Ice...just ice

We had our welcome to winter in the plains this week. Ice storm. Perhaps a little snow but primarily ice and sleet. You know the kind? Where you slip and slide on the sidewalks? The grass is frozen and it crunches if you step on it?

Tuesday morning -




It's just ice. Solid and slippery.

This morning (Thursday) on my first outing after the ice storm. This is our little neighborhood in a rural part of Oklahoma City.




There is a road under there. All I had to do was find it.

This is the "melts-during-the-day, freezes-again-in-the-night, watch-your-step" stuff - ice! At least the main roads are clear once we get out of the neighborhood.

I really do not mean to complain. Several states got it far worse. And we never lost electricity. I guess I just lived in Southern California for so long that I had forgotten how winters could be.

Note to self - need firewood.

Monday Musings

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."
— Marcus Tullius Cicero

Very true for us. We shipped about 15 boxes of books that are still unpacked as the new house had no bookshelves. That doesn't count the few boxes we unpacked and have scattered around the house in portable bookshelves.

Since the house has a den, we had a place for putting in built-in bookshelves. It's been a work in process for a month. And it's almost completed. Here's a peek.



The side moldings and trim should be finished this weekend. The crafts person doing the work is fantastic. He has worked with us to put our vision for the room into reality. We're really excited to be able to unpack the remaining boxes and have the house complete.

Currently reading Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber checked out from the library.

On the knitting loom - a sweater of my own design
On the needles - a sweater that is on the back burner simmering while I finish some loom knit projects

Shoes!

For the first time in 5 weeks, I'm wearing shoes on both feet! yay! It took some hunting through old pairs to find one with a foot opening large enough to accommodate the ankle brace. Luckily the oldest pair did the trick!



Ankle is still a little swollen...which means that the bone is still mending (at least that's what I'm told). And it aches a bit. I guess that's OK since there is still 3 weeks to go before it's considered "done".

And how is your week shaping up? hmmmm?

Please BE a part of the CHANGE

It's almost here. The start of a new government administration. The election platform of President-elect Obama was CHANGE. I want to make him stick with that. Don't you?

I know that there is so much change needed in the U.S. But one that is near and dear to my heart is the END of the waiting list for people with disabilities to receive help. It affects me personally as my daughter is disabled. That gives me first-hand knowledge of why services are needed by this group of U.S. Citizens. And why we need to help by making our voices heard and bringing this need to the top 10 Ideas for Change in America.

(Click the above link to read about it if you are unfamilar with the dilimena of disabled people. And voting would be good too.)

In Oklahoma (where I live) the wait is 3 years. It's longer in other states. This is unacceptable to me. Anyone involved with people that have developmental disabilities (a.k.a. mental retardation), KNOW how much help these people need with just day-to-day living.

They are as vulnerable as an elementary child alone in the world. Think of a child that never grows up mentally. Their bodies look like adults but they do not think like one.

POINT is.......YOU can help with just registering at change.org and letting our new President and his administration know that fully funded Medicaid and waiver program needs immediate resolution. Please!!

Here is the link - Change.org Click on that or copy and paste this long url into your browser -
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/fully_fund_medicaid_waivers_for_the_developmentally_disabled

You have to register (sorry!) and confirm your registration via an email to your email address (please, it's worth it!).

IMPORTANT
NOTE: MAKE CERTAIN YOUR VOTE REGISTERS. YOU MUST CLICK ON THE NUMBER TO THE LEFT OF THE TITLE THAT SAYS "VOTE" UNDER IT IN ORDER TO HAVE YOUR
VOTE ACTUALLY COUNT. ONCE YOU HAVE DONE THAT, IT WILL SAY "VOTED".
REGISTERING ON THE SITE AND ENTERING A COMMENT DOES NOT
COUNT AS A VOTE!

If we make it to the Top 10, Change.org will:
On January 16th, Change.org will co-host an event at the National Press
Club in Washington, DC to announce the top 10 rated ideas and our plans
for supporting the formation of a national advocacy campaign behind
each idea in collaboration with our nonprofit partners. The top 10
ideas will also be presented to President Obama on inauguration day.

Slowly mending

The ankle is mending and the bone has not shifted. Really good news for someone over 50 and diagnosed with osteopenia (that would be me on both). I confess that I was concerned the recovery would go more slowly because of both.

I have another 3 weeks of transitioning from boot cast into an ankle brace while working the muscles to accept weight again (somewhat painful). Then 2 weeks in the ankle brace.

I am knitting but have nothing finished. I suppose that is the knitter's ADD I sometimes suffer from. I have 5 projects I'm working on all at once. And that doesn't include this sweater. oh well.

2009 - Bring it on!

As I am an infrequent blogger, it shouldn't surprise anyone that my first post of the new year is 6 days into it. I won't make excuses.

2008 went out with a huge black cloud hovering over us. As ya'll (that's my Texan showing) know I broke my ankle the week before Christmas...which was the week before my MIL had eye surgery (3 days before Christmas).

As DH had promised we would be in Dallas to "help", we thought we would make it a family Christmas and enjoy time with my Mother too. But I still had to get the motor home ready for the trip - broken ankle or not. Thanks to DH and DD, I managed and off we went with high hopes that the ankle wouldn't ruin the trip for us. Stupid, eh? You would think that I would have acknowledged that this little mishap was "fate's" way of telling me to just stay home. But as we hadn't been able to spend a holiday with our elderly Mothers in many years, it seemed the right thing to do.

So I took pain pills and smiled in a medicated haze...
1. through MIL surgery
2. through the transmission problems of my car (repaired Christmas Eve)
3. through the freezing temperatures while the motor home furnace (thank goodness for sleeping bags)
4. through the ignition coil of the car going out...

All that from Dec 20 to Dec 27. Too much in a week even though the time spent with family was wonderful. We kissed the Mom's and came home before anything else happened.

After finally finding an ignition coil for my Cruiser, DH managed to put the new one in on Jan 2nd. It seemed to be fine...finally. Famous last words. It broke down again yesterday while DH was driving it to work. He has given up and left it at the mechanics all the while muttering "l.e.m.o.n."

Obviously the dark cloud hasn't left yet. Stay tuned.