We have had one of those weeks (or two) where everything is suddenly broken. Does this ever happen to you? It's seriously one thing after another!

It started with the coffee maker. Tried to make a pot, and nothing. The darn thing steamed and bubbled for an hour ad not a single drop of coffee came out. Darn thing. I had to buy a replacement for $25.

Then, hubby comes home and his car is making a noise. (he knows nothing of cars, I grew up in my dad's auto shop). I drive it around the block. Leak in the exhaust. Not good. It cost $300 for labor plus new muffler (It got a hole in it!) and replacement of a rusted pipe.

I bought some speaker wire from Amazon because our wires have long been too short, so short I can't pull the stereo out to hook things up to the back. It was one of those 'well, we just moved in and have a million things to do, so just use what you have even though it isn't long enough' situations that once it's done, you never get around to fixing it. So, I run new long speaker wires, all nice, then test everything, only to discover one of the speakers is dead. Kaput. Oh well. DH had them before we married 15 years ago, and the stamp on the back said it was made in October 1978! It had a good run. No word on replacement $$$. Shopping for speakers is overwhelming.

While working on the stereo, I messed with my record player. It's been in and out of the shop, and as a last resort, I gave it to a friend to repair. Well, it turns on, but the motor is on the way out. And the arm is busted again. It's time for a new one. It's begun the cycle of repairs that don't seem to last. Ugh!

And, finally, yesterday, I opened the microwave only to discover that part of the inside roof of it had melted and some sort of motor oil was dripping down onto the tray. Uh oh. After some online research, it became clear microwave repairs are not DIY because they have so many live electrical components even when unplugged. I didn't feel like getting electrocuted, and the same model was on sale at home depot this week for less than the price of a service call from the appliance guy.

It killed me to do it, but we bought a new one of the same model (it's hood vent mount and it took me days to install the bracket on the wall last time. I didn't want to do that, so just bought the same machine so I could pop it one the hardware that was already on the wall). That cost $137.

So yes. I'm tiptoeing around the house trying not to break anything or jinx anything. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. We furnished our houses together and separately with a lot of estate/yard sale and thrift store finds. The speakers and the record player were from the 1970s. Still, the microwave was only 2 years old. Nothing new seems to be built to last. It's infuriating!
Oh well, nothing lasts forever!

Gah. I'm 41 and I feel like an old lady!

Every day for the past 7 years I have woken up with some degree of lower back pain. It never goes away really. Yes yes, I know, I let it go for soooo long. But, it started when I had my youngest son, and with two little boys 18 months apart in age to take care of, plus bosses to please, taking care of myself fell to the bottom of the list. It's bad, but that's reality. Probably not just for me.

I did try to take care of my back. I had a personal trainer who was wonderful (until she moved away...), I've done a lot of fitness challenges. I lift weights and do abs nearly every weekday. But nothing helped. I figured it's back pain, ergo there's no cure and no one will be able to help me. My main doctor even just shrugged like oh well, nothing we can do when I told her about it.

So, I finally went to the spine specialist. the x-rays were gruesome. I apparently have advanced degenerative disc disease, but just in 1 disc, between the last lumbar and the first sacral vertebrae (basically an inch or two below my belly button only on the back side). Doc said it's like a marshmallow that's been squished. All the other discs are fine.

So, after some talking it through, we determined that my slow decline to constant pain began with an accident at age 24, when a lady in an SUV ran a stop sign and hit me while I was riding my bike. Then, it was exacerbated by carrying two large babies in back to back pregnancies with no time for my abs to recover. Yay.

I am pretty bummed. My Grandmother's spine pretty much disintegrated in her later years, and she sat in a chair all day in constant excruciating pain. I'm trying NOT to end up like that.

The doctor seemed pretty upbeat. He rattled off a list of things they can do for me, and we're going to start with the least invasive and work our way down the list. Basically, I'm starting a round of 18 physical therapy sessions to tighten abs, etc. Then, if that doesn't work, some sort of shot in my back to numb and or kill the nerve? I don't know. I stopped listening a bit when they started talking about needles and surgery.

So yeah.... Sorry for the health rant. This is weird for me. I've always been relatively fit and sporty. And tall (Thanks to this disc, I've shrunk from 5'9 to 5'8" Boo.)
No prescriptions, no surgeries, no other health issues.

It's frustrating to me to have an incurable condition that will affect me for the rest of my life. ( I know it could be worse, but constant pain really puts a damper on your outlook). And, I don't like the idea that my exercise might get limited. I've heard no more running, etc., but I'll ask the therapist before I assume.

So yes. therapy starts today. I have my fingers crossed it works. The prospect of a pain free life sounds awesome!