No, I haven't even tried an exercise bike, lol. Pushing anything gets me unless I can somehow not use my arms... pretty much anything that uses my arms gets me at some [too quick] point unless it's just the forearms. My lower back is seriously strong as a bull - I use the well-known 'bad for the lower back' positions TO lift, lol. Legs are still best of course. My pain never travels up - there's always a nerve spot beside C6-7 that starts the ball a'rollin'. Then that always-hateful spot through the trapezius and eventually making my scapulas wing if I keep it up or if the movement is too severe. I put the med patches on that spine spot, BTW. It's a little monster, I swear. So it's all the arms and head movement [or just holding the body/head up like sitting too long]. Bikes still take arms, so I'll try one for a day to see if it's nice like a ride-mower or one of the bad-arm positions. Of course, Dad has his mind set on a car it sounds like [he always has free rentals 'cos of work]. Perhaps he can drop me off closer, although Oxford is largely a pedestrian town. They mailed info on exams and a link to OLD EXAMS! Yeah! The tutors are emphasizing that the exam isn't as hard as the coursework, so that's one worry minimized. Here's one from facebook: "Oxford - where your best isn't good enough since 1117". Bwahaha!

awm : thank you for the sweet and supportive wishes. I sure hope your ride goes well. Two of the folks I am with have done that ride and loved it. We are indeed fortunate in the support we get from our families. tina thank you too. I will keep up the updates as it helps to clarify things in my head too :). I am glad you are enjoying it. golddust. we had flashing lights but it was just a miserable set of circumstances....hopefully not to be repeated. Glad you like my TALL tales. Sue yes it never has stormed today but we have had a fine time. We walked several miles to go to a Dollar Store and to stretch our legs. Time for a nap I think. Your trip sounds wonderful. I bet you will always cherish that time as will I this trip. Most likely won't do another as I don't want to leave DH this long again but this one time it is good. More later. c

Jenn, I am completely sold on both stationery bike and outside bike riding. I do spinning (in a club--I don't own a stationery bike) three times per week for aerobic exercise and have reaped numerous health benefits from it. I also ride outdoors, weather permitting, to get moderate exercise (around the neighborhood) or endurance work (long distance rides). So my recommendation to you is to get both! As to what kind of bike to recommend, there are many factors that come to play. I suggest you go to two or three sports/bike shops in your area, check out their stock, and have a salesperson fit you to the bike. Explain what your needs are and note different types of bikes (racing, touring, etc) so you have a sense of the different weights, tire width, handlebar configurations, etc. You can get very few gears but if you are serious about cycling, especially indoors, you'll build up strength and endurance quickly and may very well want to try a longer-distance ride, a trail, a hill, etc--and then you will want gears. It does take a bit of learning, but not a great deal. Newer bikes are much easier to shift than older versions. Anyway, by the time you visit several shops and compare, you'll probably have a very good sense of what to purchase.

I started reading this thread with great interest because we have had similar battles with my husbands ex.. We have complicating matters though... Here's my situation: My SD has Down Syndrome so there are special financial situations for medical expenses. Her father has the medical insurance and her mother pays the first $200 of whatever isn't paid by insurance. Everything over and above insurance and the $200 they split 55% (Mom) - 45% (Dad). Since their divorce, in about March of each year, her mother provided a list of all of the medical expenses that needed to be split 55-45. The first year we were married and I saw the list I completely came unglued!!! You should see the stuff she tried to claim were medical expenses... Here is the short list (along with her reasoning for claiming it as a medical expense): horseback riding lessons (it helps her heart), computer keyboarding lessons (for hand eye coordination), swimming lessons (for cardiovascular health), karate lessons (hand-eye coordination), summer camp fees (disable children's camp), gymnastic classes (cardiovascular health benefit), fee for Special Olympic registrations, a $600 3-wheeled bicycle (because the doctor said she should get more exercise and she isn't able to ride a two-wheeler)... I could go on and on. Needless to say we pared down what we felt were actual medical expenses and paid that, took what was left and hired an attorney! (Our share was over $2,000, we paid $350) She took it to court and the judged ripped into her for "wasting the courts time and for trying to steal money from her daughter's father" (judge's words, not mine). The judge pointed out that she was spending someone elseÂs money without consulting him on what he could afford. He told her that under no circumstances is a BICYCLE a medical expense, nor are horses, swimming, gymnastics or karate! He explained that these activities are extra curricular and that is what the child support is for! Just because there is a healthy benefit to the activity, it doesnÂt make it a medical expense. The judge then took it upon himself to adjust the child support (it was WAY too high), change who claimed her on taxes each year. (My husband got her once every 3 years, the judge changed it to every other) and he told the dingbat that her father was to be consulted on ALL medical expenses that he would be sharing and that if there was a dispute that it would have to be settled in his court room. He then told her not to have any disputes because he didn't want to see her in his court room! My husband says that she never tried to claim those stupid expenses before I came around. We believe that it was a jealousy thing. We got married and moved into a nice house together, and had that perfect family. She was left with a rundown house in a shoddy neighborhood (she told my husband when he gave her our address, "Couldn't you live somewhere more MODEST?!?!"), no significant other... Once she remarried she left us alone. Until her husband came along all she had to focus on was her daughter and it killed her when her daughter came to our house and had fun. She wasn't jealous of our relationship, but of our life together. She wanted to be the one who was happy and moving on. I am telling you, once she got remarried and the focus was put back onto her life, she quit bothering us. She forgot about our perfect life and started to focus on her own. We haven't heard from her attorney is about 5 years. Used to be we got a threatening letter from him once a month. I believe that there is a certain amount of jealousy with JenniferÂs SSÂs biomom  she is jealous of JenniferÂs lifestyle! IÂve been there! Eventually the biomom will move on and find something else to focus on.