I got 99 problems...

Wait.  No I don't!!!  And I plan on keeping it that way!

I don't think I can truly explain how difficult it has been for me to find silly khaki/black straight leg/tapered leg pants for work.  I've been looking for at least 3 months and still I haven't found a pair I'm stoked on.  How ridiculous.  I'm thinking of going with a skirt instead, I think it'll be more comfortable anyhow.  Also...that gives me another excuse to go shop shop shopping.

V-Day is coming up and Etsy keeps teasing me with amazing goods, like these sweet earrings.

And this amazing card:

A girl can dream, right?!

Alissa Tugaeff: Motorcycle extraordinaire/gold medalist.

Today Alissa and I woke up early and saw a dreary day.  About an hour later, much to our surprise, we caught a glimpse of hope as the sky started turning more blue.  We quickly showered and got on our super extreme and exceptionally fashionable motorcycle garb.  Because that's what motorcycles are all about, right?  Looking good.

Alissa jumped on Brandon's bike and I got Suzi out from behind the fence.  We took a cruise down the highway by the river and did some quick motocross.  We took a few jumps and got a little squirrley, but nothing we couldn't control.  After all, we are experts.

We met up with Turkmenistan's favorite wedding crasher and giant horse tamer, George Tugaeff and his lovely wife Monica.

After a couple drinks we got back out on the highway.  Once we hit the road we raced some thugs in a pimped out Escalade and took them for all they had.

Today was my first day back at work in 4 months, and it's not to be forgotten because our co-worker's nephew came in.  This is amazing because her nephew is Andre Phillips, Olympic Gold Medalist.  We got to hold and wear the medal, meet the man who is amazing enough to WIN the medal and even get to take pictures with him!  I got an autograph for my mom.  I'm pretty sure she's gonna be bummed that she didn't meet that dark chocolate goodness herself, but I know she'll be happy with a signed photo.

This picture is a little blurry, but there's a better one floating somewhere.  I'll find it later.  Nice jacket.

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. 

If I could grow a beard...

I would.  Abso-freaking-lutely.  Or totes (totally...just shortened, yeah...I'm not really feeling that word either).  Whatevs.  Perf.  I can't think of anything else I shorten right now...or I'd throw those in there too.


I had a massage delivered to me today by Jill.  It was amazing.  I'm glad she has a mobile service for the disabled!!!  Haha.  Jill and I also had lunch at the thai place by my house.  It's close enough to crutch to, even though I still broke a sweat getting there.  Since Peet's is on the way home from the thai place, we stopped in there too.  While on the way in I saw the most adorable boy in front of the coffee shop.  He was picture perfect 1960s.  He was wearing slacks, dressy-ish shoes, a long sleeve collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up and 50s style Ray Bans.  He had the perfect JFK hair part and classic style.  Oh yeah...he was probably only 18.  To say he was 19 would be pushing it.  The guy's gonna be a lady slayer when he gets a few years on him (so long as he keeps his impeccable style).


Later in the night porch sitting ensued.  There was bbq, drinks and amazing people!!!!  I like the porch because I can sit down the whole time and it's hard to tell I'm a handi.  It's pretty easy to keep from getting injured while I'm there too.  There's not a whole lot of movement and I try to secure a spot where I can elevate my leg when needed.  Today was good.  Very, very good.  Hopefully I won't be paying for being out when I wake up!

No more machine!

I went to my post-op today.  My dad rode his bicycle downtown and met me, then we drove my car to my appointment.  On the way there, I pointed out Brandon's car and told Pops how the car was hit the other day while parked on the street.  I also told him how when we walked out and the lady randomly asked Alissa, B and I if the car was ours because she had backed into it, Alissa and I started laughing hysterically and walked into the coffee shop, leaving Brandon outside to pretend to be distressed over the situation.  My dad also found the story humorous and we laughed together and B's expense.  I love my dad.


The doctor said I was 3 weeks behind schedule for what the cartilage implant company expected, but that I'm doing well for my particular situation.  If I were to have been a normal patient, I would have only been non-weight bearing for 4 weeks instead of 7.  BUT...due to my particular situation and that this was my 5th surgery, I'm not doing so bad!  


I no longer need to use the CPM machine.  My doctor's a character and when I said, "Really?!" He responds with, "Heck yes!  Throw that thing out the window!!!!"  We laughed and then he told me he doesn't advise throwing the machine out the window, especially since it'd probably cost me a pretty penny or two to replace!!  


I no longer need to wear the gigantic brace.  He said I could still wear it, but also made it very clear that the reason people are usually required to wear the brace is for a reminder.  A reminder that you can't just jump up and start walking every where.  I don't think I'll have this problem, especially since I still keep having nightmares about doing just that.  I really don't want to do anything to put my knee at risk.  I'm done having surgeries for a while.


I'm to start physical therapy next week.  I'll be going twice a week for at least 6 weeks.  I really hope I don't have to pay the $30 or whatever it is EVERY visit.  I've got my fingers crossed that it's covered by insurance since it goes with the surgery. I'm also going to try to get some extra time in on a stationary bicycle when I can.  I'm tremendously excited to start physical therapy, even though I know it will hurt.


I'm up to 122 VERY painful degrees of flexion.  As I was laying on the table, he wanted to see how far I could bend my knee.  So I bent as far as I felt I could go...then he helped me out and pushed on my leg a little.  I thought I was going to cry.  It hurt, but he was happy with the progress I've made for strengthening, he's just worried about my bending.  I can also put about 1/4 of my weight on my leg.  This is going to be terrifically helpful for my daily activities...such as showering.  Or standing.  


To celebrate my knee brace freedom I went to Jill's house to porch sit.  Her roommate Bryce bar-b-qued us some delicious hamburgers and corn.  We talked a while, I did a lot of knee bending, we talked some more, we drank beers of the root variety as well as the wheat and barley variety, we talked even more, we yelled at cougs and pre-cougs, then we saw RACCOONS.  That's right.  Freaking RACCOONS.  These little brave souls travelled from across the street and into the apartment complex down the street.  I tried to yell "raccoon" but I think I had cougars on the mind because that's what came out instead.  I was pointing at them and was hugely excited.  Once Jill and Bryce turned to the street and saw these spectacular creatures, Bryce RAN downstairs to see these things eye-to-eye and I quickly stole his seat to get a better view!!!  The raccoons ended up meandering into the apartments, but it was still an amazing sight!!!

Henry Rollins is a BABE.

The man is a freaking dream boat.


Jill came over today and we had girl talk with Alissa.  Amazing.  I also signed myself up for a massage on Thursday.  It's funny how hard people laugh when they walk in the house and just see tasty treats strewn about.  Yikes.  


I have my second follow up appointment tomorrow morning and I've got my fingers crossed that the doc will say I can start my physical therapy.


I can also say what I did not do tonight.  I did not watch the Sons of Anarchy season premier.  With uber dreamy Henry Rollins and Charlie Hunnam.  I don't watch that show.  Okay.  Maybe.  Don't tell anyone.  Gotta keep my rep.  Or something.

A lengthy and amazing birthday

First off, I wanted to make sure I thanked everyone who sent me a happy birthday message, email, text, facebook, myspace or called.  I tried to get everyone, hopefully I succeeded.


All the night before Brandon kept telling me how I needed to go to bed early because I had to maybe wake up early.  I barely got any sleep all night because our house was ridiculously hot and I was filled with anticipation.  I mean...26, that's a milestone, right?!  At 6:30 I got a birthday call from New York.  At 7:30 I was sung the happy birthday song by my amazingly adorable 4 year old cousin and at 8 I decided I couldn't sleep any more and got out of bed and got ready for the day.  While I was in the shower grandma called to wish me a happy birthday and left a voicemail telling me I was lazy because she'd already been awake for 3 hours!  Super adorable!!!


I got a phone call from Bryce just after 9 and decided I was going to go wake up Alissa and Brandon.  I felt too bad about thinking of waking them up and finally they rolled out of bed around 10.  Both of them were completely surprised to see that I was up, awake, showered, in my birthday skirt outfit and ready for the day to begin!  They took me to an unknown destination for tasty birthday breakfast (Fox & Goose!!!!) where I got an olallieberry scone with devonshire cream, amongst other delicious treats.  We got back to the house and I fell asleep in a food coma.


There was a loud pounding on the door and next thing I know, Maria and Orlando are in the house with ICE CREAM CUPCAKES (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!) and an ice cream sundae!!!!  They couldn't stay long, but they wanted to make sure they stopped by to say hello and happy b-day!  After eating ice cream...I decided a nap was in order.  I awoke from about an hour/hour and a half nap and Will said he was coming over to visit for a short while.  While Will was at the house, I put him to work in carrying some pizza and garlic bread back to the house so I could take it to my folk's place for a combined birthday/35th anniversary dinner.


Alissa and I headed out with my bicycle in tow.  We got to my folks house to dine with Bryce, Jody, Amanda (+baby),  Kip, Mel, Sydney, Emre, Brother, Amy, Scotty, Brandon and the 'rents!!!!!  There were more people there than I expected, so it was a pleasant surprise!!!!!  After a FANTASTIC dinner and visit with everyone, we headed home.  Just as I sat down I got a message from Jill saying she was headed to Rick's Dessert Diner with Dan, Buddy and some additional amazing people in tow!!!!  I told her right then that I would be there to indulge some lemon cheesecake.  I realize that with all this food...how could I be hungry?!?!?!  For dessert even?!?!?!  There's ALWAYS room for dessert!!!!  Maybe I'll just put on a couple pounds!!!!!!


After dessert, I headed back home and Peter came over with a care package of Shirley Temple ingredients, apple crisp and a gigantic cup full of Jelly Belly!!!!!!!!!!!!  Peter got Alissa and Brandon a little tipsy and Brandon some how coaxed everyone into his room to watch youtube videos of the Slap Chop Remix and some fat kid on a roller coaster with his mom laughing at him the whole time.  Go B!

Free food, Temple mocha, Link 80...

Could today have gotten any better?!?!  Probs not.  Okay, okay...probably, but today was quite fantastic!  Brandon and I went out to Johnny Garlic's and I'm not gonna lie, the food was pretty good.  My friend Peter works there and he's been telling me to go in and try the food.  He wasn't working, but he came down and hung out with B and I anyway.  We got the garlic fries as an appetizer and by the time our food came, we were barely hungry.  The 32 oz. Shirley T may have had something to do with it, but who knows, right?!  Brandon and I both got pasta dishes and as we were finishing up our drinks a fantastic brownie delight showed up on the table out of nowhere!!!  It was like freaking MAGIC!  We were so full we barely finished half the brownie.  Peter and his roommate (who served us and was VERY sweet and amazing) ended up picking up our tab too.  Score!!


Grandma called me today to check on me too.  I got to hear her voice and listen to her talk.  Most.  Amazing.  Accent.  EVER.  Double score!!


After Brandon and I got home I coerced Grant the Veggie to venture downtown and hit up Temple for sweet sweet caffeine.  We hung out at Temple for a bit.  It was nice to be out of the house surrounded by something other than furniture and a semi-empty house.  Grant said he might get the change to go to Portland soon and he said he planned on visiting Voodoo Doughnut.  I got so excited when he told me that!  I told him he NEEDED to get a bacon maple doughnut!!!!  Yeah...I told Grant the VEGGIE he needed a BACON maple bar.  I know he's a vegetarian and have known for years, but I still tried to convince him that he should eat one because they are THAT succulent.  It makes my mouth water just thinking about that doughy goodness.


Grant and I also went to WalMart so I could pick up some yarn to make him a soda can cozy and I even threw in a couple to-go cup sleeves for good measure.  Maybe that will guilt him enough to either bring me a doughnut back, or just try one on his own!!!  But mainly bring me one back...

It's almost 5 and I'm looking at miniature pot belly pigs online

Yikes.  Too bad they're mad cute and ridiculously smart.  I watched a bunch of videos on youtube and saw all the neat tricks.  Maybe instead of dogs, my folks should get pot belly pigs.  I don't even remember why I started looking them up, but I always remember Royal Dandies and I guess now they make super ultra mega tiny pigs.  I know they're probably genetically altered so much that they have new unknown issues, but they're so freaking cute and baby size I want to ride around with one in the basket of my bicycle.


I woke up surprisingly early for having gone to bed so late today.  I did about 8 hours on the machine and I got some Thai food (finally) that I've been craving since about the second day I was at my folks place.  I also got to get out of the house a little longer when Brandon and I went to Jill's and did some porch sitting.  I definitely missed that for the past 5 weeks or so.  Making mistakes by yelling possibly rude things to passerby's should not be underrated.  I think perhaps I should get some shut eye...I've got a big day of ebay-ing tomorrow.

Me? Go to bed early?

I may or may not have forgotten to take pictures of my knee for comparison. Apparently I was WAY too busy to be bothered with that task today. I did, however, find the delightful creature above lurking amongst my clothes. The day consisted of waking up ridiculously late (as always), hanging out on the machine for about 7 total hours and getting picked up by Brother for dinner with the family. When I wasn't at dinner, I was watching tele and a few movies. Pretty busy day. Or not.

It was nice enough today to sit outside for dinner, so we did just that. When it was time to leave dinner, my 4 year old cousin started crying because she just didn't want to leave. Brother and I laughed for a while, because how often does crying work in getting what you want? I mean, getting out of tickets is a whole other story, but as a kid?! Then we started talking about how when we were young we remember the one punishment that worked the best. Turns out Brother and I had the same reaction. Punishment: cold shower. Clothes and all, mom or dad picked us up and threw us into the shower and held us in there. We stopped throwing our fit and started crying because we were so shocked. The one thing both Brother and I remember crying about: "But, but, but...I'm still wearing my clothes!!!!!!!" I specifically remember being sooooooo bummed because I had JUST taken a shower. That's what I got for throwing a gnar gnartantrum! I don't EVER remember getting another cold shower after that.

I've got dreams of waking up earlier tomorrow, but we'll see how that works out since it's almost 5 already.

Favorite quote of the day: "I need you to see Final Destination 3D with me. It combines my 2 favorite things, 3D and final destinations."

Sleep with no brace on

I woke up fairly early (for me anyway) today. 11:10 to be precise. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be since all my efforts of going to sleep early failed. I did, however, get a mocha delivered at about noon when Nathan came to visit. I had a lot of action today for not having gone anywhere! I talked to Katie and then her mom (but about an hour or so apart) and set up a lunch date with the Vela still living in California.

Alissa came over with 17 Again and I Love You Man. 17 Again was actually better than I thought it was going to be and I liked I Love You Man quite a bit too. I realized after watching both movies that I was just shy of being a pedophile. Zac Efron's a babe in that movie and he's what? Like 20 or something. Okay, okay...I googled it just to make sure I wasn't totally pervy. Turns out I'm only slightly pervy.

Peter also made his way to the country with another movie and snacks! I was showered with Twizzlers, Reese's peanut butter cups, Sour Straws and popcorn. I only ate the Reese's tonight, I'm saving the cavities for tomorrow!

I talked to my surgeon earlier today too. He told me my progress isn't quite where he had hoped and perhaps I should get back in to see him before my next scheduled appointment. Turns out I'll be on this machine for another 4 weeks or so and will definitely have to stay off my leg until my appointment in September. He wants me to take as much time as possible to really let this thing heal. Apparently he thinks 5 surgeries is 4 too many. He had also mentioned me going to physical therapy, but I haven't received any paperwork or phone calls about seeing a physical therapist so I might be a lot further behind in rehabilitation than I thought. But on a GOOD note, he did say I no longer need to wear my gigantic brace while I sleep and when I leave the house I don't have to have the brace locked straight. I can't wait to get to sleep just so I can try out my tum tum again.

Day 2?

Surgery yesterday. Got out of the hospital and home by 7 last night. They put some sort of shot in my leg and now the whole thing is numb!!! I can feel my toesies, but not my thigh or much of anything else on my leg. I'm braced up and good to go. I feel like I can use my leg to walk around on (since it's all numb) but I'm not. I'm keeping off it like I need to.

I thought for sure I'd be pretty messed up when I got out of surgery (especially since my surgery 2 months ago I threw up multiple times the first night home). This time I was able to wake up fairly quickly after I got to the post op room. I also felt totally fine. No nausea, no headache, no pain. I also sent a few text messages that didn't make any sense...maybe I'll go through and post some of those later. After going through a few...they prove to be slightly entertaining. I think now quite a few of my friends know how I would be drunk. I also made some amazing facebook posts that involved me thinking I got jizz in my hair while I was under. Pretty awesome.

I went to bed last night/this morning around 6:30...waking up at 8:30 and not being tired. Hence the blog update.

In other news...I get a CPM machine for my leg. I think it's supposed to be delivered today and I'm to use it for 8 hours a day. I'm not at work but still have 8 hours devoted to something else! Crazy.

They said I only have to leave this bandage on for 72 hours...then I can shower and check out my war wound. I hope it's big and gnar gnar like they promised. I'll be pretty bummed if it's some baby incision again. Especially with all the hype.

Best news about this: doctor said I should be able to PLAY SOCCER AFTER THIS IS OVER. Brother, watch your back. I will annihilate you!!!!!