The End of November

Somehow, November has flown by just about as quickly as October did. What's up with that? There are just three weeks, and three and a half weekends, until my Christmas departure. Christmas! Seriously! Wasn't it just ... well ... October?

It was, I'm sure. I was writing about trying to exercise, and how my doctor was concerned about my blood pressure being high. Remember? Of course you do. And since then, I've mentioned how I'm riding the stationary bike, hating it, but surviving it with the help of TV and especially knitting. I am here to report that I have kept it up well this month. See?

Not a lot, necessarily, but the trend is going the right way, and as my strength improves I'll be able to do more. The doctor says 30 minutes at a time is good. Ten still kills me most nights, but give it time, give it time. In the meantime, at least I have this to show for it:

About an inch to the heel. It's funny to think that I'll be able to see exactly how many knitting minutes it takes to make a sock.

Here it is in comparison to the purse sock:

Purse is slightly ahead of bike, though as it has almost a month's head start, the comparison isn't quite equal.

Speaking of the doctor, he said that the results of the cholesterol test were acceptable, and much improved from the previous one (which, since I didn't change anything in response to the first test [in May 2011] is kind of funny, but I'll take it), and my blood pressure today was still on the high side, but better than it was. He's giving me another six months to keep on fighting the good fight with the exercise thing, so we'll see how he likes things in June. Way too far away for me to worry about today (though I had a pang, making the appointment, of wondering if I'll still be at the same job then, my recent history being what it is).

Even funnier, to me, is that according to him I've lost a little weight; funny because my clothes don't fit any different, which is usually how I can tell there's been a change one way or the other. I saw him in early September; then again mid-October, when I was supposedly up four pounds; and now today, when I was down seven. Up four and down seven equals down three overall, which isn't that much, but still, weird. Makes me wonder about their scales, to be honest! Not to mention the blood pressures: I guess I really don't understand how it works, though he tried to explain it to me, because I don't see how the nurse clocked me at 120/100, then ten minutes later he got 138/86. That's just odd!

And I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to keep biking, trying to eat better or at least not as badly as I want to, and frankly paying more attention to getting ready for Christmas. Three weeks! So much to do! I got a bunch of wrapping done the other night, and another bout like that will get me mostly done. I'm waiting for a few things to arrive in the mail, but I should be able to get to the post office in decent time for holiday arrival. I'd like to send some cards, too; perhaps I will do one tonight, so that I can say I started.

In conclusion, here is something that has no connection to anything I'm writing about. But how could I not share?