as tricky as I thought it'd be. Our house sits at the top of a flattened hill, with the black walnuts down the slope a little on one side and the maples extending down the slope on the other side. Cresting the hill and keeping a negative slope meant I had to climb on a ladder for the walnuts and the tubing is running along the ground at the highest points. Not optimal, but hopefully it'll work.

Saturday I finished running the tubing, drilled the taps, and it should be ready to go. Earlier in the week the sap was running, but right now it's too cold. Setting up ahead of time, means it's ready whenever the sap is running. It started snowing in the afternoon as I was finishing tapping the trees, and it almost felt like I was in New England :) Now if only we had a real sugar bush, instead of 10 trees spread out across almost 2 acres of land....

The new supplement I wanted to try before taking more meds arrived. This one pulls toxins from the body and allows it to work more efficiently. It's primarily used by people with autism, PANDAS, POTS, etc, but some people with narcolepsy have had success with it, so I thought it was worth a try. I'm at a very low dose right now, but can already feel it doing something. Not loving the detox symptoms, but if it eventually helps me sleep better and function more during the day, I'll power through it. Six months is the average time to full results, but I should see results before then.

We received about 5" of snow Saturday into Sunday, and it started snowing again Sunday evening. Schools were canceled Sunday evening and Mr M has a delayed start. Since the snow hasn't melted, we're going to a local park today to go sledding and do some snowshoeing.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 2.10 mile solo hike
Tuesday- 10.00 miles biked
Thursday- 2.20 miles walked on the treadmill
Friday- 1.52 miles hiked while setting up tubing
Saturday- 1.58 miles hiked while setting up tubing
total- 17.40 miles

3 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

7.40 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
10.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
17.40 miles total

Sunday Funny

Ocean likes to pose by trees and say "Smile me mommy!" Which means he wants me to take a picture of him.

I love the poses- those are all him :)

2018 Christmas Ornaments

This has been the year of the GlowForge, so of course I used the GlowForge to make this year's ornaments.

After editing one of the group pictures to remove the background, I etched the image onto one side of the ornaments.

Simple text and snowflakes on the reverse side with our names and the year.

Colorful ribbons to hang the ornaments on the tree.

2017 Christmas Ornaments

Last Christmas I made these ornaments for us and the assorted grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-aunts, but I forgot to take pictures before I packed the ornaments away. So, better late than never, here's our 2017 ornaments.

I cut white cardstock with my Silhouette, then cut red glitter cardstock panels with the Silhouette. I glued the glitter cardstock to the white cardstock, positioning the kiddos' photos in the openings. Then I folded everything and attached the tabs with double-sided tape. Some baker's twine makes a colorful hanger.

What is Narcolepsy?

fall drive on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah NP earlier this year

The following is courtesy of Kiara Miller, who posted this in one of my narcolepsy Facebook groups, and gave us all permission to share it. She wrote this to help us explain to those around us how narcolepsy impacts our lives. I added the subheadings.

--------------------------------------------

Dear family or friends of someone with narcolepsy,

I am a narcoleptic writing on behalf of my fellow sleepy people, in hopes that these words might help even one or two people to understand a little better what their loved one is dealing with. This may seem very long, and you may think it is an inconvenience to take the time to read it, but I deeply encourage you to do so. I have put a great deal of care into writing this.

What is narcolepsy?

Narcolepsy is a disorder of the brain, but it is not to be confused with a mental disorder. This disorder is very real and very physical in origin. It is brain damage. For now, this brain damage is irreversible. Luckily, new research is being done all the time on narcolepsy, and we are learning more and more about the cause and the best ways to treat it, even if we can't cure it. 

Narcolepsy is, at least in most cases, an autoimmune disorder. What this means is that at some point in our lives our bodies got some type of infection, like the flu. While fighting this infection, our bodies made a mistake, and thought that an important part of our brain was actually part of the virus, and therefore needed to be killed off. 

This part of the brain that got attacked has around 70,000 neurons (nerve cells) that produce something called orexin (also referred to as hypocretin). In the case of narcolepsy, almost *all* of these neurons are destroyed. 

Orexin is best known for regulating appetite and energy expenditure (how much energy is needed to do what), and stimulating or encouraging wakefulness. It is responsible for taking in a ton of information and using that information to tell the body when it should be awake, and when it should be asleep. 

This information includes things like circadian rhythms (we should sleep at night, be awake during the day) and sleep debt. Sleep debt means you didn't sleep enough at night (or didn't get good quality sleep) so your body stores up a need for extra sleep. You might need to take a nap, or sleep in late on the weekends, and in a healthy body, getting enough extra rest will make up the sleep debt and you will feel better. Many people have sleep debt these days because of the demands of modern society or from being a parent, which is why caffeine is so popular. However, if they were able to get that extra sleep they needed, they would feel refreshed. 

For a narcoleptic, all of this is messed up. We have no regulation of sleepiness and wakefulness. We want to be awake during the day, but we physically can't because the part of our brain that says we should be awake is gone. This is exacerbated by the fact that we almost never get truly restorative sleep, even if we were to sleep for days. We are constantly increasing our sleep debt, and unable to ever make it up.

What narcolepsy looks like

Even though narcoleptics are thought to sleep all the time, that's not always true. At night, many of us struggle with insomnia and fractured sleep because now our brains aren't telling us it's time to sleep. But even when narcoleptics do sleep (whether at night or during the day), we usually spend a significant portion of our sleep in the lightest sleep stages, which are not restful, and in REM, where the brain activity is closest to how it is when awake. REM stage is when dreaming happens. Although this stage is very important, it is supposed to be in balance with deep sleep, when brain activity becomes very quiet and allows our brains to rest. The two stages work in harmony to keep people healthy and functional. Narcoleptics get far too much REM sleep, and not enough deep sleep, so our brains are very active most of the night. During the day, when our brains are constantly pulling us into sleep, even if we sleep briefly we often go directly into REM sleep. So even if we nap, our brains are working hard, they are active, they aren't resting. 

So during the day, not only are we missing the part of our body that tells us to stay awake, we are also chronically sleep deprived whether we sleep or not. Like a battery that only ever charges to 30 percent and instantly starts draining as soon as it is unplugged, sometimes hitting empty within a couple hours, sometimes within a few minutes. 

The disregulation and sleep deprivation causes a constant overlap of wakefulness and sleep. We can actually think we are awake, and be asleep. You might even think we are awake, we might even be talking to you, but some part of our brain could still be asleep (and dreaming). Yeah, it's really freaky! When narcoleptics take the mslt, or the daytime sleep study, many of us don't even think we fell asleep during the naps. But not only did we sleep, we were dreaming and hitting the REM sleep stage super fast. A healthy, well rested brain should never hit REM sleep during a 20 minute nap. 

We are prone to having very vivid, life-like dreams, which can cause great confusion about what is reality, and what was a dream. It can also cause us to think we have done something we said we would do or believe we had conversations we never had, because we dreamt it in perfect clarity. We can also wake up from a dream, and fall back asleep, picking up exactly where we left off in the dream, or immediately entering a new dream. Many of us also have severe nightmares, and because the nightmares are so vivid, they can cause increases in our stress hormones, our adrenaline, and our anxiety. They can also make us scared to sleep and contribute to the insomnia. 

Another symptom of narcolepsy is that many of us enter REM before we are even fully asleep. This can cause hallucinations. These hallucinations are dreams overlapping our actual life as we are falling asleep or as we are waking up. Since we easily fall asleep during the day, some of us experience hallucinations throughout the day as well, which is disorienting and can be incredibly scary. 

Related to this is another symptom called sleep paralysis. During REM sleep, the body is supposed to produce a chemical that causes temporary loss of muscle tone and paralyzes us so we don't injure ourselves or others by acting out our dreams. This is called REM atonia. For many narcoleptics, they wake up while still paralyzed and usually while still partially dreaming. This can cause feelings of helplessness as well as fear because sleep paralysis is often accompanied by hallucinations. 

Finally, a very significant symptom of narcolepsy is called cataplexy. Cataplexy is only present in type 1 Narcolepsy, but some people may have it and not realize it because it's mild or they thought it was normal. Cataplexy is regularly misdiagnosed and unrecognized by medical professionals. Remember REM atonia, the muscle paralysis that should happen when you dream? In a person with cataplexy, this muscle paralysis gets triggered during the day, while a person is awake and conscious, because of emotional responses. The brain senses emotion and thinks, quick, produce this chemical, and loss of muscle tone follows. This can be mild and brief, like sudden drooping of the face. It can affect the tongue causing slurring. It can be more moderate, such as an arm giving out and dropping something, the head suddenly falling down, buckling knees, or the torso slumping. In severe cases, the body can completely collapse. A person with cataplexy might get angry or stressed, or they might laugh at a joke, or they might feel very happy or very sad or excited, and then they just collapse like a puppet that had its strings cut. They might have their eyes closed, and be completely unresponsive. But they are aware of everything, and aware of their inability to move or respond. Undiagnosed, this is terrifying. It also makes us very vulnerable if it happens in public or with people who are untrustworthy. 

Some narcoleptics also suffer from something called sleep inertia. This means that it can be nearly impossible to wake up on demand, even if someone is shaking our body or if we have set 20 alarms. Imagine that only seconds after you wake up, you feel drunk or drugged or like you've been hit by a truck, and then you are pulled back into sleep. Imagine this wave of drugged, painful consciousness happening over and over again every time you try to wake, and if you manage to force yourself out of bed you might get a horrible migraine or feel like throwing up, or you actually throw up. In any case, you are completely and utterly miserable and it can last for hours. Imagine feeling this way even after a 20 minute nap. This is often debilitating and can make it so hard to wake up in the morning to go to school or go to work.

What narcolepsy really means on a day-to-day basis

So please, think about all of this for a moment. Think about the most tired you have ever felt, so tired that all you could think about was sleep, that all you could do was sleep, and imagine that never going away. It's like being given heavy doses of sleeping pills throughout the day, against your will, and then trying to work, or study, or enjoy life. That's just one symptom, the excessive daytime sleepiness, and most of us have at least one of the other symptoms, sometimes all of them. 

Imagine finally learning that this horrible, lonely, disabling disorder is actually brain damage, and then the people who should support you still see you as lazy even though you desperately want to be functional. Imagine that you find a medication that actually gives you any degree of functionality, but then you get judged for taking it. And that is if you are lucky enough to respond well to treatment. Many of us, unfortunately, do not tolerate the available medications or we can sleep right through them. It is discouraging, frustrating, and isolating. 

If your loved one has narcolepsy, it may feel like a shock. It may cause feelings of hopelessness, anger, denial. But it is in fact a blessing. This would have been a lifelong issue with or without a diagnosis, but without a diagnosis, we wouldn't have the hope of finding a treatment that works. We wouldn't have support groups that makes us feel less alone. We would be constantly berating ourselves and wondering why even when we sleep, it feels like we haven't. We wouldn't understand why we are struggling, and neither would our doctors, and neither would our families and friends. But now we can understand it, and we can look for doctors who understand it, and if you try to, and open your hearts and minds to new information, you can understand it as well. And that kind of understanding is life changing for us.

------------------------------------

Me again, with some more thoughts.

When I read this, it struck me that this is what I've been trying to articulate, but haven't been able to do so. And I'm not the only one- so many people in the group who read this had the same reaction.

As I've mentioned before, I'm very lucky to have a mild case of narcolepsy. I do have disordered sleep, insomnia,  and excessive daytime sleepiness and I believe I've had sleep inertia in the past, but I've been able to regulate it through a mindful diet. I don't have hallucinations, sleep paralysis, or cataplexy, but I know this could change, and I'm praying it doesn't. So far, the one stimulant I tried didn't work. I don't know if other stimulants will work. I haven't tried the nighttime meds to help me sleep better, and I'm not sure I want to. All these meds come with side effects, may not work, or may lose their efficacy after being taken for awhile. And lets not even talk about how much they all cost.

That is one part she didn't mention: the financial aspect of narcolepsy. Many people go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years, despite many doctor visits (raises hand- it took almost 20 years to get my diagnosis). Doctor visits and testing are expensive. Medications are expensive, and insurance companies frequently decide that people don't need this more expensive one, they should take the cheaper one, even though it didn't work for them.

Schoolwork suffers when you can't stay awake long enough to study or to make it to class. Comprehending new material becomes a huge challenge. Once bright futures fade away with each sleepless night.

And what about jobs? Those of us with milder cases of narcolepsy are able to work (though I don't think I'd be able to hold down a desk job at this point, so I am very grateful for the flexible schedule that comes with being self-employed), but many with worse symptoms simply cannot hold a job. They are doomed to live out the rest of their lives at or below subsistence level, relying on disability and government handouts and praying that their medication will be covered. What kind of life is that?

Despite all this, I am glad to finally have a diagnosis. As she said in the last paragraph, it's such a blessing to know why I never seem to sleep well, why I'm always tired, why I'm so non-functional in the afternoons, why I used to wake up feeling like I had a hangover, despite never touching a drop of alcohol in my life (that would be the sleep inertia).

Knowing there's a reason for all this and that certain things won't ever change for the better has made it easier to re-evaluate what I expect to be able to do on any given day. I'm moving tasks around and changing things up, and it feels more productive. I'll write more about this when I've had a chance to try things out a bit more, but in the meantime, I do feel like things are looking up a bit.

Weekly Mileage #93 and the New Year

getting ready to head to the OR

Bright and early Monday morning I took Ocean to the outpatient surgery center of the hospital to get tubes in his ears. It was the first time any of our kids have had surgery, so it was a bit nerve-wracking, but it all went smoothly. It's a very quick procedure and coming out of the anesthesia took longer than the actual procedure.

all ready- I went into the OR with him and held his hand while the anesthesia took effect, then I had to leave

He hated the eardrops we had to put in morning and night for three days, so I'm really glad we're done with those. Thursday morning he went to preschool for a makeup day and as he climbed out of the car, he was complaining that the car idling next to us was too loud. It wasn't very loud at all, so apparently he's starting to hear things more clearly than he ever has before. His preschool teacher also  mentioned that she didn't have to repeat herself multiple times to get his attention- he responded much more quickly than he has in the past.

they let him walk to the OR

We weren't expecting his ears to clear up and his hearing to improve this quickly, so it's nice to see noticeable progress already. We were hoping he wouldn't be quite so loud once he could hear better, but we're still waiting on that one... :)

Since we were in town, we bundled up and did my last hike of the year for the 52 hike challenge. The rainy morning meant we chose the gravel and board walk bridge trail, since at least it wasn't muddy. I ended up soaked, but Ocean stayed dry in his trail suit under the rain cover of the stroller.

rainy hike

I did a total of 2.66 miles, which brought me to an even 755.0 miles for the year (bike + foot + kayak). I went 1.33 miles up the mountain, then 1.33 back down. After turning around, I decided to run the first mile back down the trail. I was feeling good, I had my running shoes on (my hiking shoes had dried mud on them so I didn't wear them to the hospital), my foot didn't hurt, and it got me down the mountain faster (it was raining harder and harder as the hike went on).

rainy boardwalk

It felt good in the moment, but my foot wasn't super happy the rest of the day- a bit sore and achy, which is to be expected after not running in more than a month.

This year I didn't run the New Years Day 5k. I've spent all my time hiking instead of running, and I'm still trying to get my energy levels back up. I did spend some time with the chainsaw though. That big oak tree we had taken down last spring is still laying where it was dropped. I've called a mobile sawmill about getting it cut into planks (for building a clubhouse on the treehouse) and a mantle for the fireplace, but the trunk lengths need to be cut down to more manageable lengths.

Mr M's back has been giving him a lot of problems lately, so he's not up for it. As tired as I always am, I do like physical work, so I decided to do a little here, a little there. It'll take awhile since the logs are so big, but it'll get done eventually.

I also attached trim and did some sanding on the desk I've been building. It's taken a couple months, like every project, but I'm finally almost done with it.

Wednesday I cleaned and organized the basement. It's been collecting stuff and getting more and more disorganized. There are a couple stacks of bins and boxes for Mr M to sort through still (they've been waiting for him for years), but everything else looks a lot better.

The only problem was that I spent the whole day in the basement, which has a concrete floor under the Pergo flooring, wearing bedroom slippers. My foot was not at all happy. And while I was able to keep moving and get things done, I was exhausted by the time I was done.

I spent the next couple days feeling like crap and realizing I really need to get better at rationing my energy. Intellectually I know this, but I hate leaving a project half done, since there's no guarantee I'll have the time or energy to finish it the next day.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 2.66 miles hiked and run
total- 2.66 miles (towards 2018 totals)

2019 totals:

0 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

0 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
0 miles total

Sunday Funny

Ocean loves his sticks, and it's a common sight to see him with two sticks, one his fiddle, and one his bow. Size proportions are irrelevant :)

2019 Goals

Ta da! He did it!

You can find my 2018 mileage totals in this post, and my 2018 goals in this post, back in January 2018.

I set a lot of goals because they help me accomplish things. In the past I've set some unrealistic goals, but I'm getting better at pinpointing things that are both important to me and achievable. Having something to work towards motivates me to keep moving and not turn into a vegetable on the couch, even when it's really tempting because I'm so dang tired all the time.

Thoughts about how things went in 2018

Strictly going by the numbers, I had a good year. My overall mileage total is continuing to climb year over year. My bike miles went way up this year and I was able to log a couple miles of kayaking. I hit my goals of 52 hikes, 365 foot miles and 365 bike miles.

However, physically, I had a rough year. Flu + strep + a really bad cold at the beginning of the year meant a very slow start to my mileage and my hikes. Add in persistent plantar fasciitis, a broken foot in September and a resurgence of my narcolepsy symptoms (it's been at a manageable level for years, but got noticeably worse in August), and life has been challenging.

Mileage
I'd originally hoped for a much higher mileage total (double the bike and foot miles), but honestly, I'm happy hitting 365 miles with both foot miles and bike miles. I'd also hoped for more kayak miles, but there's always so much to do, so it was hard to find the time. All the rain we got this year didn't help- we were hesitant to get out on the water when the water levels were so high, and that happened sooo many times this year. It'll be easier to get an earlier start in the spring, now that we know what we need to do, so as long as we don't have too much rain again....

Hiking
Squeezing 29 hikes into the last 10 weeks of the year brought some challenges. Some weeks I could only manage 1 hike, which took the weekly average from 3 hikes to 4, and then 5 in a few instances. It's not that I don't enjoy going for hikes, because I do, the challenge was finding the time and the least muddy trails (we got sooo much rain this year!).

I made an effort to search out trails close to where I would be any time I went to town. Most of them I was aware of already, but hadn't taken the time to explore. I've found some new trails to take the kids on this coming year, which will give us more variety as well as being more convenient if we're in town already.

I didn't take the kids with me on all of the hikes. Some I did while they were at preschool and co-op, others I did after doctor appointments.

Urban hiking has been interesting: hiking through the trees, with the river on one side, and traffic or houses or stores on the other side beyond a stretch of land. Sometimes I can't see the trappings of civilization, but I can hear it.

Solo hiking has also been interesting. I've gone on runs by myself for years, but never hiked by myself till now. I quite like it. It's nice to be in my own head without any interruptions :) Especially with all the stuff running around in my head these days.

Running
I only ran a few times in the last four months of the year. First my broken foot prevented me, then I was focused on catching up on my hikes. It was a nice break, and gave me the chance to ease back into being more active post-broken foot while also figuring out what I have the energy for. My narcolepsy got worse just a few weeks before the half marathon, so while it had started to impact my training, and I was exhausted after the race, breaking my foot forced me to be sedentary right when my body really needed it.

Goals for the coming year

Yearly Mileage
In 2018, my original goal was to bike 730 miles and walk, run, and hike another 730 miles, with a stretch goal of 1095 miles. The absolute minimum I wanted to complete was 365 foot miles and 365 bike miles, which is what I achieved.

In 2019, my goal is 365 foot miles, 365 bike miles, and 20+ kayak miles. If I do more, great, but I won't be pushing too hard.

Hiking 
In 2018, my goal was to complete 52 hikes and to bring up the average length to over 2 miles per hike. I'd hoped to get 2.25 miles or 2.5 miles per hike, but I'm happy with the 2.06 mile average we achieved.

In 2019, my goal is to complete 52 hikes and continue working on increasing the average length of our hikes. This may be through me doing more solo hikes, as the kiddos don't really enjoy hikes longer than 2 miles.

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Races
In 2018, my goal was to run one race a month, except in September, when I wanted to run 2 or 3 races. Those races were the Great Smoky Mountains 5k, the Great Smoky Mountains Half, and the Shenandoah Half. The Shenandoah half was canceled, which was good, since I wouldn't have been able to run it a week after breaking my foot. I only ran 9 races in 2018, and I'm more than happy with that number, especially given the health issues I had.

My goal for 2019 is to start slowing running again and build my mileage base back to where it should be. I also need to figure out my fueling needs while sticking to the ketogenic diet. I know I've had some muscle loss, but the hiking has helped me start rebuilding those muscles, as has the biking.

This race in March is the first one I'll run this year, and I want to be fully ready for it. River will run the 5k with me and I don't want to hold him back like I did in the Turkey Trot. I'd like to do a fall half marathon, but that will depend on my health/energy levels, as well as the amount of time I have available to train.

For the first time in quite a few years, I'm not setting a goal for number of races to run during the year. I've enjoyed working towards those goals, but it's not a goal I'm feeling right now, and that's ok. I'll still run races, but I won't be trying complete a certain number.

Business
In 2018, I continued to build my businesses while also increasing my profits, though not as much as I'd hoped. We dabbled in renting out our RV, but ultimately it was too stressful. We want to sell it soon so we can buy our Airstream, and we need to sell it for as much as possible when that time comes. Every time the RV went out, we worried about what damage the renters might do to it. We dodged that bullet and never had bad renters, but we couldn't have dodged it forever, so we stopped renting it out. If we weren't selling the RV and concerned about resale value, we would most likely still be renting it out.

This summer I applied to be an ambassador for a blog I follow that encourages families to get outside and be active. It's something I believe in and it would have been a great opportunity for raising my travel blog's profile. After submitting my application packet, I had the feeling I wasn't going to be picked, but I also felt at peace with it. Given the downturn in my energy levels because of my narcolepsy acting up, it's a good thing I wasn't chosen. Once I've got my schedule rearranged and figured out better, it's something I'll pursue again, but right now, I don't need more on my plate.

1. My Glowforge was <finally> delivered March 15, and I have had a lot of fun messing around with it. I finally got a few items listed in my Etsy shop (I'll share those in another post) and have even sold one of them. Unfortunately, it developed some issues in November and the replacement didn't arrive until the day after Christmas, so I was not able to do as much with it for the Christmas season as I'd hoped, but there was plenty of other things to keep me busy. I sure do enjoy the hands-on creative process though.

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2. In June I hired a virtual assistant to handle my pinterest account for my travel blog. This has proven to be one of the best things I could have done, as my page views have increased dramatically, and without page views, nothing else will happen. I've also been growing my email list and improving the quality of my posts as well, which are also important factors in earning money.

3. I'm still selling on Amazon. I find it exhausting (shopping is overstimulating for me), but it brings in enough to pay the expenses of all my businesses, so it is worthwhile. It's not something I'll ever do full time, though.

4. I've also been working on another blog, but am not quite ready to start marketing it yet. This one should take off a lot faster since I now know what to do first, what not to worry about yet, and so on.

In 2019, I won't be starting any other businesses and I will work very hard to resist the temptation to dabble in other things. I don't think it will be much of a temptation as I don't have the time or energy to add anything else to my plate.

1. I'll start adding more items to my Etsy shop so I will be ready for graduation and Christmas (the high selling times for my products). Getting the first items up was the hardest, and now I'm feeling a lot more motivated to keep things going.

2. I'm working on a couple e-books to sell through my travel blog. My main goal is to continue to increase my page views so I can get accepted into one of the big advertising networks (don't worry if that doesn't make sense, it just means I'll make a lot more money from the ads on that blog than I currently do with Google Ads). I also want to look into getting some posts sponsored (ie, get paid to write a post about a product) and growing my email list even more.

3. I'll continue selling on Amazon, though I won't dedicate much time to it until the second half of the year, when I can make a lot more money.

4. I'll continue to build the free content for my personal finance blog as well as produce content that can be sold (ideally a course, but that's still noodling around in my brain, so it may change). I will also be hiring a pinterest VA for this blog and working on getting my page views as high as possible, so I can get accepted into a big advertising network with this blog as well. Sponsored posts are also on the to-do list for this blog.

Cub Scouts
In 2018 I finally went to Wood Badge. It was at a different council, but I did it, and I even did it with a broken foot. I've already completed one of my ticket items.

In 2019 I will complete the other four ticket items. My goal is to have them all done by April at the latest. One is mostly done and the other three I've done some preliminary research for, but just need to make the time to get them done.

Health
In 2018, I continued to take Plexus products, and they've helped a lot. I credit them as the reason my blood work looked so good :) I continue to enjoy the lack of PMS and painful cramping that used to come every month, as well as increased energy (just think how fantastic I'd feel if I didn't have narcolepsy!).

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I started the keto diet to lose weight, but it's also supposed to help with my narcolepsy symptoms. So far I've lost more than 10 pounds, which is such a relief after seeing the scale creeping up and up for the last two and a half years or so. Narcolepsy and PCOS both make it difficult to lose weight, so finally being able to lose some weight is huge.

In 2019, my focus is to manage my narcolepsy symptoms as much as possible through non-medical means. The one medication I tried gave me a stabbing migraine, and I don't want to try any of the others unless I really have to. There's no guarantee they'll work, and some of the side effects are scary. I've got a post in the works about what I'm doing to manage the narcolepsy, but the short version is: supplements, more supplements, diet, exercise, and an improved sleep schedule.

Family
In 2018 we continued to hold family scripture study, though not as often as we should have, and didn't manage to add in FHE. From my new viewpoint, it makes sense that we struggle with these. Afternoons are usually the worst time of day for me, energy wise, but I still need to make dinner. If I don't get dinner made and Mr M does it when he gets home, then we're eating later than we should, and by the time we're done the boys are tired and cranky and we just try to get everyone to bed as quick as possible.

In 2019, we're going to work very hard at fully using the new study manual the Church put out. We may need to change the time of day we do our studying, but we'll have to see what works out. If I can get my energy levels back up in the afternoons, our evenings will go a lot smoother.

what are some goals you've set for yourself?

December Mileage + 2018 Mileage

This is just the numbers, I've got another post planned in a couple days with my thoughts on those numbers and my goals for 2019.

Total hikes: 52
Total miles hiked: 107.36
Average length of each hike: 2.06 miles
Shortest hike: this snowy, muddy hike earlier in December (1.03 miles)
Longest hike: when we actually found the waterfall (4.65 miles)
Most hikes in one week: 5, on two different occasions in December as I played catch up
Coolest hike: Big Branch Falls
Most painful hike: Laurel Falls, when I broke my foot
Favorite hike: Snowshoeing!

Total bike workouts: 41

Total miles biked: 365

Average length of each bike workout: 8.9 miles
Shortest bike ride: 3.5 miles
Longest bike ride: 15.0 miles

Number of races completed: 9, totaling 41.9 miles
6- 5ks (18.6 miles)
1- 4 mile (4.0 miles)
1- 10k (6.2 miles)
1- half marathon (13.1 miles)

Total kayaking trips: 2
Total miles kayaked: 2.14
Average length of each kayak trip: 1.07 miles

Highest mileage month: 110.23 miles (August)
Lowest mileage month: 15.56 miles (February)

Total mileage for the year: 387.86 foot miles + 365.0 bike miles + 2.14 kayak miles= 755.00 miles
2017 total mileage: 500.30 foot miles + 20.0 bike miles = 520.30 miles
2016 total mileage: 310.42 foot miles

-------------------------------------------------

December mileage:
0 treadmill workouts + 18 hikes + 3 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 68.40 miles

52 hike challenge: 52 hikes

365 mile challenge:  365.0 bike miles + 387.86 foot miles + 2.14 kayak miles

total miles: 755.00 miles

November mileage:
2 treadmill workouts + 8 hikes + 1 outside run/walk + 1 race + 6 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 95.76 miles

52 hike challenge: 34 hikes

365 mile challenge:  335.0 bike miles + 349.46 foot miles + 2.14 kayak miles

total miles: 686.60 miles

October mileage:
0 treadmill workouts + 5 hikes + 6 outside walking + 8 store walking + 1 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 47.83 miles

52 hike challenge: 26 hikes

365 mile challenge:  265.0 bike miles + 323.70 foot miles + 2.14 kayak miles

total miles: 590.84 miles

September mileage:

3 treadmill workouts + 2 hikes + 3 store walking + 2 races + 2 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 

40.87 miles

52 hike challenge: 21 hikes

365 mile challenge:  260.0 bike miles + 280.87 foot miles + 2.14 kayak miles

total miles: 543.01 miles

August mileage:

9 treadmill workouts + 4 hikes + 1 outside run/walks + 1 race + 4 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 110.23 miles

52 hike challenge: 19 hikes

365 mile challenge:  250.0 bike miles + 250.0 foot miles + 2.14 kayak miles

total miles: 502.14 miles

July mileage:

9 treadmill workouts + 6 hikes + 8 outside run/walks + 1 race + 3 bike workouts + 1 kayak outing = 90.43 miles

52 hike challenge: 15 hikes

365 mile challenge:  215.0 bike miles + 167.27 foot miles + 2.14 kayak miles

total miles: 381.36 miles

June mileage:

4 treadmill workouts + 4 hikes + 2 outside run/walks + 1 race + 7 bike workouts + 1 kayak outing = 102.12 miles

52 hike challenge: 9 hikes

365 mile challenge:  190.0 bike miles + 102.88 foot miles + 1.1 kayak miles

total miles: 293.98 miles

May mileage:      

4 treadmill workouts + 1 hike + 1 outside walk + 4 bike workouts = 49.95 miles

52 hike challenge: 5 hikes

365 mile challenge: 120.00 bike miles + 71.86 foot miles

April mileage:

1 treadmill workout + 1 hike + 1 outside walk + 6 bike workouts = 45.31 miles

52 hike challenge: 4 hikes

365 mile challenge: 85.0 bike miles + 56.91 foot miles

March mileage:

1 treadmill workout + 2 hikes + 1 outside walk + 1 race + 4 bike workouts = 33.43 miles

52 hike challenge: 3 hikes

365 mile challenge: 45.0 bike miles + 51.60 foot miles

February mileage:

0 treadmill workouts + 1 hike + 3 outside run/walk + 1 race + 0 bike workouts = 15.56 miles

52 hike challenge: 1 hike

365 mile challenge: 25.0 bike miles + 38.17 foot miles

January mileage: 

2 treadmill workouts + 0 hikes + 4 outside run/walk + 1 race + 3 bike workouts = 47.61 miles

52 hike challenge: 0 hikes

365 mile challenge: 25.0 bike miles + 22.61 foot miles