Today dawned cool and quiet (well cool for SW FL) and after coffee, prayer and devotions, I was ready for whatever came my way.

My eldest called and we chatted about her family’s healthy eating and her participation in the Spartan Race tomorrow.  She is one of those Crossfit crazed people, but whatever keeps her motivated sounds good to me.  I mention this because later it would inspire me to dig deep.

I blogged a few days ago in “Painting in Circles”, about helping out my husband with his new venture into stone crabbing.  Today he needed help loading several hundred crap traps onto a trailer, hauling them to the local fish house where he will sell his crabs and unloading them once there.  They would be “poured” today with cement. (to help them sink)

Of course I offered to help and he gladly accepted since most of his friends were working or otherwise engaged today.  Loading the first 200 or so was easy – I loaded onto the trailer while he stacked them.  We drove slowly over to the unloading site and I began unloading as he prepared the rows and lined them up properly.  I was easily lifting three at a time and stacking away, pretending at times that I was doing crossfit; bending at the knees, careful not to overextend, staying hydrated.

Before I knew it, we were getting back into the truck to come and get another load.  My nephew who was helping us, would stay there and continue lining up the traps in neat rows, readying them for the concrete.  I was hot and my elbow (the one with a tad of tendonitis was stinging), but all in all, I wasn’t much worse for wear.  We loaded another 220 quickly and went back to unload.  I’m not going to lie, I was getting tired of playing crossfit by now in the now 90 degree heat and began working harder and faster to finish the now grueling task.

We got that done and headed back for the remaining 90 or so which we loaded right away.  “Babe, are you coming back over there with me”, he asked.  “Well, I really need to get some laundry done”, I replied, doing my best to look tired and pitiful.  He thanked me for the help, kissed me and rushed off to finish the job.

The ice cold air greeted me like a long lost friend as I opened the front door.  My shower felt like a blessing from heaven and last nights left-overs satisfied my hunger and made me want to go to take a nap.  Since I know what I put my body through today, I went ahead and took a pre-“onset of pain” Advil.  It’s not that I don’t work out, walk and try to be healthy, but I used arm muscles today that I haven’t used since I carried a baby around.

After a glass of refreshing iced tea, I got a second wind and proceeded to finish a little wreath project I started the other day.  Now, I am feeling accomplished and awash with that good tired, the kind where everything aches a little but it’s okay because you got stuff done.

With all that said, I will leave you with a picture of my wreath and I welcome any comments good or bad.  For those of you who have followed me for a while, you know I don’t always have the best of luck with crafty things.  You won’t hurt my feelings if you provide some corrective criticism for my next one.  Good night and sweet dreams.  I will be probably be dreaming about lifting something.

Owl fall wreath