The drive home from Jacksonville nearly killed me. I was tired and managed to pull a muscle in my neck and shoulder, I think from all of the hauling equipment and luggage. My camera bag alone weighs a ton, and then there were boxes of handouts and study guides and all of the other "chit". At any rate, my neck hurt so badly that I avoided the computer for over a week except to respond to emails that I could not ignore. It also meant spending time in my collar, which I only use when my neck gets bad.It is a chronic condition that I have learned to live with, but this was one of the really bad times. All of that to explain why I have not been here at MyBloggers.

The whole Jacksonville and neck thing irked the hell out of me. If I were not so out of shape, chances are, I would not have hurt so badly, so I decided to make some changes starting with exercise. I started by walking daily as that does not require neck movement. Once you start walking, you WANT to walk more! Once my neck and shoulder stopped hurting so much, I started a cleaning and yard work spree. My yard looks so much better and the work-out felt good. My neck hurts again tonight, but not like it did a week ago.

The other thing that irked me was seeing pictures of myself. My cheeks are were my chin used to be and my chin and neck are now a single part of my body- and that is before we get to the overweight part. (Good thing I am not running for president!) I don't want to look like this! I can live with aging, but this is not age- this is fat!

Doing cleaning and yard work, I am careful to stop often and not overdo it. I don't need to spend the next week in a collar too. With all of the effort I have made to walk and clean, I figured I could put my avatar back. I have definitely not been a sloth these past ten days!

By the way, that is a picture of me at our table-top display during the convention. I received several awards, but this represents my work, not accolades.