After surgery amazingness pt. 2

RIJEL!!!!
How was surgery?

I miss you.

Here's a shapeshifyer on the kooseand they're gonna get me

Hahahahaha! That's hilarious! Miss you!

Why aren't you online? Iow do j hey my grutxhes?

I will go online later, and I bet you're feeling really good!

U have a double chin and I can see it

I'm trying to cdeod chat with Brandon

And I can see hmthr I have like 5 chins

It's awful

Ummm. Idinnoif baand is bringing myceitches

Whaaaaat???

I nee crutcheshbbbbbbn

Oh crutches!

That's what I sad!!!!

I need to Take off thisprotectiln. ISA yyo smell your face.

Reallyehat?!?!?!?!

Not drunk on alcohol!!!!!

Risky from the mess!

Horatio cane is the worst. They bneed to take him off tv. Andhustjeave is glasses o

His look is the worry that's why I had to change it. Supernatural now. With a gin and 7th heaven

I heart Jessica Beil.

She is a babe shedid JT and got naked in a movie sorry of

Yeah. Hot.

Yeah. Of I were a boy I'd thru to slide it in for sire.

Me too! Lol  How's your knee?

It's phat. Pretty hot and tempting.

I need totals this dumb xcreenprotectoroff it's awful

I think Brandin needs to bring me myceitches

Nice. Are you done now? Or do you go back in again?

Mom says one more. Dad says he didn't say that. I don't rmemeber taking to anyone except the angel that maenads me tea

NY eyes are heavy

But tv is on. Howdi I resist that !?!!????

I bet! Lol get some rest dork.

Is itcause you tole her to eat a dick? 

And now she's hungry?

uiour'43 supposed to be my sebt friend

i have a aawlker only
and it sucks
i'm not 893452 years old
why the fuck do i need a walker?!???!?!?!?!?!

i need pinecones
cun you bring my brutches

you whine
you're hte wordst


i thought your dad took your internet away!

he tried
i condtested
and said
no white man
i lose the interet
you lsoe the stach


supernatural was on
an i think the shapeshifter
stole my mom's body

6 down, 1 to go!!!!

I got out of surgery Friday feeling pretty good.  I only threw up twice all day (total score) and even had visitors!  Jeannie Mae talked to the doctor and apparently my cartilage grew too well and that's why my knee was catching.  This was the BEST case scenario.

What does that mean?  That means I've only one more surgery to go to be completely 100% good again!!!!  The next surgery will just be an exploratory to make sure everything is all gravy.  I was up and walking today and things felt pretty good as far as stability goes. 

How random is 2010 so far.  Yeah, it's a statement, not a question.  From my surgery, to other people's surgeries, my car sitch, people's babies comin' through and hearing about my friend getting stabbed...things are a little crazy this year.  I think I've maintained a pretty positive attitude about everything though.  I don't think I've let the worst get the best of me and I'm going to try to keep the trend going.

I've also switched from Safari to Firefox...and am lacking a couple shortcuts.  I'm trying to get used to it, but I might have to go back based on these little things.  Then again...having these extra shortcuts are pretty sweet too.  I'm keeping an open mind about it, but I'll see how that goes.

I also need to upload a few photos I've taken.  I should really start taking pictures again, so that silly flickr account doesn't go to waste.

Robots

I got mine.  I have not taken pictures of them because I'm reh-tahded, but probably will soon.

I haven't been updating as much as I'd like...or should.  I think this thing helps keep me somewhat sane and on a positive mental status.  I'm thinking of taking on yet another project, but I'll have to see how I can even fit it in my schedule as it is.  I still have 2k9 Christmas gifts to finish (yeah...really).

The 19th is creeping up fast.  I'm hardly worried about it; it seems all too routine.

2010 is bringing a lot of difficult things to the table and I'm trying my best to get by without too many pity parties.  If anything, I think I'm going to keep them to once a month at MOST.  Luckily the way I rung in the new year seems to have been the best possible thing for me.  I NEED to get back to hanging out and back to my sociable self; this ish is ridic.

I also need to stop reading silly blogs that I misconstrue into a selfish manner and make excerpts in the post partially about myself.  Then again...maybe not.  I like drama sometimes...especially when it's not quiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite my own.  After all, I'm still a girl.

Surgery Scheduler left a voicemail today...

"Hi Rijel.  This is Maggie, the surgery scheduler.  I'm still waiting to get approval for your upcoming surgery from the insurance company, but I don't think I have the correct information.  On the form the doctor gave me, it says to schedule surgery for the left knee.  I'm looking at his notes and they seem to be referring to your left knee, but I think he meant to indicate it's your right knee since you JUST had surgery on your left knee.  I just want to confirm this information, please give me a call back."

Listening to this message, I was laughing hysterically.

I called her back.

"Maggie?  This is Rijel.  It is indeed my left knee."

"Even though you just had surgery on it?"

"Yes, ma'am.  Things aren't right in there."

Surgery number 6

I figured I'd be more upset or bummed out when I actually heard my doctor speak of a 6th surgery as part of my definite future.  I kind of laughed a little, made a few calls, joked a bit more and sort of forgot about it for a few hours.

I guess the worst thing is not knowing exactly what's wrong with my knee.  Haha...I lied.  Having to get another surgery is probably the worst thing, but not knowing is definitely a close second!!!  My doctor and I explored all the options and it all comes back to getting back inside the knee to see what's actually causing my problems.  As with my last surgery, there are 3 possibilities of what my problem could be.  2 of them are a pretty easy fix, the 3rd is shit and with my track record and my knee's hatred for having a life without pain...the 3rd is probably what I'll be dealing with.

My doctor/surgeon is pretty rad.  He and I joked about what would have happened if I was a 65 year old.  He laughed and said that if I were 65, have had this many surgeries in the same timespan and were having the exact same symptoms, he'd just lop the damn thing off at the thigh!  Lucky for me, I'm quite young and spry with a good chance of healing!!!  He makes things a little more light hearted and easier to handle.  He hates cutting me open as much as I hate recovering from it.

In good news...Alissa, Grant and I watched Fighting tonight.  It definitely wasn't good and wasn't quite bad enough to be a bad good, it was just bad.  But Channing Tatum is a total babe.

Riding wet

That's what she said?

Physical therapy today for the first time in a few weeks.  It was pretty brutal.  She moved me up to 5 lbs for my leg lifts and I'm still sore.  We tried to do some squat exercises where I do these side step things, but my knee didn't like it.  I thought for sure it was going to give out.  I didn't attempt it because of the pain.  Maybe next week.

Brandon and I rode motos to Julio & Rachel's place to watch Sons of Anarchy tonight.  As we walked out the door it started to sprinkle.  Brandon looked at me and asked if I wanted to ride still.  We looked at the clouds and decided, "Heck.  Why not?!"  So we rode out.  Once we got there it started raining pretty good.  We decided to leave when the show was over and the rain had subsided we headed back to the house.

I noticed B was riding a little crooked.  When I got closer to him I saw his tire spitting water straight at his face.  Homie has no front fender.  Funniest thing ever.  He also has no rear fender to speak of so as we took off our coats, his sweatshirt was soaked.  I was pretty dry.  Good thing I wore boots to ride in!!!!!  Silly Brandon.

Dessert for breakfast

All day every day. At least that's how the world should work.

I got a message today on my Flickr account from someone at the art blog vvork.com. I'd sort of forgotten, but back in June they had sent me a message asking permission to use one of my silly dino photos (this dino photo) in the Fotofestival Mannheim Ludwigshafen Heidelberg, Germany. The message I got today sent me photos of my picture in the exhibition. One of Alissa's photos was in a travel book, mine in some crazy art labyrinth...now we just have to wait for one of Brandon's!!!

I think I've figured out some Christmas presents this week. Now it's just executing the ideas. I'm pretty sure I can do it, I just need to make the time and find my supplies!!!

My knee has been a trooper lately. I'm pretty impressed with it's progress. Hopefully my physical therapist will be too. I just need to keep stretching and keep up with my work outs.

She's automatic, so automatic

Today's physical therapy session was rough.  I got a less elastic band for some of my exercises and my leg really got a work out.  Although it burned, it was a good burn.

After PT I went to my folk's place.  Dad warmed me up some left overs and we watched some baseball.  After Jeannie Mae finished mending some pants she was working on, she made her way into the front room and coerced Dad into changing the channel.  After Jeannie Mae got bored sitting around not doing anything with her hands she got up and started de-seeding pomegranates.  Next thing I know...cup of fresh squeezed pomegranate juice in my hands.  Yay for moms & dads!!!!

At Nelly's birthday party my dad ended up with camera diarrhea and took about 93845234501 pictures of the family and everyone there.  He's got his fancy iPhone so he takes pictures everywhere he goes.  Now, my dad's a pretty stubborn ass.  He's also extremely intelligent and into technology.  Before the MMS feature came out he refused to get a generic gmail, hotmail or yahoo email address so he could send pictures to everyone.  Absolutely REFUSED.

Since MMS has come out for the iPhone I keep telling him he's got to update his phone and each time he asks me how to do it.  Every time I tell him he's got to attach his phone to the computer and open up iTunes, he asks me, "So...how do I do that?  What's the website for iTunes?"  These conversations usually end with me telling him I'll update it for him and then when I get to the house he decides it's not worth the trouble.

Tonight was no different.  I told him I wanted him to send me a few of the pictures he took from the other day.  "Oh, well...how do I do that?"

"You didn't update your phone yet?"

"No.  Should I?"

"If you want to send picture messages you should."

"What do I need picture messages for?  I've got Bejeweled.  What else do I need?!?!"

COUNTDOWN COMPLETE.  RULING IT.

Who listens to Dashboard Confessional still?

Oh...that's right.  Me.  Living 8 years ago all over again.  But it's sooooooooooo good!!!  Especially at 6am?  Maybe.

Even though I am half actively trying to get on a more "normal" schedule in the past week I've gone from waking up at 11am to waking up at 3pm.  Oops!

This week I've got PT and doctor's appointments I've got to be awake for, so maybe that will help out with my hours.  After waking up and getting ready today I took Brandon to school and after I picked him up I headed to Aunt April's for Monday night dinner.  It was good to see the family even though I didn't get a chance to mosey around and talk to everyone.

During dinner Jeannie Mae was telling me about the rest of Aunt Nelly's 83rd birthday party.  Apparently Mom told Nelly that her sister (April) said she was sorry for not making it out, but wanted to wish her a happy birthday anyway.

Aunt Nelly looked Mom in the face, hugged her and told her, "Well that's awfully sweet of her to do that.  But I don't think I'm going to remember it soon anyway!"

A little bit later Nelly tells Mom it was her 84th birthday.  A little while after that Mom hears Nelly tell someone else it was her 85th.  There she was...aging years right before our very eyes!!!  Nelly's wonderful and has an amazing spirit and sense of humor.  Especially toward her memory!

After I got home my friend Grant came over and we went to Temple and had delicious tea.  Afterwards we came back to the house and I did some crocheting before getting sucked in by the interwebz yet again.

I want to get tattooed soon.  I've got some ideas in mind.  It'll be a while before anything happens, but I'm okay with that.  Priorities.

Less than twenty hours.

Even doctors don't move

So being on crutches and actually getting out of the house for the past 2 months you get to see how friendly some people are and how much chivalry has gotten lost over time.  I LOVE automatic doors because trying to get in a regular door (while easy now) takes some getting used to.  Especially those crazy heavy doors.

At the grocery store no one seems to offer up a place in line for the girl on crutches who's foot is obviously discolored.  While crutching to and from physical therapy twice a week people don't seem to take notice of the crutches and continue their conversations without moving or stepping aside to make much needed walking space.  EVEN THE DOCTORS DON'T MOVE for me and you'd think of all people, THEY would know better.  So in the past 2 months I've gotten used to not getting the special attention one would hope for.

Earlier tonight I went to the movies and even though I know better, I had 3 glasses of water at dinner.  I try my darndest to avoid using public restrooms when I've got 2 healthy(ish) legs, let alone have to use one while I've only got the one good leg.  Going to the bathroom on crutches not only means fighting to get the door to the bathroom open, but trying to maneuver in the stall itself.  Someone had a genius idea of making the toilets in the handi stall like 2 or 3 inches taller than the regular stalls and since I'm not exactly on the tall side, I usually prefer the regular stalls (even though they lack those sweet unsanitary bars to grab hold of in case I decide to "hover").

Tonight was no exception.  I headed to an oversized "regular" stall and after putting down 2 or 3 ass-gaskets I felt safe enough to put my disease free bum down and took a much needed tinkle.  When I got into the bathroom there were 2 other women in stalls and during the time it took me to get all buttoned up after peeing only 1 woman was left.  She was in her mid-twenties wearing a white shirt, brown cardigan, skinny jeans and some brown knee high suede boots, indie-ish, but not "hip."  She lingered around and stared at herself in the mirror while I hobbled over to wash my hands.  Since I've been on crutches, I'm always slightly nervous about washing my hands while other people are around.  Because I'm on crutches I've got to dry my hands thoroughly so that way I don't slip and I always worry people thing I'm a tree hater because I use so many paper towels.

Anyway...I finish washing my hands and as I move toward the garbage can the woman in the bathroom heads toward the door and this is always where things get awkward.  Like, are they going to hold the door?  Will the let it close on me 4 feet away?  Will they sigh as they wait for me to hurry?  Will they rush out like they didn't see me?  This beautiful woman gets to the door while I'm about 10 feet away (more than enough time to go through and skee-dattle without having to see me after I get out) and she holds the door and waits for me.  At this point I realized she hung around the extra minute or two deliberately.  I pass her on my way out and say, "Thank you very much!"  She smiled at me and with an air of confidence I get a, "You. Are welcome." 

I was stoked, obviously.  She was a cool chick who was down to help and I can't wait to pay it forward.

TWO DAYS.

I wanted to throw my crutches away today.

This afghan flabbergasts me.  It's crocheted, which means that it's already harder to make a good looking picture, but the artist pulled it off, and quite well.  If I were at all artistic I would attempt something like this, but I know it wouldn't end up as nice...or looking like I would want it to...or ever be completed.  Perhaps one day.  I have ideas on how even I would be able to complete something like this, but it's a lot of work and I'm afraid to take on such a task, especially since I don't know what the outcome would be.  One of these days I'll get over worrying about it and just get it done.  One of these days is just far away, long after the smaller projects I want to attempt are completed (or I've been defeated by them).

Audrey.  Oh dear Audrey.  So elegant and stunning with such large feet.  I love her style.  Everything about it.  Completely timeless.  She dressed to her body style and never strayed far from it.  Her slim pants, collared shirts and a-line dresses.

If only.



Physical therapy today was good.  I did a lot of stretching and I can tell I'm gaining muscle.  Although it was pointed out later in the evening that my legs are obviously different sizes.  That's okay though, I'm going to be diligent about regaining my strength, muscle and mass this time around.  I don't want another surgery and stabilizing my knee through my quads is a high priority.

Not only did I eat breakfast today, but I also had dinner and dessert.  Lemon bar.  Delicious.  Good company too, but the visit was cut short and I went to pick up Brother and Amy at the airport.  Did you know they have a free "cell phone lot" at the airport now?!  Up to 3 hours free parking while you wait to get the call to go to the loading zone.  That means no more hanging out in the gas station parking lot!!  Woot woo!!!!

Where the Wild Things Are this weekend!!!  I've been ramping up all week for this movie and I'm totally excited to get to the theater to finally watch it in all it's glory.

FIVE FREAKING DAYS.

A tree fell on Amber's house.

I went to bed super late yesterday (6:30am) and woke up around 11.  I went to physical therapy and worked out.  You think I'd be tired and want to retire early, right?  Apparently not.  It's 6am and I'm wide awake.  Luckily I have nothing that needs to be done tomorrow.  I have a few phone calls that I should make, but nothing pressing.

The day was packed full of Etsy and other craft sites that kept me busy the majority of the day.  Well, that and chauffeuring Brandon around.  I think Alissa should get an award for all the transport she does.  Not only did she take me to and pick me up from PT, but she also took B to school today and I went along for the ride for funsies.

Outside our house was a flooded.  Starbucks lost all their patrons to Peet's because the drain on the Starbucks side was clogged and the street was flooded and water was probably around 6-8 inches deep.  Sabotage?  Maybe.  On the way to drop Brandon off there were multiple limbs and branches strewn about the road.  It was also very windy and the rain hurt when it hit my face.  After I picked Brandon up from school (what the frick, am I a mom?) we went and got food for dinner at Safeway.  The parking lot when we pulled in was flooded.  The shopping carts looked as if they were stuck in a lake.

Oh yeah...and a tree fell on Amber & Chris' house.  Luckily it didn't damage their place, but it DID damage their neighbor's.  There wasn't anyone living inside the place, although rumor has it that the place had just been remodeled inside and was about to be rented.  Brandon was gonna call and see how much cheaper rent would be with the new add-on.

I stole all the pictures from Brandon's Flickr.  Tomorrow I might crutch down to see and conquer this tree.  All wheel crutching.

Where the Wild Things Are comes out Friday.

Oh yeah...and 7 days and counting.

Who's gonna be on top?

Yeah...America's Next Top Model.  As every Wednesday should be, I headed to Kip & Melissa's for some ridiculous television viewing and hoping the silly short model I like will not get booted off.  She's in it for another week!!!  Emre and Sydney ran over Brandon all night.  He got this photo when Sydney decided she wanted to sit on his head.

Today I went to physical therapy and got to 75%.  Right on schedule.  I was on land today and my PT had me doing squats and these crazy leg workouts that made my leg do the "muscle twitch."  It always makes me feel pretty silly even though it's completely normal.  I have started "walking" with the crutches and it feels pretty good.  I just need to remember I'm not super woman and still won't be able to REALLY walk for another 13 days.

Tomorrow I go to the DMV to get my license renewed.  It should be pretty quick since I get special handi privileges.

Around midnight I looked at the clock, then realized I need to get back on more of a "regular schedule" when I thought it was only about 8pm.  It's almost 2:30 and I'm wide awake.  This is getting ridiculous again.  At least it's not just me.  It's Alissa too...but at least she has a reason for having a crazy schedule!!!  Maybe if I actually go to the gym to work on my fitness I'll be more inclined to have a regular schedule?  Perhaps.  Probably not though.

Bicycle time soon.  I'll be ruling the streets via night time in a couple days.  I'll see how that goes and hopefully I won't be such a klutz with no cars on the road.

75 percent. Win.

When I wake up I will be at 75%.  That means in 14 days I will be (hopefully) walking and ruling the streets on two wheeled dream machines.  I need to start seriously rehabbing my knee and getting it prepped for my first steps.  I need to stop being so dang lazy.


I keep having the feelings of being able to walk already.  Sometimes as I sit straight up or go to re-position myself I get day dream glimpses of myself standing up and walking over to grab something or using my left leg to lean on.  Then reality hits and I realize these are fantasies.  At least these dreams will be coming true shortly.


Today I ate some delicious pizza and key lime pie all during a Bones marathon.  I think I watched about 14 episodes today.  It was AMAZING.  A nice day to sit around without much to do.  I hope I wake up early enough tomorrow to accomplish a semi-long task list that seems to keep growing.

Grandma gives good advice.

Since Gma was in town, I went over to Mom & Dad's to hang out for a while.  Just as expected, as soon as I got there Gma had her hands on some yarn and a needle.  She was attacking some needlepoint my mom had been working on for a Halloween present.  I asked her why she wasn't working on her own project and she tells me, "Ohh...you know your mom don't do right.  I fix!!!"

Now...my mother is a FANTASTIC craftista.  She can do every possible craft that involves a needle and thread or yarn AND she does it very well.  But whenever Gma comes to visit Mom finds all her latest unfinished projects and other items she couldn't get JUST right.  Then, grandma being grandma...she sees these projects, throws her hands up in the air baffled and goes, "Oh my gosh.  YOU do dat?!"

We concede.  Tell her we'll never be as good as she is (which is ridiculously true) and hand over the project.  Not only did we spend over 2 weeks to start and get to the point where we stopped, but we thought we'd done a pretty good job.  Grandma.  Grandma takes the project...gives it a once-over then tears the entire thing out.  Before she leaves for home (sometimes only a 2 day visit) she hands us back a finished product.  Better than it was when she was first handed the project.

As Mom, Gma and I were sitting around crafting on Saturday night I asked my dad to get me a pair of socks since my foot and toes were on the cold side.  Gma asked if it was circulation that was keeping it blue and I told her it probably was.  She stops and puts the needlework on her lap.  She looks me dead in the face and says, "Then you need to get up and walk around.  Stop be so lazy all da time!!"

"Grandma.  I'm on crutches!"

She starts laaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuughing!!!!!  It was the most darling laugh.  Her and my mother couldn't breathe because they were laughing so hard.  Then again...neither could I.

Ruler.

Although I wasn't incredibly busy yesterday, I was very tired today.  Maybe it was from when I went to the DMV and got my perma-handi pass finally.  I'm not sure why, but I was tired looooooong before I went to PT today even.  Kip and Melissa's kids must've worn me out.  Even though it was Brandon who was doing all the baby tossing activities.

Physical therapy in the water today.  The knee hasn't caught once today (so far) AND I got to do squats in the pool!!!!!!  They didn't hurt, but I could definitely feel the burn in my quads and it felt FANTASTIC!!  I crutched to and from PT and it was quite a work out.

I had a dinner date tonight and had amazing convo's with some peeps I hadn't seen in a while and miss hanging out with.  Once I got home Brandon and I headed over to Golden Bear.  Brandon got in and I handed the door guy my ID.  He said I couldn't go in.  What. The. Heck.  I was JUST at the DMV...why didn't they tell me my ish was expired?!?!?!  Oops!!!  Looks like I gotta go back again.  Luckily I've got crutches that make my DMV visits extremely speedy.  Oh yeah...and up front parking.  Life rulezzzz.

Naked old ladies.

Right when I got to physical therapy I headed towards the pool.  Erica, my PT lady told me to be cautious because there might be some of the older women still changing in the locker area.  It's not like I've never seen a naked woman before, so I said "alright" and crutched over to the closed curtain.  I wanted to make sure they knew I was coming in so I kind of holler, "Knock.  Knock." and walk in.

Now...as I get in there, I've got on slip on Keds, my jorts (jeans cut off into knee length shorts), a tank top, a v-neck short sleeve shirt and my swim suit on underneath.  As I walk in you can definitely see my arm all colored and the flowers on my chest.  I get a couple strange looks from the women which is odd because they're both in their late 60s to mid 70s and sitting in there stark naked having a conversation I apparently interrupted.  They were pretty nice and asked if I was going to put on my suit.  Since I came prepared I let them know I only needed to store my things.  As I take off my shoes the woman sitting across from me looks closely at the tattoo on my foot.

"Drag...?" she asks.

"Drug free."

"Oh..."

As I take off my shirt and tank top she sees my entire arm (although not much is left to the imagination since the sleeves are already so short).

"Oh, it's the whole thing?" she asks.

"Yeah, all the way up!" which I said pretty happily so as not to sound offended if her question was an innocent one.

"That's going to be a lot harder to get off then, won't it?" she asks with actual concern and without disdain.

"Yeah, but I don't plan on taking them off.  I think I'm going to keep 'em for a while."

"Ohhh...I guess you used to really believe that one, huh?" as she looks at my drug free tattoo.

"I still do."

She looks at me incredibly baffled and I get up and crutch to the pool.  She was genuinely concerned for my ability to remove my tattoos.  I'm not sure she knew exactly what they were or how they got there.  It was incredibly adorable.

Autumn is settling in quite nice

The weather today was beautiful.  I woke up early (for me anyway) for the second day in a row and went to breakfast at Vintage Cafe with Jack & Jill.  I got a delicious breakfast quesarrito (yeah...not quite a quesadilla and not quite a burrito) and tea for under $4!!!  The 3 of us got to sit outside and people watch and while Jack barked at other dogs, Jill and I conversed with ourselves.

After I made it back home, Jack (from Florida...not Jill's dog) came over to visit with Alissa and I before he heads home to the east coast tomorrow.  It was nice visiting with him while he was here!!!  I was able to talk Brandon into making elk chili for dinner and invited Jody and Amanda over to taste the scrumptiousness that B makes.  I also had some crane melon delivered which is almost gone already.

After reading The (not so) Little Things about banned books (including The Giver, which is still top 7...but probably only because I hardly read any more) I went and ordered up a couple books.  I'm actually pretty excited about them getting here.  I've actually wanted to read the past couple weeks and that isn't a feeling I've had in YEARS.  I ended up getting the 2 books by Lois Lowry that followed The Giver and I also got Scepticism, Inc.  Although I have absolutely no doubt that I will start all of these books (at separate times, of course), only time will tell if I actually finish them.

Tomorrow is physical therapy, pool time.  I'm hopeful that my knee won't lock while I'm in the water.  I AM looking forward to "walking."  I can imagine it will be the reason I will be excited to wake up in the morning.  

I think a miracle happened today.  A ton of things totally fell into place.  I got 5 robots from AdamD (check it and reserve yours: 100 Robots).  I communicated with ALL but 2 of my closest friends and BOTH brothers today.  I ate grapes instead of ice cream, cookies, brownies, yogurt or candy.  I had tea instead of coffee or a mocha.  I'm gonna keep that PMA and say tomorrow will have such treasures. 

Little miss "run home to her daddy"

Ran home.  To her daddy.


I finally went to the new gym at work.  The place is crazy nice with tv's at every machine and a big screen too.  I hopped on the stationary bike and rode for 30 minutes and just over 2 miles with zero resistance.  I went to physical therapy today and got to do "pool time."  I was in the pool just under an hour and did a multitude of exercises INCLUDING walking!  The pool was 4 feet deep, so I was only doing about 20 or 30 percent weight bearing, but it still felt fantastic to go through the motion of walking and taking steps.  My PT also scheduled me for 2 days of pool next week, which is 2 times better than the 1 I'm getting this week.


I porch sat tonight.  Brandon hung out for a bit.  Once B left it was just Jill and I.  It was strange being up there without 28934759420 people, but it was nice.  We had time for "girl talk" and did what girls do?  I think.  I don't really know...I can't remember the last time I hung out with girls who weren't tomboys. 


I've been spending a LOT of time on the interwebzz and today I re-visited moo.com.  They make postcards, minicards (which really are rather small and I use mine as bookmarks), business cards and greeting cards.  All of these...are completely customizable.  My favorite part: you want 100 business cards, but you don't want them all to be the same?  You can design 100 DIFFERENT business cards and the price is the same.


In other news, my friend Nick is headed to Italy tomorrow and I'm insanely jealous.  Yes.  Insanely jealous.  I would LOVE to galavant around a foreign country.  Well, right now I'd just like to galavant around.  A different country is an added bonus at this point.  I want to eat my way through several countries and am trying to figure out where to go next year.  I need to get out of the country.  And by out of the country I mean off this continent.  Due to my fantastic schedule I have already thought about a few places I want to throw money at.  One of the US places I want to hit up is the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama.  Random destination, I know...but they have anywhere between 600-1200 motorcycles ON display and there's a shuttle that takes you from the airport TO the museum and a hotel near by.  Other than the fact that it's in Alabama and I can't really think of anything else good there.


Next year should be amazing.  Hopefully I'll be back to my jet-set, sleeping on planes, never being home lifestyle.  

Frozen yogurt

For me, today was overall a pretty good day.  For Brandon...not so good.  He was a not-so-hot mess today with problems all over the place.  I actually felt bad for the guy and treated him to some delicious yogurt-a-go-go.  I think he was happy about it even though this picture looks like he's holding in a fart.


Since I've started physical therapy I've noticed a pretty distinct "catch" in my knee during my daily exercises.  This morning it was most noticeable when I was laying in bed.  I was lying on my side in a fetal type position and I rolled over onto my back.  As I rolled over, I streeeeeeeeeeetched my leg out and about 2/3's of the way through it my knee locked up.  Once the pain hit I remembered familiar feeling and I knew exactly how to fix it.  I re-bent my knee back up and then slowly straightened it again.  This time it didn't catch and even though it has caught a couple more times today not once has it been as painful as this morning.


I called the doctor to see if I needed to get in and be seen sooner rather than later.  Once I talked to him, he basically said there is no way to tell exactly what is going on inside my knee unless they go back in arthoscopically, which obviously isn't an option at this stage of my recovery.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't need another one ever, but only time can tell with that.  The doc said an x-ray is useless since it's a cartilage repair and the parts that we need to look at are invisible to an x-ray.  When I asked about an MRI he said the scar tissue and meniscus in my knee is so convoluted that it too is virtually useless.  


The doc said for now, I can start on my 50% weight bearing activities, as long as the exercises don't involve bending of the knee and weight bearing at the same time.  Apparently that is something I will need to work up to after the first week or so, depending on how comfortable I feel and if I think my knee can handle it.  I'll be in the pool tomorrow for physical therapy and I think Alissa is going to show me how to get into the gym at one of our stations so I can use the stationary bike there on the days I'm not at physical therapy.


I keep worrying I will need another surgery.  I keep having dreams about the same thing.  I'm crossing my fingers and trying to keep that PMA, but it's not easy when you've got all the time in the world to sit around and think.