It’s time for Small Success Thursday, the empowering, delightful linkup over at CatholicMom.com where we celebrate the little things that mean a lot.

God is good, and this month He helped me with this stuff:

-1-

The gallbladder, after all these months, is scheduled to come out June 2nd!     I have anxiety about this, of course.  Yes, it’s a common surgery.  Yes, complications are even rarer than I like my steak.  However, I’ve realized that when you’re the person to whom something incredibly rare has already happened, the “unlikely” seems a whole lot more likely than it would to your average bear.  So I’m very anxious about this simple, easy surgery.  Pray, if you don’t mind?  Still, just having gotten not one but two doctors to hear me and not need a whole lot of convincing to give me a likely treatment is a huge success in the scheme of how my life usually works.

-2-

We are done with school for the year!  I really wanted to be a bit further along than we are, but technically First Shift is already well ahead of their actual grade level, and Second Shift is… well, not ahead by any stretch but certainly within two grade levels of where she is.  We made our required number of schooling days.  We can be done, so I let us be done.

I also talked to our evaluator about managing high school from home.  It all seemed to intimidating that I was considering sending them to school or at least doing a cyberschool.  Our evaluator has homeschooled her own kids through high school, though, and she demystified the whole process and made it sound… well, kind of exciting.  I’ve already convinced First Shift to give French a go for 7th grade (I used to be effectively fluent but have long since lost the skill but could teach it with the right resources at hand) with a trip to Quebec at the end of next school year as the carrot on their foreign language stick.

-3-

I’ve needed to add exercise back into my life.  Anything impact makes my asthma flare up.  I don’t have time to get to a gym.  My doctor recommended “7 minute HIIT” workouts, which did nothing but give me chronic tennis elbow and a terrible sense of ennui.  So… I looked up “belly dance” on YouTube.  After trying out a few different tutorial styles, I found Belly Dance With Talia to be simple enough for even me to start out using.  My morning workouts are now thusly:

• 5 minutes stretching
• 15 minutes improv with moves I’ve already “mastered” (so to speak) to whatever “belly dance playlist” I can find that morning
• 5-10 minutes learning a new move or two with Talia
• 3-5 minutes cool down stretches

I’m no Tiffany, but I’m certainly achieving better physical fitness than I would have done whining about how many workouts I can’t do.  Who knew you could break a sweat without even moving your feet?  I didn’t.  Now I do!

[The first one of you to comment with “pics or it didn’t happen” owes me a tank of gas. For the minivan, not the Prius.]

-4-

Took me long enough, but I finally requested a Mass be said for Scott Weiland.  It took so much courage to do that, people.The receptionist is about my age, and it went just about as I feared.

“I’d like a Mass card?  Well, not the card, just the Mass.”

Understanding pleasantries were exchanged.  “Is 7am on August 25 okay?”

“That should be fine, thanks.”

“And the name?”

Through blushing cheeks, I said, “First name is Scott.”

Receptionist wrote that in the book.  “And the last name?”

“Weiland.  W-E-I–“

Receptionist’s pen hovered in the air while she processed what I was asking.  To her credit, she did not ask out loud if I’m bat guano crazy.  Anyway, the first one is done.  Let’s see how long it takes me to dig up the courage for David Bowie’s, though I can always ask for a Mass for David Robert Jones, I suppose.

What’s your success this week:  small, medium or large?  Share it on your blog and link up, or just comment here or at CatholicMom.com!