Retirement/Birthday Party.

Hello all.
Today I feel like an old, worn out rag. It's a nice, warm, sunny day, so I'm not having much pain. A few aches here and there, but nothing worth taking any medications for. I am very tired, dragging my self around to get done the few little things that I have to do. I'm not surprised I feel this way. Actually, I had expected to feel much worse than this today.
You see, yesterday we went to a retirement/birthday party for my brother-in-law. The weather was perfect for barbequeing and the kids and even the adults had a good time playing games outside. When I woke up yesterday morning, I was feeling OK. I was able to get through the day without feeling too bad. The family understands and are very understanding and helpful. That really means alot. What really got me was the long ride home. I started feeling like I was going to be sick about 4:30 or so, I told my husband that we were going to have to get going pretty soon, so we decided on 5 o'clock since that is when his mother and one of his other brothers was leaving. Of course, by the time everyone gets their stuff together, packs up doggie-bags, says their good-byes and actually gets on the road is was closer to 5:30 or so. On a good day, it takes a little over an hour to get to his house. But, on the way home last night the traffic was horrible. We got stuck for a while behind an accident that had things at a crawl, and because of the time we hit the traffic that was going to the Phillies game. Fortunately, we have a Suburban that has plenty of leg room (I am 5'10" with long legs) so that helped, but my neck and back were killing me by the last 1/2 hour of the drive. All in all, it took us a little over 2 hours to get home. I was so greatful to pull into our driveway.
Normally, after a long day like that I usually have severe pain, as well as feeling run down and spend the entire day in bed. Last night, as usual, I had a hard time falling asleep because of the pain in my neck and back. I also kept waking up during the night, which is also normal for me. I am up and down all night, every night. I had to get up this mornng to get the kids up for school and get my youngest ready and on his way. This morning though he had a really bad headache and sore throat and had a slight fever, so we let him stay home and go back to bed. The two of us slept until about 1 o'clock.
Before we left the party, my sister-in-law cut some fresh lavendar from her garden and gave me and my mother-in-law each a bundle. I decided to sit down today and cut the lavendar to make sachet's for our pillows and dresser drawers. It turned out to be a little harder on me than I had expected. I thought, this is the perfect thing for me to do today. All I have to do is sit and break up the leaves into small pieces and put them in old nylons and tie them off. Well, the stripping and breaking up of the leaves proved to be harder on my arms and back Since the scent of lavendar naturally relaxes a person, if you put a sachet of fresh lavendar in your pillow case, it should relax you and help you sleep better. Also putting one in your pajama drawer gets the scent on your sleep-wear and adds to the aroma. At least I got enough finished for each of us to put them in our pillow cases and I can try to get the rest finished tomorrow. It's a small, simple goal, that is not hard to do.
 I have learned to set small goals and be happy when I achieve them, rather than set a large goal and feel depressed when I am unable to follow through with it. If I have a larger project that I know needs to be worked on, I tell myself that I will work on it when I have a day that I am feeling OK, and I will only do as much as my body will allow. If I commit to doing something large, I am usually disappointed when I don't feel up to doing it, and even more frustrated if I can't finish the project. My emotional and mental health depends on me setting realistic goals so I don't disappoint myself.
All in all, we had a good time, with good food and family yesterday (I did eat more than I should have, but that's what family get togethers are for. lol). And, today hasn't been as bad as I had expected, so this is a good day too.
Don't forget to check in at http://www.invisibleillness.com/ for Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness week. It starts today and runs through friday.
Soft hugs to all.
Laurie