Author: Chauntel Ensey

I love my boy.
I love his sense of humor, his love of collecting, his quirky way of speaking, his fast-walking, his infinite knowledge of facts about every subject,
that we share an addiction to classic cars and collecting Hot Wheels.

I went to Dr. White, the magical chiropractor with the metal torture tools I love, today and he worked on another part of my glutes. Ouch. Like a lot of ouch. But I trust in a day it will feel 100% better.
He wants me to start doing toning exercises (lol) since there is no ass left back there. I wasn’t blessed with a ghetto booty. I wasn’t blessed with a booty at all, I have to work hard to have an ass and 6 weeks ago I had an ass! Small but still, I was proud.
Now we start from step 1 again. I won’t complain about being thin, what I will complain about is being thin without muscle. I started losing muscle and got smaller. Not good. So now I need to focus on rebuilding muscle slowly and carefully since the damaged muscles and nerves are what hold my torso and legs together. Kind of hard to exercise without overusing those muscles.
I will trust Dr. White since he is the professional.
And reconfigure my diet to account for muscle building and nervous system repair. Should be fun! Not. I still hate food. Mostly the planning and preparing of food. Oh well, I will learn a lot in the process I am sure.
Our bodies are pretty amazing. I am all twisted and crooked but with the right application of pressure, deep pressure, on specific spots I am slowly straightening out. And stretching, exercises all help. I am so grateful that my body can be healed. There are a lot of people that can’t be and they live in chronic pain. My heart goes out to them, the strength of character it takes to live in pain and not be an asshole is amazing. I am not the kindest person when I have been in pain for so long. Sorry if you have had to deal with me in the last 6 weeks 😉

I am blessed with 3 amazing kids. Right now they keep me going when otherwise I may be a useless, emotional basketcase. They are hilarious, unique individuals that keep me entertained at all times. Sometimes they are a little too, umm… goofy, giddy, just plain crazy. But I can’t tell you how happy I am that I have smart, creative, happy, well adjusted, funny, brilliant children.

Cabley mitts sneak peek

Ok, time to fess up. You all know how much I hate going to the doctor. I went to my Mom and sister Stacy’s DO (Doctor of Osteopathy) about a month ago, he tried to adjust me and recommended heat, stretching, and anti-inflammatories. So I have been doing that with no success. Last week Mom called and got me a referral to a sports medicine chiropractor.
I have known since July I am battling Piriformus Syndrome (sciatic nerve runs through the piriformus muscle instead of next to it). I guess I wasn’t stretching enough and bucking up and hauling away logs was too much for the muscle.
I went to the chiropractor, with much hesitation let me add, and the first visit impressed me. His goal is to fix me permanently so I don’t ever have to go back. Today I went for the third time and we had to decide whether to go one of three ways; do what we’ve done and see slow progression (umm, patience is not a strong suit of mine), back off and do x-rays to see if there is any disc deterioration in my spine (we both don’t think there is), or go more aggressive with the muscles and see if we can’t see drastic improvement. You know me, I chose the drastic measures
🙂
So today he used the Graston Technique, metal tools to manipulate the muscle fibers and fascia instead of just his hands. I am laying here with ice on so I won’t bruise or hurt too much. He did crack a wise-ass joke about how he can bruise me a lot because noone will be seeing my bum anytime soon. LOL
I got a good laugh out of that. Although, sadly, he was right.
So, my spine is being pulled by the muscles in my butt and hip not because it is out. Good to know, since I have had no pain in my back that is what I thought. As soon as the muscles release my spine will staighten (which it has already started to do) and I can exercise again!! Yay!!
My brother, who owns and runs his own Crossfit gym, has told me to do modified workouts now but all I have been able to do without aggrivating the piriformus or all the glutes are pullups, pushups against a countertop and sometimes some yoga.
All that hard work of getting in shape, working out daily for 5 months, building muscle and stamina is now gone. Dammit.
And no, I have no appetite.
I am feeling positive, after my torture session today, that soon I will be back to getting my ass kicked daily by Zuzanna.
Until then ice, heat, stretching and being tortured with metal tools will be my agenda.

I got a part time (very, very part time) job at a hotel as a front desk clerk.
Right now I have to finish the training hours and then I will be put on shifts when they become available. I am not kidding when I say very part time, possibly 16 hours a week. And at 35 years old it is the first time in my life I am working for minimum wage.
I may be on the schedule for shifts in a few weeks. I like the people that I will work with, the job is straight forward and simple. Possibly knitting time when it is slow.
So there you have it.
One more thing to go on my resume!

Another test knit for Stephen West.
Patons SWS yarn

In my shitty funk (sorry, potty mouth is still hanging out) we decided to have some fun.
As you could see from yesterday’s post, we went to Yellowstone! Bison and bugling elk and steaming pots of orange juice flavored mud. They have a new visitors center that has a ton of amazing hands on displays and informational videos on the park and all its out of this world natural attractions.
Sadie loved the steam pools and bubbling pots. The boys loved it all. I only posted the pictures I took on my phone, pictures from the camera will get put up eventually. Still not a big fan of the desktop computer.
My back is still out so walking a bazillion miles (psshh, totally not an exageration) wasn’t the smartest thing and by hour 12 I was done. But, to be able to take the kids while the weather was still amazing, sunny & 70, was the perfect thing to do.
I am always astounded at the variance and uniqueness our little part of the planet contains. Nowhere else in the world is quite like Yellowstone. Just like the Sequoia Natl Forest is unique and awe inspiring. We are so blessed to have all of these natural wonders within driving distance, and the freedom to go to them whenever the fancy strikes us.
(I really wanted to say, “…whenever the hell we want.” But that just seemed rude, even for me.)
I knit the entire drive there, a whole hour and 15 minutes! Then I realized I am at the point in my shawl that I probably needed to start the crochet edging so I stopped. I really should get on the ball and finish something, anything.
Back to what I am posting about. Idaho may not be my place of choice right now but here my ass sits. So, we’ll take advantage of being here and do all we can to enjoy living in a foreign place 😉
Sadie decided today that yes, she would like to learn to ride a horse. Unfortunately the wind is blowing today and Molly, my Morgan, hates the wind so Sadie just had a quick lesson on balance and how to keep your seat. She can have reigns next time. My back had better be fixed soon so I can get some rides in before it is too cold. I miss riding and don’t want to think of leaving Molly here when we move back to California.
Today I finished reading the third book in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Entertaining teen series. I read 3 books so I guess I liked them. I need to just restart the last book in the Outlander series and get it over with. I hate when series end. I have dreaded the end of this series for 11 years. I love the characters, love the story, feel connected to them. I guess that is to be expected after eating, sleeping, breathing over 10,000 pages. Then Stephen King for the winter, his classics always make me happy; The Tommyknockers, The Shining, It, just to name a few. Of course all my copies I have had since I was a teenager are IN STORAGE in California. As well as everything else I seem to need. Dammit.
So there you have my weekend. Yellowstone was beautiful and perfect, and I finished a book. TADA!